Unwound

Before any mechanics work started, the team and I locked three design pillars. These weren't formalities, they were the filter every decision had to pass through for the rest of the project.

The question I was working through: how do you keep a stealth-adventure tense when combat isn't the main threat?

The wind-up mechanic is the core resource system in Unwound. Benjamin has an energy bar that represents his remaining wind-up time, displayed at the top of the viewport. The bar holds a maximum of 60 seconds, divided into four distinct sections of 15 seconds each, and the player begins with only the first section filled. Energy depletes continuously. Moving costs 1 second per second. Standing still costs half that. There is no safe state, the meter is always running. I went with constant depletion over per-action costs because the pressure needed to be present even during quiet moments, during exploration or puzzle-solving, not only when enemies are nearby.

Environmental interactions pull from the same energy pool. Powering a jack-in-the-box jump pad costs 4 seconds. Triggering a cymbal monkey distraction costs 5. I put these on the same budget as movement and survival on purpose, it forces you to weigh every interaction against how much runway you have left. "Can I afford this shortcut, or does spending 4 seconds here mean I don't make it to the next wind-up point?" That kind of constant cost-benefit was what I wanted running in the player's head.

After the first energy section is filled, the player can attempt a skill-based minigame to earn up to three additional sections. The basic wind-up on its own had no decision-making to it. Hold a button, wait, receive energy. Players would simply find a safe spot and refill whenever they got low, which undermined the tension the energy system was supposed to create. The Judgment Gears exist to make winding up a risk in itself.

We don't give players control over the camera. We craft each angle to enhance dramatic tension, reveal environmental storytelling, and create memorable visual compositions. This approach serves both aesthetic and functional purposes, establishing the game's visual identity while influencing how players approach puzzles and perceive the world. Every camera position is integrated with the level design to guide player attention.

This was an early debate on the team. Classic survival horror titles, use constrained cameras to control what the player knows and when they know it. Giving the player free camera control in a stealth game about a tiny toy mouse would undermine the vulnerability the game depends on.

Camera transitions were the most iterated part of the system. Cutting between fixed angles disorients players if handled poorly. I specified four transition types mapped to different contexts: hard cuts for surprise, fades for major area changes, pans for spatial awareness, and tracking shots through complex environments. Every transition includes a input grace period that preserves the player's intended movement direction, plus a brief character highlight so the player never loses track of Benjamin after a dramatic angle change.