Water you waiting for
Role: Game Designer, Artist, Project Manager
1year (Ongoing)
Team of 5
Water You Waiting For demonstrates my interest in socially impactful game design and my ability to translate complex real-world systems into meaningful interactive experiences.
Project Summary
Water You Waiting For is a resource management simulation game where the player takes on the role of a mayor in a small fictional town inspired by Ontario. The game simulates how freshwater is managed on a systemic level, focusing on sustainability, infrastructure, and political decision-making.
Designed for a high school audience, the game aims to teach players that while the Great Lakes may appear limitless, freshwater is a finite resource. Through gameplay systems and narrative choices, players learn how water is consumed, regulated, and preserved it also shows how systemic change can begin through civic action.
Design Goals
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Help players understand the real-world systems governing water usage
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Teach the importance of water conservation through interactive systems
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Show how individuals can push for systemic change
This project highlights my ability to:
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Design educational systems that remain engaging and approachable
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Manage a long-term project with evolving scope
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Balance realism, accessibility, and player agency
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Lead design decisions that align gameplay with learning outcomes
Agile Scrum for
Long-Term Iteration
Since Water You Waiting For is a year-long project focused on systemic accuracy and educational impact, we adopted an Agile Scrum methodology. Scrum allowed the team to continuously test systems, validate learning outcomes, and iterate on mechanics without locking the design too early.
The Scrum framework supported:
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Iterative testing of complex simulation systems
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Regular reassessment of transformational goals
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Structured collaboration over a long timeline
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Incremental refinement of realism vs. playability
Using Scrum ensured the game evolved thoughtfully while remaining accessible and aligned with its transformative learning goals.
At the start of every week I conduct a Sprint review and take a look at our burn down chart to analyse how we are progressing during the week. After that we plan our next sprint by breaking down the task using story points and to populate our Kanban board so everyone is on the same page to ensure our next sprint runs smoothly and keep our project on track for success
Confluence For Documentation
To support long-term development and cross-disciplinary collaboration, our team used Confluence as a centralized documentation hub. This ensured that design decisions, system logic, and responsibilities remained clear and accessible throughout the project’s year-long timeline.
Our Confluence structure included:
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Design Direction Page: Outlined the game’s vision, pillars, and educational goals to keep development aligned.
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Mechanics Documentation: Detailed individual systems and how they interact within the larger simulation.
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Meeting Notes Archive: Organized by meeting date and titled with the most important decision made that day, allowing the team to easily trace decision history and rationale.
Using Confluence helped the team:
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Maintain clarity across a long development cycle
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Reduce miscommunication and onboarding friction if a new member were to be added
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Make informed decisions based on documented discussions
This workflow reinforced structured iteration while supporting flexibility and collaboration across the team.