Raphaël Martin-Rodrigues
Game Designer
STARLING
MY GOALS
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Designing and implementing player mechanics
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​Developing AI behaviors
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Designing the User Interface (UI)
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Creating unique craftable items
MECHANICS
Fishing
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I designed the Fishing System, where players catch fish and rare shiny variants through a mini-game, with catch chances based on rarity, then showcase them in the Aquarium Station.
Woodcutting
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The woodcutting mechanic showcases impactful axe strikes paired with strong visual, while harvested wood feeds directly into the crafting and progression systems.
Shovel
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The Shovel Tool, letting players dig to uncover resources and expand exploration, adding variety and depth to the progression loop.
The Blackhole
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The Blackhole Global Chest, an infinite storage system that auto-stacks items and is directly linked to crafting, letting players use stored resources without carrying them.
Build System
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The Building System, where players construct stations to progress and freely personalize their base—while recovering resources from misbuilt parts, encouraging creativity without punishment.
Harvesting Pot
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I designed the Harvest System, where crops grow in real time and harvesting feels responsive and rewarding, directly supporting farming, crafting, and progression.
Cave System
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I designed the Cave Progression System, where mining has a chance to reveal holes leading to deeper caves with rarer minerals adding risk, reward, and adventure to the progression loop.
Recipe upgrade
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The Recipe System, where crafted meals give temporary buffs, letting players use farming and resources strategically to support their adventure.
Chest
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World Chest system, rewarding exploration with resource drops that support crafting and upgrades, helping players progress while encouraging discovery.
THE STATIONS
The Microchip
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I designed the Microchip upgrade system, where crafted Microchips let players expand their base adding stations, linking resource gathering, crafting, and progression into a cohesive loop. Every microchip extension has various environnement. Each provide a different upgrade!
Aquarium Station
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The Aquarium Station, is a dome where players can showcase collected fish, adding personalization and a sense of discovery to their base.
Shop Station
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I designed the Shop Station, where players can sell or trade resources for currency and buy randomized items refreshed every 10 minutes—adding variety to farming and risk/reward choices to progression.
Art Station
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the Art Station, is where players craft astronaut skins using collected resources, integrating personalization directly into the progression loop.
AI DESIGN
Magma
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I designed the Magma enemy, which disrupts jetpack use and challenges players to carefully time their vertical movement, turning traversal into a strategic part of the adventure.
Starling Stockage
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I designed the Starling companion AI, which helps players by carrying and stocking items into their global chest (The Blackhole), reducing inventory friction and enhancing flow.
The Bees
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the Bee AI system, giving it patrol, detection, and attack behaviors with clear feedback. The system also integrates stealth mechanics, allowing players to hide in bushes to evade detection and create more strategic encounters.
DESIGN CHALLENGES
Gameplay loop
One of the main design challenges I faced in Starling was shaping a gameplay loop that combined survival mechanics with a cozy, player-friendly experience. Many survival games lean on systems like hunger or thirst to drive progression, but I felt these mechanics created unnecessary pressure and conflicted with the cozy atmosphere I wanted. Because of this, I deliberately excluded hunger, focusing instead on systems that emphasized creativity, exploration, and progression without stress.
Unique Craftable
Another major design challenge I faced in Starling was how to make crafting feel more than just a functional step in progression. In many survival games, craftable items often repeat or lose meaning once the player advances, which can make crafting feel like busywork. I wanted crafting in Starling to feel rewarding, memorable, and connected to player identity.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Conclusion
Ultimately, Starling taught me the importance of intentional design decisions that sometimes the most powerful choice is not what you add, but what you leave out. By focusing on comfort, creativity, and meaningful progression, I was able to help craft a survival experience that feels cozy, rewarding, and uniquely player-driven.
