About the Game
Santa's Workshop Whirlwind is a festive arcade game set on the most stressful night of the year. The presents aren't ready, the clock is ticking, and it's up to the player to save Christmas for millions of children worldwide.
Santa's Workshop Whirlwind is a VR game designed for the Meta Quest 2. Players take the role of an elf who discovers they - along with the rest of the elves - have been put to sleep for the whole year by Krampus. As one of the remaining elves, it's up to the player to grab toys off conveyor belts, pack them into gift boxes, and throw them down chutes. Complete all the gift requests before time runs out to save Christmas. Be wary: Krampus is still up to his mischief and will try to corrupt fellow elves to stop you.
My Process
Unit Context
Santa's Workshop Whirlwind was developed for IGB388 - Design & Development of Immersive Environments at QUT. The unit had two phases: students first individually conceptualised and prototyped a VR experience, then worked in groups to fully develop one of their team's prototypes into a complete, polished submission.
Early Concept Development
During individual ideation, students were advised to keep ideas simple and novel, make strong use of VR's unique affordances, and research existing VR experiences before committing to a concept. After playing through a range of VR titles, my core insight was simple: just being able to grab and throw objects in VR felt genuinely novel and fun.
My initial concept was a factory where players packed orders by grabbing items off conveyor belts and throwing them into chutes. The mechanics were sound, but the setting felt bleak and uninviting. I spun the idea to make it more appealing: instead of a factory, the player would be an elf in Santa's Workshop on Christmas Eve, packing toys for children around the world before time ran out.
Feasibility Prototype
For the individual phase, I built a feasibility prototype demonstrating the core loop: conveyor belts delivering toys, gift boxes to pack them into, and chutes to throw completed gifts down. This prototype proved the concept was achievable and genuinely fun, and it was the build I pitched to my team.
The prototype also revealed an early layout flaw - the chutes were positioned such that throwing gifts into them felt awkward and unnatural. I corrected this by repositioning the chutes so that the throwing motion was intuitive and satisfying, which made a significant difference to how the core loop felt.
Roadmap & Team Structure
Before team development commenced, I prepared a production roadmap that outlined and pitched the sprints, milestones, and deliverables for a full group development cycle. The team chose to develop my prototype. Carlin took the role of Lead Artist, Hue took Lead Programmer, and I served as Lead Designer - also contributing to programming and art and modelling tasks throughout the project.
Development Sprints
Sprint 1 focused on quality-of-life improvements and level layout: refining the workshop space, adding teleportation locomotion so players could reach all areas comfortably, and establishing the visual language of the environment.
Sprint 2 introduced elf NPC AI - including naughty elves corrupted by Krampus who would interfere with the player's workflow, adding a layer of challenge and narrative tension to the core loop.
Sprints 3 and 4 addressed UX and completeness: a conveyor belt interface showing which toys were needed for each gift, custom gift chute models, and a tutorial sequence to onboard new players. The final week was spent on polish and refinement ahead of submission.
Outcomes
The team did exceptionally well on this project and were given the opportunity to showcase Santa's Workshop Whirlwind at the 2023 and 2024 QUT Immersive Games Festivals, a Reality Labs Games Showcase Event, and the 2023 QUT Open Day. I consider this my most well-rounded project - it demonstrated capability across design, programming, project management, and art simultaneously. It also led directly to me being hired as a Research Assistant at QUT to work on the ARC Mars VR Project.
