Project Echo is a first-person spatial puzzle game set inside a massive alien tunnel — a rotating, cylindrical structure where players manipulate gravity to solve traversal challenges. You play as Josie, an explorer who discovers an ancient artifact that lets her lock onto surfaces and rotate the tunnel in real-time.
Inspired by games like Astro Bot, Project Echo takes full advantage of the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller to deliver immersive gameplay through gyro aiming, adaptive triggers, and rich haptic feedback.
Built in Tengine, our in-house engine, Project Echo was created in 6 weeks by a team of 13 students at PlaygroundSquad. I served as Level & Gameplay Designer, focusing on core mechanics, spatial puzzle design, controller feedback systems, and tutorial planning.
Despite the tight timeline and a custom engine, we delivered a polished experience with innovative rotation-based mechanics and a surreal alien atmosphere we’re proud of.
Major Contributions
Production / Team Collaboration;
Worked closely with the team to align design intent with implementation constraints, keeping the experience shippable and coherent.Level & Puzzle Design:
Designed and iterated the full level progression (tutorial → escalation), focused on readability and pacingCore Mechanic + Interaction Design:
Built the core rotation / spatial-logic gameplay into solvable, learnable beats through level structure and player-facing feedback.Traversal / Platforming Systems:
Designed traversal challenges around the mechanic, keeping flow smooth and preventing dead-ends.
Challenges & Takeaways
The biggest challenge was making the rotation feel readable while the level is literally moving. Layouts had to work from multiple orientations, so geometry and sightlines needed to stay clear even during rotation.Time was also a constraint, so some planned tutorial/mechanic segments had to be cut or merged to keep the experience coherent and shippable.A key takeaway for me was that “big idea” mechanics only work if the player always understands what changed and why. That pushed me to rely on clear onboarding through level layout and strong feedback, not UI pop-ups.
Level design
It all started with the question:
What if the level itself was the puzzle?I didn’t want to just place obstacles inside a cool space, I wanted to create a space the player had to understand, manipulate, and rotate to progress.
That was the seed of the idea. I started brainstorming with architectural concepts like the Panopticon, but quickly shifted gears after remembering Vah Naboris, the rotating divine beast from Breath of the Wild. I loved how the entire structure rotated to shift the level layout itself and wanted to push that further.From there, I began sketching ideas for cylindrical tunnels with shifting paths that could connect and disconnect based on rotation. I also pulled visual inspiration from Escher’s “Relativity” and the surreal hallways of Harry Potter.
To test the idea, I built a quick Unreal Engine prototype where you could rotate the tunnel you were looking at using the mouse wheel. This helped me answer important design questions:This prototype became a core part of my pitch to the team. It let me show how the rotation felt in real time, and how puzzles could form through platform alignment, gravity shifts, and spatial memory.
Roadmap of all levels in the game.
After pitching and validating the prototype, I moved on to designing a full experience across six main puzzle rooms. Each section introduced new mechanics, spatial twists, or visual shifts that built on the player’s existing understanding.Due to time limits, our teammate Ami helped design short tutorial segments to teach each mechanic gradually. These had to be cut or merged to keep the project focused and cohesive, creating a tighter experience that still touches on every system.
Puzzle 1
Puzzle 2
Puzzle 3
Designing for a rotating environment required strong spatial clarity. The space needed to read well from multiple orientations, while the rotation itself had to feel grounded and physical.To achieve this, I worked with smooth rotation combined with a snap-lock system that aligned the cylinder to fixed intervals when released. This kept movement fluid while ensuring platforms and environmental elements always lined up correctly, preserving both readability and puzzle functionality.
Core Mechanic Design
The central mechanic of Project Echo was the ability to rotate massive cylindrical tunnels to solve spatial puzzles and navigate through the environment. This feature needed to feel tactile and immersive, using the PS5's gyro controls and adaptive triggers to connect player input directly to world movement.
To pitch the idea and test feasibility, I built quick Unreal Engine prototypes early in development. Using simple blueprints, I created a system where looking at a cylinder and scrolling the mouse wheel would rotate it.This allowed us to evaluate its potential for puzzle design and refine its basic feel before moving to full implementation in Tengine.
Player Feedback
Player feedback was built as a combined layer of crosshair + the hero device + DualSense feedback, so aiming/locking and rotation actions feel tactile and consistent.
Crosshair, hero device, and controller feedback
Break working together to create a cohesive, tactile experience.
Platforming Systems
The central mechanic of Project Echo was the ability to rotate massive cylindrical tunnels to solve spatial puzzles and navigate through the environment. This feature needed to feel tactile and immersive, using the PS5's gyro controls and adaptive triggers to connect player input directly to world movement.
During development, I defined the behavior and feel of different platform types, including horizontal sliders, vertical lifts, and push/pull platforms.My role was to design how these should function, interact with the player, and integrate with the rotating tunnels.For example, I planned how push/pull platforms should feel weighty but responsive, and how vertical lifts should sync with rotation segments to avoid blocking player progress unintentionally.
Horizontal Platforms
Vertical Platforms
Push & Pull Platforms
Some work in progress videos of the mechanics
Interaction Design & Systems Setup
During development, I defined the behavior and feel of different platform types, including horizontal sliders, vertical lifts, and push/pull platforms.My role was to design how these should function, interact with the player, and integrate with the rotating tunnels.For example, I planned how push/pull platforms should feel weighty but responsive, and how vertical lifts should sync with rotation segments to avoid blocking player progress unintentionally.
To streamline things, I requested a setup guide from the programming team, a visual reference that explained how puzzle tags should be placed and how different logic pieces connected.This let me focus on building puzzles confidently, without constantly interrupting the programmers or second-guessing things. It saved time, reduced mistakes, and helped me keep the workflow clean.
Team Support
To support the team, I created clear blockouts and design notes that helped everyone stay aligned. Every new mechanic was taught in a space where players could try it without pressure, and without being explicitly told what to do. Our goal was to make learning feel like part of the world, not something separate from it.
The massive rotating arms were designed to overwhelm and guide the player's gaze through scale and motion
