Sisyphus's Worst Day (again)
Lead Game Designer
Project Overview
Sisyphus's Worst Day (again) is an isometric puzzle game where you play as Daedalus, a once-retired architect trying to trap Sisyphus in infinite loops. Use various tools at your disposal to complete your job!
INFO:
GENRE: Isometric puzzle
TOOLS: Unity, custom level editor
TIMELINE: August 2025 - May 2026
I was the Lead Game Designer, where I:
Designed, iterated, and polished 5+ elements of the 3Cs
Character: Puzzle win/loss feedback; "enemy" AI behavior
Camera: Isometric camera FOV and constraints
Controls: Mouse controls and HUD buttons
Designed the tutorial objective system; implemented 2 tutorial levels
Oversaw puzzle progression; led development of a custom level editor
This team had 30+ developers, and I led the team of 3 designers.
My Contributions: 3Cs Design, Tools, and Puzzle Workflow
3Cs Features + Systems I Designed
Player Character (Daedalus)
For the player character, I designed the puzzle feedback system:
Win Feedback: Designed day/night cycle to convey time passing
Loss Feedback: Designed a banner notification system to describe the fail state and why the player reached it
"Enemy" AI Character (Sisyphus)
For Sisyphus's character, I established his deterministic AI Behavior:
Goal: Reach the flag at the top of the mountain with the Boulder
Boulder Seeking: Sisyphus will pathfind to the Boulder first
Boulder Pushing: Then, Sisyphus will push the Boulder forward and move to reorient himself, pathfinding with the Boulder
Traps: Sisyphus will not pathfind to avoid traps
Fail States: Sisyphus must always be able to reach the flag
Sisyphus must always be able to push the Boulder (and stay alive)
Camera and Controls Features
Camera: Isometric camera that shows the environment fully — designed a feature to add camera rotation constraints per level
Controls: For placing traps and testing puzzle solutions
Mouse controls: Inspired by 3D modeling software
Right Mouse: Rotate camera
Left Mouse: Select, place, and move traps
Simulating AI Buttons: Video-playback inspired controls to show, pause, and reset Sisyphus's movement
Trap Modification Gizmos: After selecting or placing a trap, billboarded gizmos pop up for rotating and deleting that trap
Tools + Content I Designed
Custom Level Editor for Puzzles
For Designers: Devised an editor for designers to block out levels by placing tiles, traps, and the flag/enemy goal on a grid
Can also set Sisyphus, Boulder, and camera starting positions
For Artists: Level geometry can be exported as an FBX file for 3D artists to model and texture on top of
Tutorial Objectives + 2 Tutorials I Implemented
Objective System: Shows list of tasks to complete in tutorials
Level 1 Tutorial: Teaches players how to play/use the controls
Level 2 Tutorial: Teaches players how to think about solving puzzles
Design Workflow Responsibilites
Level Design: Established a 5-step process for puzzle design
Ensured levels were polished enough for art to be implemented
Preserving Game Vision: Made a list of level design constraints to ensure cohesive design language for each puzzle
Approaching Milestones: Created spreadsheets to prioritize design problems and bugs to solve their issues effectively
Other Disciplines: Wrote 3+ feature specs to explain design implementation details to engineering, art, and UI teams
Design Case Study: Tutorialization + Controls
Feature #1 : Game Tutorialization
Starting the Process + Rising Issues
Design Constraint: Because placing traps and simulating Sisyphus are not familiar mechanics, an explicit tutorial is required to teach players
My Task: Design a tutorial to teach players how to solve puzzles
Initial Idea: Teach players all the controls in Level 1
Design Intent: After being introduced to all the controls, players will have enough information to use them to solve the next 12 puzzles
After designing this initial idea, I watched live playtests and recordings to analyze player behavior, which revealed some problems:
Immediate Effect: Players were getting swamped with the amount of controls information coming at them in Level 1
Resultant Effect: Players could not solve puzzles in the next levels because they were confused about the controls and the game loop
I realized that these problems arose because the tutorial did not teach players the game loop or how to solve puzzles, due to the bulk of the info being controls-related. This prompted some action:
Actions I Took to Fix The Feature
Designed a tutorial objective system that shows remaining tasks — slowly delivers info on the first trap, controls, and puzzle-solving
Used in 5 tutorial levels, including 3 tutorials for new mechanics
Implemented 2 tutorial levels, reducing the info delivered per level
Level 1: Teaches the game loop, first trap, and essential controls
Level 2: Teaches other controls and puzzle-solving techniques
Results From These Actions
Players were able to clearly understand the game loop and controls
Players could focus their efforts on solving puzzles and understanding traps instead of fumbling with controls
Key Design Takeaway
Unfamiliar mechanics need to be taught to players slowly!
Feature #2 : Controls for Traps
Starting the Process + Rising Issues
Design Constraint: Traps need to be placed on the level grid from a set of given traps, which is displayed in the HUD (sidebar UI)
My Task: Create a system in which selecting, placing, moving, rotating, and deleting traps is intuitive
Initial Idea: Click on the sidebar to select a trap, then click on the grid to place it; click on the trap to select it and modify it with gizmos
Design Intent: Clicking to place will reduce the need to move traps
After designing this initial idea, I watched live playtests and recordings to analyze player behavior, which revealed some problems:
Immediate Effect: Because players needed to click on a trap to modify it, they had to rotate the camera to click the gizmos properly
Resultant Effect: Players got frustrated with the lack of intuitiveness in an already complex/unfamiliar game
I realized that these problems arose because players expected a different control scheme than presented. This prompted some action:
Actions I Took to Fix The Feature
Redesigned the trap movement controls and gizmo to allow players to grab and drag a trap to move it along the grid
Added drag + drop trap placement controls while preserving click to place to move a trap from the palette to the grid
Meshes well with new trap movement controls (grab and drag)
Restricted Left Mouse to "placement only" while a trap is selected on the sidebar, and "selection only" while a trap is selected on the grid
Results From These Actions
Players had an easier time with placing and modifying traps
Key Design Takeaway
Once again, simple gameplay solutions can involve designing around existing player expectations