reOrder
A tidy-up game set in a bunker full of bombs: put every single one on the right shelf.
Game Designer & Team Lead
(team of 14)
Role
AIV Game Jam · Theme: Organized Disaster
Jam
Unity · Miro · Canva
Tools
5 Days
Duration
PC - Windows Build
Platforms
🏆 Best Graphics
AIV Game Jam
14 people - 5 days
Shipped on time
THE GOAL
Organizing a disaster, literally
The theme was Organized Disaster, so we took it at face value: the disaster is a bunker full of bombs, and the player's job is to put it in order.
I wanted that contrast to define the game's whole tone: dangerous objects, calm gameplay.
DESIGN DECISION · GAMEPLAY
A bunker full of bombs where nothing explodes
Tidy-up games are about calm and satisfaction, but a bunker full of bombs suggests the exact opposite. So we chose, on purpose, to have no penalty for mistakes.
Every bomb is identified by its shape, color, and label, and the challenge is reading those cues and finding the matching shelf: 7 shapes, 35 bomb variants, and 248 bombs to sort.
The danger lives only in the setting, so players can focus on the pleasure of sorting, and the contrast gives the game its personality.
DESIGN DECISION · READABILITY
How do you tell 248 bombs apart?
The real difficulty isn't carrying the bombs, since there are 248 across 35 variants; it's identifying them. Each bomb has three features: shape, color, and label.
The shape and color let players sort them at a glance, while the label confirms the match when two variants are similar.
The shelves use the same features, so players find the correct place by reading the bomb, not by memorizing a list.
The aim was to create a system that players could understand within a few seconds, without a tutorial.
ITERATION
Three features we cut to save the game
Our original plan included carrying several bombs at once, a speedrun mode, and a dynamic missile glossary. With five days and fourteen people to coordinate, we cut all three and focused on one clean loop: pick up a bomb, read it, shelve it.
Before
Multiple missiles at once, speedrun mode, dynamic glossary
After
One missile at a time
One clear loop
TAKEAWAYS
What this taught me for the future
-
Instead of designing the bombs for the room, I would design the room based on the bombs.
-
Readability is essential. If players cannot understand an object within one second, other factors become irrelevant.
-
Eliminating features is also part of design. Removing three features clarified the core loop without diminishing its effectiveness.