Stuart Spikes
Game Designer, Narrative Designer
Level Designer
The Conceptual Phase
Little Big Hero was a concept developed when the theme for GMTK Game Jam 2024 was announced. Myself and four others took the game jams theme, "Build to Scale", and brainstormed for several hours trying to devise a concept that was both a fun and interesting idea while maintaining a scope that we felt like we could accomplish in full within the allotted development time of 96 hours.
We decided that we wanted to build a puzzle game that told a story of a young hero being held captive who held a remarkable power of being able to shrink and grow depending on the objects she interacted with. In a jail cell? Well, why not shrink down to fit through the bars. Then if she needed to move heavier objects, she needed to search her surroundings in order to grow large enough to move these objects. One of the steps I took to ensure a cohesive feel throughout the game was designing a metrics scene with the three sizes of our hero and the scale of each enemy and certain assets next to her.
My Role
I designed the Overworld level, implemented my own puzzles, integrated gameplay mechanics, triggers, music, assets, and everything else you'll see in the Overworld portion of Little Big Hero. The vision of our Overworld was to make it look like a JRPG from the 90s with features such as oversized mountains and forests and tiny villages. I created two separate versions of the Overworld to fit the way our story would unfold.
The first Overworld saw our hero at her small and medium sizes taking on puzzles trying to get into the village so she could access the tavern. I set up several triggers to change the mood via music tracks and enemy types. To help the player understand where they needed to go, I used a road that leads from the starting area and ends at the village. There is a point before the village the road branches off with the intention of encouraging the player to explore off the path in order to discover a hidden grove with a block puzzle and the item required to progress.
The second Overworld features the same village but with a twist! Our hero discovered a potion in the tavern that makes her grow larger than she's ever been which results in the accidental destruction of the town. At this size, she is able to move a boulder she couldn't move before. Now she is able to get into the final area and defeat the dragon which ends the game.
