Main Role:
Game designer & 3D artist
Team Distribution:
1 Game Designer & 3D artist
1 Programmer
1 Sprite Artist
1 Audio Designer
Project Duration:
5 days
~8 hours/day
(approx. 40 hours in total)
Tools Used:
Unity 6
Blender
Play The Inferno Complex
Overview
The Inferno Complex is a top-down shooter created for GMTK Game Jam 2025. The theme was “Loop”, and the game represents it both mechanically (repeating environments with changing conditions) and narratively (getting through circles of a prison facility).
My role as the designer was to take the core idea and turn it into a cohesive level structure, progression system, and narrative framework, all while staying within the limits of the scope.
Concept Development
Our time was limited, so reusing levels and art was crucial. The theme Loop gave me the opportunity to utilize the same layout while changing how it functions each cycle.
I wanted progression to be clear from the start and to stay consistent without relying on randomness. To achieve this, I kept a fixed spawn point throughout the whole game and set an alternating goal that changes every loop.
I designed a simple gating system to have control over player progression:
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Two sets of doors alternate between open and closed state each loop.
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Special key doors block deeper areas of the maze.
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Unlocking a special door grants access to new sections, where the same looping door logic continues.
Level Design Process
Designing for eight interconnected loops meant traditional mockups wouldn’t work and the spatial overlaps made early prototyping quite difficult. To get around this, I created a beat map ignoring loops and space, focusing only on pacing, progression and key moments.
Then based on the beat map, I drafted out a level by making small adjustments to it with each new loop. By prioritizing the requirements of the current loop, I could keep updating the level draft witch each new loop, adding doors and puzzles eventually.
I placed special doors that requried keys near the starting area. These doors can’t be opened for many loops, but players pass by them repeatedly, so they work well as teasing and foreshadowing. My intent was to build on curiosity to keep up interest and make the moment of finally opening the doors more meaningful.
Timelapse of my process designing the loops.
Passing by the closed special doors
Pixel map draft
Greybox level in engine
I used a checkerboard texture to keep the pixel scale of the original draft.
Narrative Design
In order to make the story fit the theme, I needed to start off by defining the setting. The Inferno Complex is a corporate prison built around disposable, cloneable human test subjects, an idea partly inspired by the movie Mickey 17. Establishing this early gave the looping structure a clear narrative purpose.
Each loop represents a new circle of the facility. The most important story pieces are placed near the end of loops to ensure core information cannot be missed (unless intentionally ignored), while optional logs are hidden to reward exploration.
I wrote a complete story arc first, then split it into documents from different perspectives to create variety and avoid heavy exposition.
The final choice (spoiler alert) of returning to the first loop or ending the cycle forces the player to choose between false hope and final but true freedom. By making this a player decision, I turned the narrative theme into a (hopefully) memorable gameplay moment.
The first console screen the player encounters.
Beat map used as the foundation of both level design and narrative progression.
