Word Tag

A 3D action platformer that teaches vocabulary through quick minigames triggered by spray painting words in the world.

Quick Facts

• Role: Core Game Designer (plus earlier Gameplay Engineer on the project)

• Context: Professional live product

• Tools: Unity, C#, Confluence, Excel, Jira, Git, Miro

• Status: Released

What I owned / delivered

• Owned game-side design for WordTag (as opposed to the learning gameplay), working closely with creative direction to define and ship.

• Designed and tuned progression, economy, and mission structure using Excel.

• Designed and implemented the game’s combat system and AI behaviors.

• Responsible for game feel, particularly making new game mechanics (such as bouncy mushrooms and updrafts) feel good to play with.

• Provided major assistance with a redesign of the Spaced Repetition schedule to improve learning pacing.

• Led a complete level overhaul meant to introduce new game mechanics and provide each level a unique mechanical identity.

• Designed, prototyped, and shipped new game mechanics, including throwable objects, bombs, destructible environments, and puzzle mechanics.

• Designed and tuned an LLM powered Oracy teaching chat bot with an external partner, which I tested with Sesame Street in New York. Findings heavily affected the design of the feature before it shipped.

Context

• Player Goal: Run, climb, skate and jump around a 3D environment, collecting spray paint and defeating enemies. Learning vocabulary through minigames triggered by painting words on walls.

• Core Loop: Log in, enter 2-4 levels to complete missions, going through the daily curriculum of words to learn, then ending the day and coming back tomorrow.

• What makes it distinct: Very high quality action platformer for mobile devices, 42 days of distinct mission experiences, powered by a practically limitless word engine for years of vocabulary learning.

Design goals

• Make it feel like a platformer first: Responsive controls, good game feel, and dynamic game mechanics that invite play, so the learning layer sits on top of a satisfying game.

• Keep sessions clear and repeatable: Mission structure, rewards, and pacing support and encourage short daily play without confusion, repetition, or friction.

• Keep it feeling new: deliver a steady flow of novel moments - unique level changes, new mechanics, and seasonal content - while keeping the difficulty curve fair and readable.

Constraints

• Working inside an established codebase and content pipeline: changes needed to respect existing architecture and content while improving clarity, pacing, and extensibility.

• Mobile + audience constraints: performance and readability on small screens; inputs and difficulty tuned for the young audience.

Build