This game was showcased at the 2025 USC Games Expo and is coming soon to Steam!
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What is Mantle?
Mantle is a 2D Mini-Game based puzzle game that tricks players into believing that the protagonist is becoming the villain until it is revealed who he actually is.
Major points of inspiration:
This project combines the tactical strategy of Fire Emblem franchise and the non-violent RPG combat of Undertale.
What did I do?
What did I do?
I worked as a system designer on this game. I managed the spreadsheet statistics that determined the output effect each minigame has on the grid.
Combat
Combat
The game's combat uses Mind Scanners-esque mini-games in order to manipulate the target's emotions and lure them into a state where they can be defeated. Completing each mini-game has an effect on the emotion grid, moving the enemy's indicator based on the player's success or failure.
The game doesn't use text based tutorials so it was imperative that as we created and iterated on these mini-games that the intended gameplay and prospective outcomes were both clear to the player.
Solution: Diminishing Returns
Solution: Diminishing Returns
Early on in development we had to solve the issue of players using the same mini-game on consecutive turns, eliminating the strategic element.
So I opted to implement a diminishing return mechanic that reduced the distance the indicator would travel on the grid with each successive use of a particular mini-game and would reset when a different mini-game was chosen.
Solution: Breaking the Stairs
Solution: Breaking the Stairs
Throughout development there were a number of instances of where players would opt to alternate between only two of the available mini-games creating a path that resembled a staircase.
As a result the angles that the indicator would travel needed to be adjusted with the narrative in mind. The mini-games were all changed to provide varied, indirect approaches and only the most difficult mini-game would provide a direct path.
Progression
Progression
As the game goes on the angles of that the mini-games move the indicator in change with each opponent and the games themselves grow more challenging.
Solution: Consistency
Solution: Consistency
Unfortunately, the enemies being developed out of order meant that the difficulty curve was all over the place for a few months. Once we got enough player metric data to see which opponents were too hard or easy the angles of the mini-games could be fine tuned toward/away from the win condition areas.
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