Ripple
Ripple is a first-person underwater survival horror game where players navigate a collapsing deep-sea facility using sonar pulses to “see” through darkness. As rising floodwaters reshape the environment, players must manage oxygen, avoid hazards, and evade an invisible creature drawn to sound while racing against total implosion.
- Team Size
- 9
- Duration
- 2.5-Day Mini Game Jam
- Engine
- Unity
- Roles
- Lead Designer, 3D Artist, Narrative Design
Role
Lead Designer & 3D Artist
On Ripple, I served as Lead Designer and primary 3D Artist within a nine-person mini game jam team, developing the core gameplay concept, environmental direction, and systemic horror mechanics for a first-person underwater survival experience centered around sonar-based navigation. I authored the game design document and narrative script, designed the sound-propagation and stealth systems, and established how flooding and submersion altered player visibility, movement, acoustics, and enemy behavior. I modeled the majority of the game’s environments, architecture, and props, textured and lit the introductory sequence, and collaborated closely with programmers to implement the game’s pulse shader and sonar visualization systems. To maintain production scope within an extremely limited development cycle, I intentionally aligned the game’s visual design around darkness and echolocation, allowing atmosphere and mechanic readability to reinforce one another.
In-Engine Looks
Tile based Map creation
Hazards
Level Design Sketches
- 1
Lvl 1 — Alpha layout with valve, suits & bunks
- 2
Beta section — hazard placement pass
- 3
Delta corridor — crate blockers & mine fields
- 4
Beta flooded — mine density and routing
- 5
Alpha flooded — final pass with valve activated
Challenges
The greatest challenge during Ripple was designing and implementing multiple interconnected horror systems within an extremely compressed production timeline. Because the experience depended entirely on sound-based navigation, gameplay readability relied on the successful integration of audio, environmental visibility, enemy behavior, and underwater traversal mechanics. One of the largest technical hurdles involved developing the sonar pulse shader, particularly ensuring the pulse interacted correctly with animated water surfaces and changing player states. Working collaboratively with the programming team, we developed separate pulse behaviors for submerged and non-submerged scenarios, improving visual clarity and maintaining gameplay readability underwater. Additionally, I used darkness as both a horror mechanic and production strategy, reducing environmental art scope while reinforcing tension and uncertainty throughout the experience.