After Hours: Maneqquin Mayhem

Designer

Platform:

Team Size:

Genre:

Close Combat Action game

Dev Duration:

13 weeks

About

"A casual comic-style action brawler where a mannequin fights to become the king of an after-hours mall."

After Hours: Mannequin Mayhem is a combat design project developed in the University of Utah’s Game Master course using Unreal Engine 5. The game features brawler-style close-quarters combat centered on delivering a strong player power fantasy, as a mannequin grows in strength to become the “king of the mall” after closing hours.

Contributions

Designed and implemented a bookstore-themed level environment
Developed the core narrative foundation to support gameplay and world-building
Prototyped an interactive pillar mechanic with damage-based destruction
Documented design meeting agendas, key discussions, and final decisions
Designed and implemented the initial enemy wave behavior system
Coordinated communication and requirements for outsourced VFX (light punch effects)
Conducted playtest sessions and gathered player feedback to inform design improvements

Level Design - Bookstore

For the bookstore level, I focused on strategically placing traps and enemy spawners around shelves and pillars. The level was intentionally designed to be compact, encouraging close-quarters combat. Bookshelves are positioned along key paths so players can use them tactically during encounters.

Since one of our core design decisions was to use a dash instead of a jump, incorporating obstacles became an important part of how players navigate and fight. The layout encourages players to actively engage with the environment rather than rely on vertical movement.

I also added a Roomba enemy that explodes, giving players an additional interactive element that can be used to deal damage to enemies from a distance.

Destructible pillars were introduced as part of this level’s design. They are intended to serve as temporary cover rather than permanent safe zones, preventing players from staying in one area indefinitely. Once a pillar takes 1000 damage, it breaks and can no longer be used for protection, encouraging players to keep moving and engage more actively.

Playtesting - Game Feel

Since our game heavily emphasizes combat feel, I focused the playtest questions on combat pacing, punch impact, and dash usage. One key piece of feedback was that players wanted to continuously attack with light punches as long as they held down the mouse. In response, we implemented a looping system with two alternating animations for faster punches, which significantly improved the overall game feel.

The playtest also helped us refine our sound effects and VFX, adding more detail based on player expectations and making the combat feel more responsive and satisfying.