Ash Makes Games
Drenched
Drenched is a 3D exploration adventure where a burned-out artist, Brie, becomes a fish. Switch between two characters, and traverse two mirrored worlds to uncover her story. Splash puddles on the surface and blow bubbles underwater to explore, solve puzzles, and reconnect her past and present
Drenched
Project Overview
Tools
Unity, Cinemachine, Probuilder, Github, C#, Terrains
Core Loop
Splash puddles, bubble up items as fish, and solve puzzles to unlock new areas.
Role
Design Lead
Gameplay, Cinematics, and Puzzles Â
Team Size
A group of 5 designers on an overall team of 37 ranging from art, ui/ux, engineeering, audio , and more.
Timeline
May 2025 - October 2026, Initial concept to Release on Steam.
Genre
Atmospheric Puzzle-Adventure with Interactive environmental storytelling.
My Work
Throughout my time as design lead on this project, I worked hand in hand with my fellow leads on how to best communicate the story we wanted to tell through an interactive world. I've created early documentation and prototypes alongside the rest of my designers to solidify our core loop.Â
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Part of my philosophy as design lead was to approach our levels in an open table way. All designers pitched their own ideas for levels and the puzzles within them, and collaborated with each other and narrative to make a finalized version that hit all our experience goals.
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To add clarity to progression in our puzzles as well as improve narrative impact, I implemented cinematics throughout the game. Utilizing Cinemachine and Timelines, the cinematics were able to make the players feel the impact of their achievements as the world physically changed to reflect their choices. This also solved some issues players had in gameplay, as in our early playtests players had difficulty understanding what the next objective was and if puzzles were successfully completed.
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Implementing these both during puzzles and after they were successfully completed resolved both of these issues and got player clarity and completion through the roof.
The Process
Early Concept and Ideation
Our Initial Concept
We began with the idea of a single-player exploration game divided between two worlds, each reflecting a different version of the same character, with the goal of reuniting them.
Early Challenges
We debated how to make playing around puddles engaging and whether the characters should remain tied through proximity. While this reinforced why they needed each other, playtesting showed that it felt disorienting and restricted gameplay, so we cut it.
Our Final Direction
Instead, we created two main mechanics that gave each character different strengths that played off one another: drenching and bubbling.
The Puddle System
To prevent unlimited splashing from bypassing puzzles or overloading the game, we divided puddles into three tiers:
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Source Puddles: Generate Secondary Puddles
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Secondary Puddles: Generate Terminal Puddles
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Terminal Puddles: Cannot generate additional puddles
Once enough puddles cover a section of the map, they are replaced with a single plane of water. This makes the area feel increasingly flooded while keeping the system optimized.
Drenching
The Core Mechanic
It’s the name of the game and our core mechanic! Drenching happens when the player jumps on puddles, splashing water outward to create new puddles.
Connecting Both Worlds
Each puddle brings light into the dark, murky water below, giving the fish the visibility and speed boost needed to explore. Once enough puddles are splashed, the area becomes fully drenched, transforming the environment and unlocking new paths on the surface.
Making Drenching Meaningful
Early feedback showed that, while fun, drenching felt more like a requirement for completing puzzles than a crucial part of the game. To address this, we expanded its impact to the surface world and added short cinematics after each successful drench, showing players how their actions transformed the environment and created meaningful progression.
Bubbling
Helping Brie From Below
Bubbling is the fish’s main mechanic for helping Brie. The underwater reflection holds secrets, abandoned artwork, and key items connected to Brie’s mindscape that can unlock more of her work on the surface.
Creating a Bubble Trail
The fish can bubble interactable items by pressing Space to release a small bubble or holding it to create a larger one. Once bubbled, an item remains in place until the player releases another bubble nearby.
Each new bubble guides the item forward, allowing players to carefully build a trail through the environment.
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Bubbling can only happen within light zones created by drenching.
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Interactable items are marked by jellyfish attached to them.
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Bubbling an item also frees its jellyfish, allowing the fish to positively impact the underwater world.
Reaching the Surface
Once the bubble trail reaches the top of a light zone, the item floats upward until it reaches the surface and pops, ready for Brie to collect and use.
Our initial bridge puzzle was very different from what we shipped, thanks to feedback from our playtesters. Drenching felt more like a means to an end than our core mechanic, so we stepped back and reconsidered how it shaped our puzzles.
Version 1
Version 2
Players drenched the area so the fish could bubble up a sculpture, which was then used to cross the bridge.
We made drenching directly transform the environment. The river begins dried up, but fills with water as players splash the town, allowing them to cross using an origami boat bubbled up by the fish.
The Result
By making the water players created essential to changing the world, drenching became a meaningful part of the puzzle rather than just another requirement.
Revising the Bridge Puzzle
Level & Puzzle DesignÂ
Brie’s Hometown
The game takes place in Brie’s hometown, where each level centers around rediscovering one of her abandoned art projects and finding her love to create again.
Two Reflected Worlds
The underwater world is an upside-down reflection of the town shaped by Brie’s psyche. Players work toward the lighthouse, where the girl and fish versions of Brie (her childlike creativity and burned-out adult self) can finally reconnect.
Puzzle Structure
Each puzzle requires both characters to work together: drench the surface to connect the two worlds, swim and bubble items from below, and bring Brie’s abandoned art back to life.
Early versions of town and first puzzle area from preproduction and alpha
Final town with 3 core areas on release.
Tutorialization Â
Because players had to maneuver around 2 separate character controls and abilities, it was very important to us that players were able to understand the reigns quickly.
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Iterated on our tutorial to break down base mechanicsÂ
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Implemented a tutorialization system that prevented players from progressing until they knew each control/skill
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Changed puzzle flow to better communicate to players what the problems were in each puzzle and what the missing factor was to solve it.
Takeaways
I have a lot but if i had to just pick one I would say always introduce the problem to players before the solution.
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Player's can't fully understand what they need to solve unless they are presented with what a puzzle is asking of them. Incorperate this into your levels and always ask what you want the player's mindset to be as they progress.
