Capybarism

Mikaela Punzalan | Get In Touch mikaelapunzalan5@gmail.com

Final Product

Key Takeaways
WHAT WENT WELL

Capybarism stood out for its charming, quirky concept and cohesive visual style, which immediately captured players' attention. The team successfully created a humorous and memorable experience through expressive character animations, playful sound design, and well-integrated UI elements. Collaboration between design, art, and programming went smoothly, allowing for a polished and unified final product.

LESSONS LEARNT

We learned the importance of early scope management, where some initial ideas had to be trimmed to stay within time and resource constraints. Playtesting also highlighted the need for clearer onboarding to help players understand the game's mechanics quickly. Most importantly, we saw how a strong core theme and consistent tone can elevate a game, making it both fun and distinctive even with simple mechanics.

UI Wireframes

The UI wireframes were designed to support the game's lighthearted tone, emphasizing clarity, accessibility, and charm. Key interface elements such as the objective list, action prompts, and turns left, were kept minimal yet expressive, ensuring players could focus on exploration and humor without distraction.

Project Overview

Capybarism is a 2D, top-down, turn-based maze strategy game that blends lighthearted humor with strategic gameplay. Players take on the role of Salary Bara, the owner of a capybara business, tasked with motivating their Relaxed Bara employees back to work using tasty oranges while navigating various environments such as grasslands, pools, and swamps.

The game challenges players to guide Salary Bara and as many Motivated Baras as possible to safety, avoiding enemies like the cunning Peli and steadfast Gator, each with unique movement patterns. With limited actions and stars awarded based on performance, Capybarism offers a balance of strategy, charm, and fun.

DETAILS

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy

Platform: PC

Team Size: 5

Tools Used: Figma, Unity

FEATURES

Turn-based strategy mechanics
Top-down maze navigation
Predators with unique patterns
Diverse environments and challenges
Star-based level progression
Limited actions gameplay

My Contributions
LEVEL DESIGNER

Designed the flow and structure of the levels to ensure a logical progression of difficulty and pacing. This included testing different configurations to balance challenge and reward, maintaining player engagement while offering a satisfying gameplay experience.

UI DESIGNER

Designed initial user interface design drafts, focusing on simplicity and functionality. These drafts prioritized clear visual communication to ensure players could intuitively understand game mechanics, objectives, and available options at a glance.

Level Flowcharts

The level flowcharts of Capybarism map out the player’s journey through escalating challenges, showcasing how each level introduces new mechanics and quirky interactions in a logical, engaging sequence.