The Secret Recipe

A first-person interactive cooking experience set inside a stylised Chinese restaurant, designed around recipe discovery, object interaction and warm environmental storytelling.

UnityGame InteractionEnvironment DesignUI FlowNarrative Space
Time2023
PlaceMonash IT, Melbourne
RoleGame interaction, level flow, environment design
ToolsUnity, C#, 3D assets, UI flow design

Overview

The Secret Recipe is an immersive food-themed interactive experience where I worked on core interaction, spatial flow and visual experience design. The project turns cooking into a playable sequence of observation, collection and preparation, building a warm Chinese restaurant environment where visual details, spatial layout and ingredient interactions guide the player through a recipe-driven story.

Cooking is presented as a sequence of movement and action: exploring the restaurant, locating ingredients, reading environmental cues and completing steps through direct object interaction. The result is a compact but polished experience that carries cultural atmosphere through accessible gameplay.

Design and technical route

The design process focused on creating a clear player journey from orientation to task completion. I developed the restaurant space as both a narrative setting and a functional interface, using lighting, signage, ingredient placement and spatial rhythm to help players understand where to go and what to do next.

Technically, the project brings together Unity scene construction, interaction scripting, recipe-state logic, UI prompts and audiovisual feedback. Each interaction was designed to keep the cooking process legible while preserving the restaurant atmosphere.

Outcome