UNICORN UNICYCLE

Unicorn Unicycle is one of the many social-emotional educational games hosted on the LuvBug Learning app. In this endless runner mobile game, players collect coins and Jellybean creatures to boost their score while jumping across islands to avoid enemies. Players answer social-emotional questions to enter 'extravaganza' mode and transform their unicycle into a plane. In this process, players can save Jellybeans and shoot down badgers. Experience an enchanting blend of fun and learning!

Company: LuvBug Learning

Engine: Unity, C#

Two-person development team

Shipped - Download app: App Store or Google Play Store

Roles and Responsibilities

  • Level Design

    • Built tight, fast-paced levels using greyboxing, architectural principles, and gameplay metrics.

    • Balanced platform layout and pacing to support core movement and flying power-up sequences.

  • Gameplay Systems

    • Developed animation controllers, refined player movement, and synced sound effects for a responsive feel.

    • Designed enemy movement and created the “Power-Up Extravaganza” mode, transforming the player into a plane.

    • Implemented a tutorial system to teach core mechanics naturally through gameplay.

  • Visual Enhancements

    • Created a curved world shader for visual appeal and a sense of dynamic motion.

  • Optimization

    • Improved performance with atlas texturing, LODs, sprite slicing, and TextMeshPro.

    • Reduced app size using asset bundling and boosted runtime efficiency via pooling for coins, particles, and enemies.

Level Design Process

Greyboxing & Blockout

  • Initiated the design process with greyboxing to prototype core platforming layouts and gameplay loops.

  • Prioritized flow, timing, and jump arcs using placeholder geometry to test movement dynamics early on.

  • Established foundational paths for player traversal and pacing, leaving space for collectables and enemies to be layered in meaningfully.

  • Divided levels into “beats” that alternated between challenge, reward, and spectacle, each tuned to keep momentum and curiosity high.

Metrics-Driven Iteration

  • Used movement data (max jump height, run speed, camera framing) to space platforms, hazards, and vertical layers.

  • Carefully adjusted layout to create satisfying rhythm through jumps, climing, and boosting

  • Coin and jellybean placement were aligned to player motion arcs - rewarding optimal movement paths and guiding players toward secrets or alternate routes.

  • Enemy positioning was designed around key movement challenges, creating reactive moments of tension that require timing or quick reflexes.

Gameplay Element Integration

  • Coins: Placed in arcs or strings to guide player flow and reward stylish or risky maneuvers.

  • Jellybeans: Used more sparingly as high-value collectables, hidden in challenging and risky spaces

  • Enemies: Positioned to reinforce level beats either to interrupt flow for a moment of tension or to guard critical sections like power-ups and transitions. Their timing and patrol paths were tuned to feel fair yet challenging.

Playtesting & Loop Refinement

  • Ran regular playtests, focusing on moment-to-moment feel, visual clarity, and mechanical readability.

  • Refined coin and jellybean placements based on natural player motion and path preference.

  • Tweaked enemy behavior and placement to match player timing and improve fairness without reducing difficulty.

  • Used player feedback to polish transitions, fix pacing dips, and maintain consistent engagement throughout the level.

Bubble Diagram of Level Layout A

Grey Boxing and Initial Planning

In the early stages of Unicorn Unicycle, level development began with greyboxing to rapidly prototype platform spacing, jump arcs, and movement rhythm. Platforms were laid out based on detailed movement metrics to ensure responsive and fluid traversal. Coins were strategically aligned with jump paths to subtly guide players along ideal routes, creating a natural sense of flow and rewarding smooth execution.

As development progressed, additional islands and pathways were introduced to improve visual clarity and guide the player more intuitively through the space. These additions helped reduce ambiguity in navigation and ensured that key objectives were visible and reachable without compromising exploration. Jellybeans, serving as high-value collectibles, were deliberately placed in harder-to-reach areas or tucked behind challenging sequences to encourage curiosity and risk-taking.

Enemy placements were carefully considered to support pacing—appearing at moments designed to disrupt flow, introduce tension, or guard valuable rewards. These encounters added layers of rhythm and pressure to the traversal loop, reinforcing both timing and spatial awareness in the player’s journey.

The above shows the initial grey box level with basic platforms and bridges to navigate. The second image is of more arted-up islands with enemy and collectable placements. The last image is of the final level from a top-down view, showcasing the curve shader and additional obstacles.