Case Study

Fish Can Man

A physics-based puzzle platformer with deliberately difficult controls, where a sardine named Sardonious just wants to be a man.

Puzzle-Platformer 3D Physics Simulation

Play on itch.io 🏆 Best Student Game · Level Up KL 2026

Also nominated: Best Technology · Audience Choice

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Fish Can Man

Quick Facts

My role: Game Designer & Producer
Platform: Windows (PC)
Timeline: 5 months
Status: In development · hoping for Steam

Engine & Tools

Unity
Blender
GitHub
Excel
Trello
Affinity

The Game

You play as Sardonious, a sardine who flops out of his tank and sets off to find the magical kraken who can grant his wish of becoming more human. Along the way you collect limbs, solve physics puzzles and gather items, all while wrestling with controls that are difficult on purpose.

We made it as a 3-person team in five months. It won Best Student Game at Level Up KL 2026, and was also nominated for Best Technology and Audience Choice.

My Responsibilities

Designed the core gameplay loop, the mechanics and the control scheme
Designed and documented the puzzles
Did the level design and wrote the dialogue
Produced the project and scheduled the team's work
Stepped in wherever the team needed a hand: I picked up UI and sound design, and helped make the photos and images placed around the room

01 Core Loop

Challenge

Give players a clear goal, but still make them want to explore, experiment and poke at the environment.
Make every stage of progression feel like it matters, instead of just handing players more ways to move.

Solution

Built the loop around exploring the scientist's house, managing oxygen, solving environmental puzzles and collecting trinkets to reach the Kraken.
Split progression into three movement stages: flopping first, then arms for grabbing and climbing, then legs for walking.
Wrote everything up in a detailed Game Design Document (GDD) so the programmer and 3D artist knew exactly what experience we were going for.

Impact

The game now has a clear path from exploring, to solving puzzles, to the final goal.
Every new limb changes how you deal with the room, which fits our focus on progressive mechanics and player agency.
Players really enjoyed the physics-based movement, and found plenty to explore beyond the obvious routes.

Explore

Scientist's House

Survive

Obstacles & puzzles

Collect

Body limbs

Manage oxygen level

Active background threat, ticking the whole time

The core loop: explore, survive, collect, repeat. The oxygen clock never stops.

02 Difficult-by-Design Controls

Challenge

Make physics-based controls that are weird and difficult on purpose, but still rewarding to learn rather than random or impossible.
Make sure each new limb does something different, so the earlier mechanics don't become pointless.
Players had a hard time remembering which button controlled which part of the fish's body.

Solution

Designed a physics-driven movement system around flopping, ragdoll movement, grabbing, climbing and walking.
Introduced each mechanic through level layouts, puzzles and hazards, so players get room to learn and mess around.
Documented the controls, interactions and intended behaviour so the programmer had clear requirements.
Kept the control icons on screen, sitting right on top of the body part each button controls.

Impact

Ended up with a movement system built around experimenting and slowly getting better at awkward controls.
Players were much better at remembering which button controls what, and the game stayed just as challenging.
The different limbs changed how players approached obstacles, which was exactly the kind of experimenting we wanted.

Controller layout: L2 and R2 flop and move the legs, L1 and R1 move the left and right arms, the left stick moves the limbs, the right stick moves the camera and the circle button jumps — The controller layout, and the in-game icons that sit right on the body part each button controls.

In-game screenshot: the Q and E control icons float on screen next to the body part each one controls — The controller layout, and the in-game icons that sit right on the body part each button controls.

03 Puzzle & Level Design

Challenge

Teach players unfamiliar controls and newly unlocked mechanics through puzzles and hazards that get harder over time.
Make sure new abilities create meaningful interactions in every level, with clear objectives but room to try different routes.
Turn gameplay ideas into layouts that the programmer and 3D artist could build consistently.

Solution

Designed puzzles, hazards, collectibles and traversal challenges around what the player can do at each stage.
Made level blockouts to show routes, platform placement, puzzle spots and interactions before the detailed environment work started.
Listed the environment requirements and models we needed to guide the 3D artist's modelling and set dressing.
Designed the puzzle logic and progression requirements, and wrote the funny environmental dialogue, including the wall-mounted Billy Bass.
Kept detailed design documents so gameplay, level building and the intended experience all lined up.

Impact

Players go from learning basic movement to using their abilities on trickier environmental challenges.
Players found the routes and objectives clear, but still felt free to try different paths and approaches.
The abilities gave them good reasons to explore and head back to earlier areas.
Used the testing feedback to check whether the levels were getting objectives across and encouraging experimentation.

Hand-drawn top-down layout of the kitchen level, showing the table, stove, counter, fridge and the start point, with the planned route in green — **1 · Layout**Hand-drawn plan of the kitchen level

Grey 3D blockout of the kitchen in Blender, with the table, stove, fridge, sink and counters — **2 · Blockout**Rough 3D blockout I made for our artist

Top-down view of the finished kitchen with arrows showing the paths a player can take — **3 · Paths**Route diagram for documentation

What I Learned

Working on Fish Can Man taught me how to take a research idea and turn it into gameplay systems that a whole team could actually build. My biggest challenge was making sure every new mechanic added something without making the earlier abilities feel useless.

I also learned how much clear documentation and level blockouts matter when you're passing your design intent on to the programmer and 3D artist. With more time, I'd add more reasons to go back and re-explore, and test the game with a bigger group of players.

Gallery

Sardonious the sardine climbing a wooden ladder, with the Q and E control icons floating over his two arms — Climbing a ladder with Sardonious' arms. The control icons float right where the limbs are.

Sardonious flopping across a kitchen counter, with the oxygen bar at the bottom left of the screen — Flopping across the kitchen counter while the oxygen bar slowly drains.

On stage at Level Up KL 2026 with the Fish Can Man Best Student Game Winner screen behind — On stage at Level Up KL 2026, picking up Best Student Game.

Want to try it?

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