Developing Tools for a Designer’s Playground

Sasha Avteniev , 04/18/2026

Wandering

Recently, I’ve been reflecting on my place in game design and development. What part of this industry and creative endeavor do I really love and want to pursue? I’ve only now really begun to develop a solid understanding of the breadth and depth of the roles that exist. So, as I hone in on a focus, I’ve been thinking about how I got here.
Going into echoes, way back at the start of Fall 2024, I was lost in this game design program. I had come into it with some animation experience, a fundamental understanding of coding, and a passion for physics, but not much else. I had already been a physics programmer, animator, and even producer on some academic projects, and was about to be a producer again on another academic team.
I was really enjoying all of it, which was the problem. I felt like my attention was being split, and I couldn’t build myself up in any one direction. Without direction, I was lost in the muck and struggling to figure out how to market myself and my skills.

The Hush Problem

Around the middle of the Spring 2025 semester (dang, it feels so long ago, but that’s honestly nothing), the Hush team had found an issue during playtesting. Players would read the dialogue, play the mini-games, and understand what was clickable in the game, but would always breeze straight through without looking at everything, and end the game saying, “So what was it about again?” This was unacceptable to us; players needed to take the time to go through every mini-game and truly understand the world’s context.

The Hush Solution

I volunteered to tackle this problem. After all, I had made a promise to myself and the team that I would jump at the opportunities to learn new things that semester (and every semester since). Outside of one small physics system, I’d never engineered a game system before. Solving this problem required research into how Unity’s Start() and Update() methods work, the DontDestroyOnLoad property, a refresher on Object Oriented Design patterns, and a helping hand from Will Tallarico .
In the end, the system I developed, dubbed the EventSystem, allowed the team to pace the story how we wanted. Each interactable item in the game could map to others it “unlocked,” ensuring players couldn’t speed ahead without seeing everything on each floor. I was incredibly proud of it, as it was a strong representation of my technical abilities and my understanding of design. Approaching the development of the EventSystem from a designer’s perspective on the game allowed me to address our needs concisely, resulting in something customizable to the way we wanted to pace the game.

So What Exactly am I Doing?

Since then, I’ve developed a few similar systems designed for maximum customization so the in-game objects and systems they were built for could be adjusted and balanced based on player feedback. I’ve ended up specializing in movement systems since my comfort with physics lets me set them up quickly, but I’ve also revisited the EventSystem and applied that work to other projects, especially when working with singletons in Unity.
Even though my experience and skills lie in working with math and technology, I love being a part of the creative process, just as I did when I came into this program with just animation experience.
One of my biggest worries, when I realized I was good at and enjoyed being in a technical role, was that I would be ousted from the creative parts of game design, looking at the art being made. However, reflecting on my work with Hush and echoes as a whole, I know that isn’t the case.
There is design intent in my development work. My systems aren’t just a part of the creative process; building them is its own creative process. For now, the designer utilizing the tools I develop to mess with numbers and parameters based on feedback is me, but that won’t always be the case. Regardless of who is doing the design work, the tools I develop let them expand their creative boundaries. Roles in games are fluid and bleed into each other a lot, but there’s always work that someone is the best at doing. Personally, I’ve come to love building the tools that let the engine feel like a playground for my team, without limitations.