Manta Mayhem is a tension-filled first person racing game where the player controls an underwater drone modeled after a manta ray.
Traverse your way through underwater caves and biomes while trying to improve your time. Technical movement is the core of Manta Mayhem, Learn how and when to use the boost and get better with every try!
Project Summary
Manta Mayhem was the first multidisciplinary group project I worked on during my studies at Breda University of Applied Science. In this 8-week project, I took on the roles of both Producer and Level Designer, sharing responsibilities with a teammate.
I led the team from concept to release, navigating the challenges of creating a racing simulator inspired by drone racing, but set underwater. As a beginner in both design and production, this was an exciting and valuable learning experience. The levels needed to be spacious to create the feeling of flying like a drone, while also accommodating underwater mechanics, which placed significant demands on the project scope.
My primary responsibility was ensuring the project was deliverable with the available skills, resources, and timeline. This was a critical role, as it required balancing ambition with the practical limitations of the team and schedule. Early in the process, I realized how important it was to partner with a producer to ensure that both our tasks and the milestones were clearly defined and adaptable throughout the project.
Using an Agile project management approach, we broke the project into phases that allowed us to regularly reassess and refine the scope. This framework fostered open and frequent communication between the team members across various disciplines, all of whom were collaborating for the first time, including designers, programmers, and artists.
Team Size
6 Artists
5 Designers
3 Programmers
Role
Producer &
Level Designer
Number of players
Single player
Engine
Unreal 5
Platform
PC
Genre
Racing Simulator
Key Level Designer Responsibilities:
Researching competitors
Designing & Prototyping level layouts
Designing immersive and engaging game environments
Implementing & Testing levels
Researching & Analyzing player behavior
Frequent Iteration
Timely delivery of design tasks
Responsibilities
Key Producer Responsibilities:
Project Planning & Execution
Milestone & Sprint management
Backlog management
Risk and Resource Management
Team Coordination & Alignment
Teambuilding facilitation
Playtesting & Iteration management
Organizing & Leading design meetings
Communication & Stakeholder Engagement
Documentation
Public Launch on Itch.io
Risk and Resource Management
Proactively addressing risks and changes to ensure project success, and addressing challenges before they become obstacles.
Maintaining a detailed asset list document with my peers guaranteed that all project assets, from level ingredients to UI assets, were tracked, organized, and readily accessible. This prevented duplication of work, streamlined collaboration between teams, and ensured that all stakeholders had visibility on available resources. For each art asset, there was a “level of detail“ section that helped keep the team aligned on the art direction and avoid inconsistencies with the original plan during production.
As a result, productivity increased by reducing time spent searching for files, reviewing tasks and ensuring that the level of detail was correct, and allowed for two times faster planning meetings each sprint.
This is also a product of facilitating inter-departmental communication with teams from Art, Design and Programming to coordinate delivery across co-dependencies.
A structured bug report documentation system allowed for clear, concise tracking of issues, ensuring that developers had all necessary details to address problems efficiently. By standardizing the reporting process, it minimized miscommunication, prioritized fixes based on impact, and reduced time spent diagnosing issues.
This improved workflow efficiency, kept the team aligned on progress, and prevented bottlenecks that could delay project milestones.
Bug Report Documentation
Team photo during a concept pitch
Asset List Documentation
Communication & Stakeholder Engagement
I actively engaged with my team and department leads to manage dependencies, balance priorities, and resolve challenges efficiently. By facilitating open communication and collaboration, I ensured that all stakeholders remained aligned and informed throughout the project. This approach built trust across the 3 disciplines, leading to smoother decision-making and a more cohesive workflow.