Day Day Dream is a casual puzzle game set inside childhood textbooks. Players solve puzzles based on Chinese poetry, English vocabulary, and Math functions to roam through a garden of knowledge. It aims to evoke nostalgia for school days while providing a playful, educational experience.
Project Type
2D Casual Puzzle PC Game (Developed in Unity)
Timeline
2022: "Introduction to Ludology" Course Project
2024.8-2025.11: Expanded for Steam Release
My Role
Project Lead
60% Game Design
50% Programming
Skill & Tools
Unity 2D, C#, Excel
Collaborators
Team of 6:
Shushan Cao (Co-programmer)
Xinrou Yang (Co-designer, Artist)
Xinwei Ye (Co-designer)
Yihong Liu (Artist)
Xiaomu Tang (Co-programmer)
01 Intentions
The core inspiration was to create a playable book that captures the shared memory of 9-year compulsory education in China—the doodles in class, the first understanding of a subject, and the imagination hidden in illustrations. Our main design challenge was to gamify abstract knowledge without making it feel like a boring exam. We needed to turn static textbook content, like poems and formulas, into interactive mechanics that felt intuitive and rewarding for students and nostalgic adults.
02 Process
We iterated on the design to ensure the gameplay felt like playing, not studying.
1. Gamifying Poetry (Chinese Levels)
Instead of just filling in blanks, we designed puzzles around Chinese poem imagery. For example, in the level The Folk Song of Tz’u Le, players must drag the character “Wind” to the hill to make the grass bend, revealing the hidden “Cattle and Sheep.” This requires players to understand the poem’s dynamic imagery, not just memorize words.
2. Visualizing Math (Math Levels)
To make functions interesting, we turned them into physical tracks. Players adjust function parameters to generate curves that guide a rolling ball (food) into an animal’s mouth. This visualizes the abstract math functions into a tangible physics puzzle.
3. Improving Game Feel
Early feedback showed players were frustrated when interactions had no response. We added feedback for incorrect interactions to let players know the game was responsive. We also optimized the English levels: instead of dragging letters, players now click to spell, and generated words snap neatly into slots, making the experience smoother.
03 Contributions
As Project Lead, I managed the six-person team, created real-time tracking sheets, planned milestones, and led bi-weekly review meetings. I also initiated a crucial reset in late 2024 to align the team's pace and reignite our shared vision.
As Game Designer, I designed about 60% of all levels: 3 Chinese levels, all 14 Math levels, 3 English levels.
As Programmer, I co-programmed the game in Unity, implementing Chinese and English levels’ interaction logic and programming all Math level features.
04 What I Learned
1. Feedback is Key
Giving players a response for every interaction, even incorrect ones, greatly increases the game feel and fun, and prevents confusion.
2. Observation over Instruction
Watching players play without interrupting them taught me much more about where our guide design failed than asking them did.
3. Managing Amateur Teams
For part-time projects, finding the right pace is crucial. I learned to balance pushing for progress with respecting teammates’ availability, using routine check-ins to keep the project moving forward steadily.
