Overview
Ground Up Construction is a puzzle game built around pentomino shapes, designed to engage players in spatial reasoning and attention to detail through the lens of commercial construction.

I developed levels, tutorials, and UI systems, iterating with playtests to ensure learning objectives and gameplay mechanics were tightly integrated.

Across 100 levels, players place varied building blocks according to detailed plans, simulating real-world trade skills while exploring career pathways in the construction industry. 

A Pentomino Puzzler for Workforce Development
3-min read

This page covers:

• Puzzle design and rapid prototyping

• Onboarding and tutorial development

• UI design challenges and solutions

• Iterative playtesting and refinement

Concept & Design Goals

Our client, the Master Builders’ Association of Western Pennsylvania, sought a hands-on experience that would:

• Emphasize building something tangible

• Provide clear information about construction careers

• Reinforce positive messaging and counter stereotypes

• Avoid focusing on any single trade, reflecting the diversity of commercial construction

We identified key aptitudes relevant across trades, such as attention to detail, spatial reasoning, and understanding materials. These guided the gameplay concept: players follow detailed plans, select appropriate building blocks, and place them correctly to complete structures.

Early Prototyping

Inspired by the shape variety in Tetris-like puzzles, we chose pentominoes to represent building blocks. Due to their complexity, we removed the gravity and queuing mechanics. So unlike Tetris, the absence of time pressure and access to shapes allowed more thoughtful placement.

I created a paper prototype using Photoshop and Google Slides, where testers arranged pentomino pieces on grids to solve puzzles. This low-tech approach enabled rapid iteration and easy sharing across the team. It even resulted in team members creating new levels.

UI Design

Designing an interface to manage 12 unique pentomino pieces with rotation and flipping posed challenges. After numerous mockups, we developed a diegetic UI that displays the building plan, toolbox (block selection), and construction site simultaneously.

This approach was inspired by real construction blueprints shared by our client, grounding the gameplay in authentic trade practices.

The interface as it appears in the released game.

Playtesting & Feedback

Playtests with the target demographic revealed key insights:

• Flipping and mirroring blocks was often overlooked and needed clearer onboarding

• Puzzle difficulty ramped up too quickly, leading to frustration

• Players were sometimes unsure about the final structure they built

• Some blocks were rarely used, sparking “aha” moments when players explored options

• Attempts to move already placed blocks highlighted potential interface improvements

Iteration & Refinement

In response, we:

• Created tutorial levels explicitly focused on teaching core mechanics

• Opened level design to the whole team via slide prototypes for easy iteration

• Designed levels to gradually introduce mechanics and pieces

• Collaborated with art to ensure completed buildings looked meaningful

• Attempted to manage constraints that prevented movable placed blocks

Subsequent playtests showed improved player progression and engagement, with increased player communication about the game.

Level Building

I designed and implemented the first 50 levels, carefully ordering them to support learning the game’s mechanics and rules. I also designed many other levels alongside teammates. Level data was entered via arrays in Unity, where each value corresponded to a specific art asset shaping the completed building’s appearance.

I also managed documentation for level concepts, solutions, versions, and notes.

There are often multiple ways to solve the same puzzle.

Interstitial Content & Writing

To provide career resources and positive messaging, we incorporated interactive quizzes between levels featuring a character representing the target audience.

I wrote these cutscenes and quiz content, along with digestible trade information cards available in the game’s resource section.

Release & Retrospective

Ground Up Construction launched on major app stores. Reflecting on the project, I see opportunities for improvement:

• Enhancing building dynamics with movable or “falling” blocks (I explored this via a GameMaker prototype post-release)

• Explicit tutorial for deleting blocks

• Experimenting with nonlinear difficulty curves by mixing easy, medium, and hard puzzles

• Highlighting multiple valid solutions to encourage player creativity

• Improving feedback and reward systems, including sound design

• Increasing accessibility of block differentiation beyond subtle color cues

• Adding a level editor to empower player creativity

• Evaluating the effectiveness of interstitial quizzes

Key Takeaways

• Flexible paper prototypes accelerate design iteration and team collaboration

• Puzzle design benefits from gradual onboarding of mechanics

• Players engage more deeply when educational content meaningfully enhances gameplay

CONTACT

blagania@gmail.com
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