Eep is a little mouse with a big task. Eep's ancestors stole an hourglass from the Time Architect that has the power to manipulate time space. However, the hourglass has started to malfunction and keeps turning back time every two minutes. Eep's mission now is to return the hourglass back to the Architect at the top of their tower to free his people from it's power. Can he do it? Only time will tell. ​​​​​
Play Borrowed Time on Itch
Development Process
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Borrowed Time was initially a 48hr game jam game that I completed with my team at the start of our Screen Queensland Residency. We ended up liking the idea so much that we spent an extra couple of weeks after the jam working on the game and completing extra elements that we didn't have enough time to do in the jam.​
I was responsible for the Level Design, UI and a decent chunk of the programming and System Design. When designing the levels I wanted there to be a many solutions and paths to the end that the player had to discover while exploring. This was such a fun set of parameters to design with because it meant that although players were under a time limit, they still were being encouraged to explore.
Initially I used a whiteboard in the room to plan out the levels of the game and later transferred that to a Miro Board(above). One of our main aims for this design was to not allow players to complete the whole game in one 2min run, rather you had to work with your past self to climb to the top of the tower. This meant that when you solve a puzzle on the first run, it will stay solved for all future runs and thus allow you to get further through the tower. This therefore meant that players would be coming through the same rooms multiple times so I tried to design the rooms with extra puzzles or clues that could only be worked out after doing your first run or two.
For example;
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In the first room there is a door covered by a cob-web.
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In the second room you pick up a torch.
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Then in the third room you use that torch to burn away a cob-web on a door.
The player can then of course progress to the fourth room, however, they can also return to the first room and burn down that cobweb which unlocks a hidden passageway leading them to the fifth room.
Designing levels in this way was extremely engaging and very satisfying when seeing play testers make these revelations. ​​​​