We had the pleasure of chatting with Joshua Lui the creator behind the game “Interior Designer.” This game invites you to step into a world where you can embark on client jobs, dominate the Design League, and create stunning interiors. Shape your spaces and unleash your style. Your masterpiece awaits! We are thrilled for the release of this game. Be sure to wishlist HERE
ABOUT INTERIOR DESIGNER
“Interior Designer offers a captivating journey into interior design. In Career Mode, tackle diverse projects like decorating bedrooms, designing luxurious bathrooms, and crafting stylish home gyms. Each task helps you refine your design skills and showcase your creativity.
The Design Sandbox is your playground for innovation, where you can experiment with various layouts, color schemes, and furnishings. Whether you prefer modern minimalism or eclectic charm, this mode allows you to bring your vision to life.
For those who thrive on competition, the Design League offers a chance to pit your skills against others, earn rewards, and gain recognition in the interior design community. With an ever-expanding catalog of furniture, decor, and architectural elements, the game ensures endless inspiration and creativity.”
What inspired the concept for Interior Designer, and how did the development process begin?
My first experience with decorating games was The Sims, back in the early 2000s during my childhood. I loved the home design part of the game, and since then, I’ve kept an eye out for games with a decoration mechanic.
However, the idea for Interior Designer came to me much later, when I was playing Final Fantasy XIV as a working adult. It was an MMORPG, and had a housing system that let players furnish and decorate their own home. Unfortunately, the player experience wasn’t the best. Many players had to resort to glitches and mods just to achieve the design they wanted.
Like many others, I thought that I had a better idea for how things should be done in the game. I kept having this nagging feeling of how things could be improved, and finally decided to take the next step – I made my own home design game. That’s how Interior Designer got started!
There are a lot of games that let players design a place, like The Sims 4, House Flipper 2, and Hotel Renovator. How is your game different?
I’ve played a lot of decorating games over the years, with the most recent ones being House Flipper and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. However, I always felt that the design tools and mechanics in these games were somewhat limited. It was understandable since home design was just one part of the overall game’s experience.
I wanted to make a game where players have complete control over the design process and each item has options for customization. Compared to other home design games, you’ll find that Interior Designer has a much greater emphasis on graphics, and gives the player as much freedom as possible. That’s why there are a lot of tools to facilitate the design experience, and customize rooms and furniture. Examples include adjusting the color and strength of light sources (including the sun!), stretchable furniture like picture frames and window blinds, and dynamic cabinets that let you add as many compartments and panels as you want.
I also had another personal angle – I’ve been moving around quite a bit in the last few years, and wanted a game that could help me design my new place! So you’ll find quite a few tools that are more commonly found in interior design apps rather than games, like the top-down floor plan view, importing floor plans, and using your own images for photo frames and painting canvases
How would you pitch your game in 5 words?
Design simulator with complete freedom!
Can you walk us through the different modes available in the game, such as Career Mode and Design Sandbox? How do they differ in terms of gameplay?
The Career Mode is a great way for new players to learn about the wide variety of tools in the game, one step at a time. Each job will introduce new tools, with helpful tutorials, and help you unlock more furniture for subsequent jobs! You’ll be helping clients with a wide variety of requests, including designing a gaming corner, setting up a home office, and furnishing a kids’ room.
The Sandbox Mode is perfect for more experienced players who want to work with all the tools and furniture unlocked, and just create their own design from a blank canvas. The Sandbox Mode also has some additional tools, like importing floor plans and exporting 3D models, to help players who may already be working with an existing design project.
Can you share some tips for new players who are just starting their journey in Interior Designer? What should they focus on to improve their skills?
The game lets you design almost anything, so naturally there are a lot of tools available. This may be intimidating for some. I’ve found that the best way to approach this is to start with a design goal in mind, and just focus on learning the relevant tools. For example, if you want to recreate your living room in the game, you’ll need to first learn how to create the room shape by placing walls, and adjusting the length of the walls to the right size. The game also gives tips and tutorials based on the context – for example, if you select a wall while in the floorplan mode, the game will show tutorials on how to move and rotate walls.
The other tip I have is to learn from others and their designs as much as you can. There are several fully furnished sample designs in the game that you can go through and take apart, to better understand how certain looks are achieved. In the full release, you’ll also be able to look at other player-uploaded designs to get even more inspiration!
Goals for the game?
The immediate goal is to focus on completing the full release of the game. I’m also eagerly listening to player’s feedback and suggestions in the game’s feedback survey, Discord server and Steam community forum, to figure out what can be improved from the demo.
In the longer term, I’m hoping the game does well enough so that I can continue working on expanding the content and adding more design tools for the players. I have a lot of ideas, and I’m looking forward to when I can flesh out these ideas more and share them with players.
Interior Designer offers a vast catalog of furniture and decor. Can you give us an idea of the variety available? Compared to the demo, what additional content will be in the full release?
The furniture in the demo is focused around the first few available quests, so you’ll see furniture for the living room, office, and kids. In the full game, you’ll get a much more comprehensive catalog of furniture, including those for the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, and even some outdoor furniture.
The full release will also have a lot more content, with about 4x the client jobs and 3x the furniture compared to the demo!
The demo for the game is now available. Looking ahead, what can players look forward to in the full release for Interior Designer? Are there any new features or content that you’re particularly excited about?
The demo has been mainly focused on the first few client jobs and gaining experience as an individual designer. In the full release, besides the expanded content mentioned earlier, we will also complement the designer experience with more community-oriented features. This is exciting for me because it adds a new dimension of interaction for players, and lets players get inspiration and feedback from each other.
There will be an Online Catalog, where players can showcase and share their own unique designs. Other players can load these designs, play around and figure out how a certain look is achieved, or get inspired by the wide variety of design styles out there!
For the more competitive-minded, there will be a Design League where players can compete in design challenges with specific themes. Doing well in a league will let you unlock a more advanced league, where you can compete against the next tier of designers! I think the Design League will also be a great source of inspiration for all players, since designs that do well are those that are well-liked by fellow designers. Players can study these designs to see what styles are popular now, and better understand the techniques that the design masters use.
SUPPORT THE GAME
All Ages of Geek is a fully independent media platform, brought to life and sustained by the dedication of two sisters and the generous support of our community through donations. We’re passionate about creating content that resonates with our audience, and we’re excited to share our latest project with you—an upcoming game developed with our unique vision and creativity. Explore our other content and see how you can support our journey. Your engagement and contributions make a significant difference. Thank you for being part of our story.
