22 Studio
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2023Released Windows buildWindowsAction / StealthSolo game designer, schedule owner, GDD, mood board, level blockmesh, scripting, sound, and visual effects

The Great Art Heist

A released Windows action-stealth game about a masked thief stealing priceless artifacts, searching for keys, and escaping before guards catch the heist in progress.

The Great Art Heist gameplay screenshot showing a masked thief entering a museum complex from a helicopter rope.
Project videos

Trailer and walkthrough

Watch Trailer on YouTube Watch Walkthrough on YouTube
01 / Trailer

A Great Art Heist Trailer

02 / Walkthrough

A Great Art Heist - Playthrough

01

Problem

The project needed to make stealth readable and tense in a compact third-person level. Players had to understand the destination, read guard pressure, decide whether to evade or take down enemies, and still feel like they had outwitted the museum rather than followed an obvious solution.

A third-person stealth scene in the museum environment.
02

Approach

The design used a six-week Trello schedule, GDD, mood board, and level blockmesh. The level was built around clear destination readability and a play-with-prey rule: the player should have space to observe, learn, escape, and recover from enemy pressure.

Sketch map for Operation Art Heist showing tutorial, central, museum, and palace zones.
03

Outcome

The released Windows demo frames the heist as a readable stealth puzzle: keys, guards, artifacts, and route choices create a loop of scouting, stealing, escaping, and iterating from playtest feedback.

A masked thief descends from a helicopter rope over a low-poly museum compound.
01 Released Windows build
02 6-week production schedule
03 Solo game design role
A masked thief descends from a helicopter rope over a low-poly museum compound.
01
A third-person stealth scene in the museum environment.
02
Gameplay screenshot showing the art heist level and route space.
03
Low-poly action-stealth gameplay with guards and museum architecture.
04
A gameplay view from The Great Art Heist stealth prototype.
05
A low-poly museum heist scene from the Windows demo.
06
Sketch map for Operation Art Heist showing tutorial, central, museum, and palace zones.
07
Second level map image documenting the art heist route structure.
08
Operation Art Heist GDD page documenting player and stealth systems.
09
Operation Art Heist GDD page documenting design details.
10
Build scope

Transferred production notes

  • Created a six-week production schedule using Trello.
  • Created the Game Design Document and mood board.
  • Created the level blockmesh.
  • Scripted gameplay sequences, including cutscenes, puzzles, and related interactions.
  • Implemented sound and visual effects.
  • Iterated mechanics and gameplay ideas from playtest feedback and blockmesh testing.
Design rules

Player-facing structure

  • The player must always know where the destination is.
  • The player should have opportunities to learn from and escape enemies.
  • Stealth decisions should be driven by visual cues in the level.
  • The best stealth moments should feel like the player outwitted the scenario.
  • Iteration should remove unclear ideas early and add mechanics that survive playtest feedback.
References

Comparable game language

  • Metal Gear series
  • Ocean 11
  • 60 Seconds!
  • Hitman
  • Thief Simulation
Documentation

Narrative and puzzle notes

  • Player agency was the core design-document focus.
  • The heist loop centers on finding keys, stealing art pieces, and escaping guard pressure.
  • Some mechanics were not planned during brainstorming, but emerged from testing the blockmesh.
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