Valerie Chen
Game Designer | Developer | Artist
Common Grounds
Common Grounds is simulation game where you play as a barista and serve customers. The goal is to pay attention to them in order to decorate their cup with their favourite things.
Made for That Game Company 2025 Game Jam
3 weeks in June
Team of 4
Tools and Software
Unity
Procreate, Clip Studio Paint, Photoshop
Miro, Confluence, Jira
Responsibilities
As the 2D Environment Artist ...
- Painted all environment art and some flat stickers
- Integrated assets into the build, placing environment art into the level
- Incorporated lighting in engine and UI bounce animations
As the Programmer ...
- Heart System: If player engages in conversation, uses the correct colors / stickers, and gets the drink order correct, hearts are attributed to each action. More hearts equates to better endings and unlocks different dialogue.
- Sequenced all events and animations: changed characters, stored the player's actions, and played the correct animations.
Key Takeaways
Take time to invest in game "juice"
Even though this is just a game jam, it was important to us that we had a smaller but more polished game with a clear loop. Adding small movements brought life into the game, bringing it from a static screen to something that captured the player's attention.