Created with a team at RMIT University, All in a Day’s Work is a side-scrolling action-platformer set on a towering, mechanical walking city.
Taking control of a small worker robot, players scramble, battle, and scale the various exterior and interior levels of the tower. Locations include the perilous mechanical underside, a junk-town teetering above a giant trash-compactor, a luxurious upper boardwalk, and the insides of the tower’s Big Ben-like mechanical clock.
Action alternates between shooting combat against waves of robot enemies, and platforming challenges that often involve hazardous obstacles themed around a location.
As principle level designer on All in a Day’s Work I was responsible for the bulk of the game’s levels and locations, working closely with the two artists on the team.
Each level is contiguous from the last to build a sense of journey and scale, and all end with a climactic set-piece. These moments include a shooting-gallery atop a moving platform within the clock face, and a race against the ominous trash-compactor.
When it debuted All in a Day’s Work was a hit with both students and lecturers. You can see more in the preview trailer below.