Trouble in the backyard – those malicious garden gnomes have come to life and are destroying your neighbor’s plants!
Knock-A-Gnome is a laid back rail-puncher where the player experiences preset events and encounters with destructive garden gnomes. It was developed for Bradley University’s FUSE 2025 Interactive Media showcase, where aspiring garden caretakers sit down in a Roto Virtual Reality Chair, strap on a Meta Quest headset, grab the controllers, and get to work clearing out the living gnomes tearing up your neighbor’s garden!
As Team Lead for Knock-A-Gnome, I was first responsible for organizing meetings with randomly assigned peers and for creating the game design document. After creating and presenting a two-minute elevator pitch to hundreds of peers and to our professors, our team was cleared to continue work.
Official game work started in January of 2025, and continued until April. My responsibilities on this project included:
Enjoy some work-in-progress pictures of our in-game models, playtesting, and 3D printed gnome handouts!
Thanks to the amazing effort by the team members of Knock-A-Gnome, we were one week ahead of schedule for FUSE 2025. In the weeks leading up to the event, everyone pitched in to approve and merge pull requests, incorporate the 3D models the art team had made, create a trailer and team script for the event, and debug VR issues! (Of which there were many.)
I am incredibly thankful for this opportunity to both lead and help others, as well as for my awesome team members. Seeing everyone’s skills and strengths come together to create the final product in the last few weeks was incredibly rewarding, and without them none of this would have been possible.
Enjoy some candid photos from FUSE below!
