Overview
Project Overview
Clarissa’s Kitchen is an interactive cooking experience where players drag and drop ingredients into a virtual bowl to create recipes. The goal is to correctly combine ingredients to bake a cake while avoiding incorrect items.
The project was inspired by my earlier handpose storybook experiment, where users could flip through pages using gesture-based interaction. I wanted to build on that idea by combining illustration, interaction design, and my own interest in cooking and baking.
Ideating
Storyboard
Visual Direction
Game Inspiration
The visual style was inspired by the playful charm of Cooking Mama, while the sound design and end sequences pulled from the high-pressure energy of Hell’s Kitchen.
System
Style Guidelines
I created a style guide to keep the illustrations, interface, and gameplay experience consistent across the project.
Development
Building the Interaction
I started by testing drag-and-drop interactions before moving into handpose. This helped me understand how ingredients should move, overlap, and respond when placed into the bowl.
1. A sketch that successfully integrated the drag-and-drop interaction.
2. A sketch where the mouse can drag images and the console detects whether ingredients are inside the bowl.
Iteration
Next Steps
- Combine the two midterm sketches into one working game.
- Shuffle the placement of ingredients each round.
- Add a timer to create more urgency.
- Add sound to make the game more immersive.
- Create an instruction page for new players.
Feedback
User Feedback
- Add instructions so players understand the game without needing class context.
- Make ingredient and bowl overlap feedback more responsive.
- Create transition animations, such as mixing the bowl.
Challenge
Shuffling Ingredients
One of the hardest parts was figuring out how to shuffle the ingredients. I originally tried to shuffle the images through a for loop, but I wanted the ingredient layout to feel more intentional and less random.
Solution
Preset Placements
I ended up creating preset ingredient positions, then shuffled the ingredients through those same spots instead of placing them randomly around the screen each time the game restarted.
Final