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Project Context
The Dumping Ground: Face Your Fears was a 2D side-scrolling browser game for CBBC, designed to help children face relatable fears in a fun and approachable way.
The game turned recognisable childhood worries into playable scenarios: not having the same game as everyone else, having a difficult day, or not wanting to go outside. That gave the level design a narrative purpose beyond standard platform-style interaction.
The team consisted of myself as lead developer and one designer who created the assets and levels. We iterated repeatedly across the development cycle to improve the feel, fairness and readability of the levels.
From the beginning, the project was expected to support future level expansions, so the code needed to be flexible enough to slot in new content without heavy rework.
Expansion-Friendly Level Structure
The main engineering constraint was the level pipeline. Levels were authored outside the codebase and changed repeatedly during production, so gameplay behaviours, asset placement and level data needed to remain data-driven rather than baked into individual scenes.
That structure also mattered because the project was expected to support future expansions. New levels and behaviours needed to fit into the existing loader without forcing a rewrite of the game each time content changed.
Dynamic Level Loading
The levels changed many times throughout development, so the game needed a dynamic level loader rather than hard-coded scene structure.
Level information was loaded from JSON, including asset placement and behaviour data. This meant levels could be modified, tested and expanded without requiring low-level code changes for every adjustment.
Tiled Map Editor
Tiled became the level-authoring tool for the predefined stages. This was a shift from previous games where Adobe Animate had often handled level or scene authoring.
Using Tiled gave the designer a visual tool for building levels and exporting structured JSON data. That made iteration quicker and improved collaboration between design and development.
Iterative Design Process
The game went through multiple design and gameplay iterations to make the levels more fun and fair. We worked closely to identify issues with mechanics, level layout and user flow, then adjusted the experience based on how it played rather than treating the first pass as final.
That process helped the final game feel fairer and better suited to its younger audience.
Problem
- The game needed to be fun, fair and approachable for a younger CBBC audience.
- Levels changed frequently during development, so level loading had to remain data-driven and flexible.
- The project was planned with future level expansions in mind, so the code needed to support new content with minimal friction.
Approach
- Led development alongside a designer who created the assets and levels.
- Built the dynamic level loader using JSON data exported from Tiled.
- Structured the game so levels, asset placement and behaviours could be modified without hard-coded changes.
- Worked through multiple gameplay and level-design iterations to improve fun, fairness and readability.
- Implemented the data-driven level and gameplay structure for the browser game.
Interesting Bits
- Data-driven level architecture
- 2D side-scrolling browser gameplay
- Tiled-authored level data exported to JSON
- Dynamic level loading for iterative development and future expansions
- Narrative interaction built around relatable children's worries
- Reusable gameplay structure for additional levels
Outcome
- Delivered a public-facing CBBC browser game designed around helping children engage with their fears.
- Nominated for a TIGA Award for Best Arcade Game.
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