Dual-character mechanics
Designed mirrored control, six core rules and combinations that give each character a different role in the puzzle.
Explore details ↓2D narrative puzzle-platformer
One player. Two characters. A shared escape.
THE PROJECT
Overview
Dawn Awaits turns the coordination of a cooperative game into a single-player puzzle. One input moves a girl and her inner self, Domino, along separate routes, making every action a decision about both characters.
MY ROLEDirector / Game designer / Lead programmer / Narrative designer
- Engine
- Unity / C#
- Development
- Sep 2024 – Mar 2025
- Release
- March 11, 2025
DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION
My Contributions
Levels & teaching
Designed asymmetric routes and a four-stage progression from safe discovery to combined application.
Explore details ↓Narrative & Unity implementation
Connected rooms and diary fragments to the girl’s story, and implemented movement mapping and animation states.
Explore details ↓01 / DUAL CONTROL
One input moves two characters
The girl and Domino move in opposite directions from the same input. A safe move for one can put the other at risk, so players must watch both routes and find an action that helps them progress together.
02 / MECHANICS
Six rules create new ways to cooperate
Size changes weight and mobility; dash opens a brief route through hazards. Gravity and rotating platforms change spatial relationships, the direction switch changes how movement is shared, and a clone adds a third character to coordinate.
03 / COMBINATIONS
Recombine rules the player already knows
Combining gravity and direction changes how an input moves each character. Dash and fire require a safe moment between bursts. Shrink, dash and moving saws bring passage size, speed and timing into the same decision.
04 / LEVEL EXAMPLE
Use one character to open the other’s route
The level first exposes the link between a switch and a saw. Growing lets the girl move a toy box onto another switch; the box holds a safe route open while Domino reaches a shrink pickup and passes through the lower gap.
- 01Test the switch and observe the saw.
- 02Collect the grow pickup.
- 03Push the toy box onto the next switch.
- 04Keep the route open with the box.
- 05Guide Domino to the shrink pickup.
- 06Pass through the lower gap.
View the original portfolio designs
05 / TEACHING STRUCTURE
Teach a rule, develop it, then change the context
I used Kishōtenketsu to structure the learning sequence: safe size experiments, focused practice around obstacles, a twist using gravity and direction, and a final sequence that combines familiar actions. The examples below illustrate the role of each stage.
View the original portfolio designs
06 / ENVIRONMENTS
Make the home tell the story
An isolated bedroom, an uneasy bathroom and traces of conflict communicate the girl’s experience through the rooms themselves. The community street gives that enclosed journey a visible destination beyond the home.
07 / DIARY DESIGN
Tell difficult experiences through a child’s diary
Diary fragments frame domestic violence through the girl’s own language: a fight becomes a hurricane, while photographs, scattered petals and handwritten marks connect her observations to the damaged home. The diary adds her perspective to the environmental story.
08 / IMPLEMENTATION
Carry shared input through movement and animation
Domino reads the main character’s horizontal input and jump state. The moveReversed flag chooses matching or mirrored movement, while walking and facing states update the animation. The Animator capture shows the resulting character-state connections.
