Case study / Delivery under constraint

Shipping base building in 60 man-days

I was tasked to deliver a functional 3D base-building feature for Moomin Move on a fixed 60 man-day budget. I sequenced the work so development never waited on art, hit the deadline with a playable MVP, and the feature later grew into a core part of the game.

60 man-day budget Shipped into a live game 3D over 2D MVP, then expanded Design · UX · monetization Environment & optimization

Finished 3D base-building valley with the Moomin house at the center

01 / The brief

A functional base-building game, in a fixed budget

The ask was concrete: add a working base-building feature to an already-live game within 60 man-days. The game was in service with real players, so the work had to integrate cleanly without disruption. The real challenge was scoping and sequencing, not just designing.

The constraint

60 man-days to a playable, functional feature.

A fixed budget inside a live F2P game meant the plan had to protect development time, reuse where possible, and reach a testable build fast rather than chase polish first.

My role

I owned the experience, the world, and the plan.

Game design and monetization design for the feature
UI and UX for build, craft, and grid placement
Visual environment design and greyboxing
Textures, skybox, and scene optimization
Stakeholder communication and scope decisions

A dedicated prop artist made the furniture, and a code developer built the systems. I connected design, art, monetization, and delivery.

60Man-day budget for the first MVP

3DFormat selected over 2D for depth

On timeFirst MVP shipped to schedule

End to endDesign, UX, art, monetization, and stakeholder comms

02 / First decision

2D or 3D, decided with quick visual tests

Before committing the budget, I pitched the format. I produced fast visual tests of how a build space could look in the Moomin world so the team could choose with their eyes, not just a spec. 3D was selected for its depth and decoration value.

Early 3D model and look test for the base-building space — **Look test**An early model test exploring how a 3D build space would read in the Moomin style.

Concept test for a dedicated build minigame — **Dedicated build space**Testing the idea of a separate, focused build minigame around the house.

Grid spacing study for placement — **Grid study**Spacing study to size the placement grid before any systems were built.

03 / Sequencing

Unblock the developer on day one

To protect the 60-day budget, I made the work parallel from the start. Instead of building a finished world, I built the smallest possible one and handed it over immediately.

Move 01

Smallest playable world first

I created just a flat surface with the Moomin house in the center, so the developer could start at once on camera controls and a crude grid-placement system. Placeholder furniture went in early, and we tested controls and placement before any real art existed. Development never waited on me.

Early prototype with flat surface, house, and placeholder furniture being tested

Early build UI test — **Early UI test**First pass at the build and placement interface.

Second early build UI test — **UI iteration**Refining the controls for placing, rotating, and removing items.

Build selection UI — **Selection & build**The build menu taking shape over the live grid.

04 / Greybox

I gray-boxed the first world myself

While controls matured in parallel, I blocked out the first full world in grey geometry. It was the fast way to lock layout, scale, and composition without waiting on final art, and it gave the team a real space to test against.

Gray-boxed prototype world layout — **Grey-box pass**Blocky geometry to establish the world's shape and scale fast.

Gray-boxed world iteration — **Layout iteration**Tuning composition and traversal before committing to art.

Gray block building pieces — **Building blocks**Reusable grey pieces that assembled the early environment.

05 / Polish & optimization

Textured, optimized, and finished on mobile

With layout locked, I fine-tuned and textured the environment, then made it cheap to run. Simple tiling textures, a skybox, and linear fog hid the horizon without cost, and the UI was refined into working crafting and grid-placement systems.

Environment craft

Tiling textures and a faked horizon

I authored the environment textures myself: simple tiling grass, path, and water, plus a painted skybox and linear fog to hide the horizon at almost no cost. Cheap to render, and easy to vary by season later.

Environment texture set I created: painted skybox, tiling grass, path, and water textures

Years of level design, applied to speed

I leaned on years of level design and environment-optimization experience to build and tune the world quickly and keep it highly performant on mobile, which is what let a full 3D scene ship inside the budget.

Alpha build UI work in progress — **Alpha UI**Crafting and placement systems coming together over the textured world.

Beta visual gameplay of the base-building feature — **Beta visuals**Tiling textures, skybox, and fog deliver the finished look cheaply.

Beta gameplay showing the placement grid — **Placement grid**The grid system that drives crafting, placement, and removal.

06 / The 60-day result

A playable MVP, delivered on time

At 60 man-days the feature was functional and shipping: a 3D valley you could build, craft, and decorate. The prop artist's first furniture set became sellable items in loot boxes alongside craftable pieces, giving the feature day-one economy hooks.

3DBuildable, decoratable valley

Craft + placeWorking grid crafting and placement

Loot + craftFurniture sold in boxes and craftable

ValidatedProven base to expand from

The furniture and props that filled the valley

The first prop set shipped as craftable pieces and loot-box rewards, giving the feature day-one economy hooks. A few early examples below.

Low-poly cannon prop — **Cannon**Early low-poly prop

Stylized apple tree decoration prop — **Apple tree**Decoration prop

Blue wooden heart bench prop — **Heart bench**Craftable furniture

07 / After validation

From a visual minigame to the core of the game

At launch it was deliberately small, a light visual minigame rather than core gameplay. Over the next two years, two major updates changed that. The latest brought base building to the very heart of the game, making it a meaningful part of the monetization and retention gains in that period.

2 yearsOf expansion beyond the first MVP

2 majorUpdates that deepened the feature

CoreNow central to the gameplay loop

DriverPart of engagement, monetization, and retention

What the expansion added

Valley visitors, party mode, and gifting in the valley, plus a recurring build event. Onboarding now starts from the valley, and tasks and story were reframed around cleaning and building it for friends in need, making the valley a reason to return rather than a side feature.

Repositioned as the heart of progression

In the latest updates the valley became the most important part of the game's visual progression: a safe space for the friends you meet along the way, and a place to celebrate and share what you have built. I led that design change, taking it from a visual prototype to an integral part of the experience.

Mockup of a friend visiting the player's valley — **Friend visits**Visitors and gifting turned the valley into a social space.

Seasonal change applied to the valley — **Seasonal valley**Seasonal change kept the build space fresh across live operations.

Build event selection interface — **Build event**A recurring build event extended the feature into the live calendar.

08 / Reflection

What I owned, what worked, and what it taught

What I owned

Game and monetization design
UI and UX for build, craft, and placement
Visual environment design and greyboxing
Textures, skybox, and scene optimization
Stakeholder communication and scope

Prop art and code were separate roles; I tied the disciplines together.

What worked

Smallest-world-first kept the developer busy from day one
Greybox before art locked scope fast
Years of level-design experience let 3D ship on mobile
An MVP that was validated, then expanded

What it taught

A hard budget is a design tool. I shipped the cheapest testable version first to protect the schedule, while holding the larger vision the whole time. When the feature earned the investment, I led the design change that made the valley a core, social heart of the game. Delivery discipline first, vision realized once it was earned.

Outcome

A 60 man-day feature that became part of the game's core.

Scoping, smart sequencing, and mobile optimization delivered a functional 3D base-building feature on a fixed budget, and a validated base that grew into social, seasonal, and onboarding gameplay.

Delivery under constraint Production sequencing Environment art & optimization UI/UX design