The Pizza Lab - Interactive Pizza-Making Game in Unity
Role: UX Designer / Unity Developer
Tools: Unity (C#), XR Toolkit or standard controller input
Timeline: 2 months
Platform: VR/AR
Project Overview
This is an immersive cooking simulation game where players assemble a pizza by interacting with ingredients in a virtual kitchen. The goal is to create a fun, reactive system where each step — like placing cheese or sausage — visually updates the pizza in real time.
Objective
Design a loud, vibrant, and contemporary homepage that captures the agency’s dynamic spirit, reflects their services in a no-nonsense way, and stands out visually from other agencies in the space.
Problem Statement
In many cooking games, actions feel disconnected from the world — dropping items doesn't result in feedback. I wanted to create a system where ingredients trigger visual and state-based transformations, so the dough visibly changes as it’s topped.
The challenge was to build a modular, reusable interaction system where ingredients could disappear and swap out visual states based on what’s dropped onto them.
Design Process
Gameplay Interaction Logic
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Each ingredient (cheese, sausage, etc.) is a physical object with a Collider + Rigidbody
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The dough acts as a trigger zone that detects which ingredient enters it
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When cheese collides with the dough’s trigger:
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The cheese object disappears (is destroyed or hidden)
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The dough’s material or model is swapped to a cheese-topped version
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Implementation Details
Used OnTriggerEnter(Collider other) to detect collisions
Created an enum or tag system to determine which topping is applied
Attached a PizzaManager script to handle:
State tracking (e.g., hasCheese, hasSauce)
Visual swaps (via material change or model activation)
Setup modular ingredient prefabs for consistent behavior
Ready to cook?
Testing + Iteration
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Playtested object interactions to ensure:
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Toppings register on first drop
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Feedback feels responsive and clear
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Adjusted collider sizes and physics settings to prevent bouncing or false triggers
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Explored future additions like undo mechanics or combination-based recipe logic
Results + Reflections
Created a functional base for expanding into multi-step cooking mechanics
The pizza interaction system is scalable — can be reused for any stackable recipe logic
Next Steps:
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Add time pressure or scoring
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Include visual/auditory feedback when a topping is successfully added
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Expand to full meal-making with sequential tasks