Brew and Brawl Inn

Go to the Brew and Brawl Inn itch page and play it in-browser by clicking here!

Take control of a wizard-cook and a drunken fighter in the grand opening of their new tavern. Compete against an egotistical necromancer and his failing restaurant as you hold out against his onslaught of skeletal minions while brewing wild concoctions to ensure maximum customer satisfaction.

Brew and Brawl Inn is an asymmetrical 2-player co-op game developed as a class project for the course, “Game Development Processes.” The game was built over the course of a semester, alongside a lot of learning about the Scrum process, organizing and tracking development tasks and milestones, and conducting playtests which produce valuable feedback.

The development of this game also included heavy documentation. All project documentation, including details on design, art, and technical implementation, can be viewed by clicking here. (Careful though – its 60 pages long!) The project also included a postmortem write-up which highlights lessons learned during development, which can be viewed by clicking here.

As the primary designer for Brew and Brawl Inn, I:

• Led core gameplay design for a unique 2-player asymmetric co-op game combining time-management cooking with hack-and-slash combat in a fantasy tavern setting.
• Designed and iterated on mechanics, systems, and player interactions to balance distinct roles (Wizard Cook & Drunken Warrior) for mutual synergy and codependency, encouraging communication and coordination.
• Defined design pillars (“Frantic,” “Multitasking,” “Wacky”) and ensured all gameplay elements including cooking minigames, serving mechanics, and enemy encounters supported those core emotional goals.
• Developed and documented player loops, workstation minigames, enemy behaviors, and co-op mechanics that created meaningful interdependence between players.
• Conducted research on genre influences (e.g., Overcooked, Hammerwatch) and player motivations to inform mechanics and guide player experience.
• Participated in iterative design reviews and playtesting sessions to refine pacing, feedback, and clarity across both player roles.
• Took primary responsibility for project design and technical documentation (Which can be viewed by clicking here!) and leading the project post mortem (Which can be viewed by clicking here!)