Tools & Implementation

Unreal Engine - Intermediate

Level Design

Blockouts in-engine: fast layout iteration (BSP/Modeling Mode), scale tests, route planning
Readability & POI work: guiding sightlines, landmark placement, composition, player flow
Encounter spaces: designing arenas/hunting areas with spawn direction, pacing, and pressure points
Navigation & traversal: chokepoints, cover lanes, traversal beats, “breathing rooms” between spikes
Playtest-driven iteration: adjust geometry, spacing, and pacing based on feedback quickly

Blueprints

Comfortable working in Blueprints to implement and iterate on level logic, UI behavior, and interaction flow
Built and maintained Blueprint logic for menus, navigation, animations, and input handling
Implemented trigger-based events using volumes and state checks to drive gameplay flow, UI prompts, audio cues, and progression
Refactored Blueprint systems to improve reusability, readability, and team handoff (parent widgets, shared logic)
Debugged and resolved Blueprint-related input, focus, and state issues across menus and gameplay

UI/UMG

Built full UI flows: Main Menu, Options/Settings, Credits, How-to-Play, Lobby/Server List, Pause Menu, Quit Confirmation, End/Victory screens
Implemented controller + PC navigation (focus, back/confirm logic, prompt/action bars)
Created reusable button/hover system (parented animations + shared SFX) after refactoring from duplicated widgets
Implemented responsive UI scaling (anchors, size boxes, scale boxes, padding) across multiple resolutions

Performance & Polish

Optimized widgets by switching Text/Images to Not Hit-Testable where applicable
Reduced UI overhead by replacing Canvas Panels with Overlays to lower draw calls
Fixed input/focus issues (proper input mode setup so UI works immediately on open)

Audio / UX Systems

Production Awareness

Implemented and configured async loading workflows to preload required assets and ensure stable, seamless transitions between menus and gameplay.
Investigated and resolved media playback issues related to packaging and asset load order across platforms

Level Design

Greyboxing + iteration: building playable blockouts and tuning jump distances, timings, readability
2D/3D hybrid layouts: camera-informed layout decisions, parallax/tilt considerations, clarity
Enemy/encounter placement: where/when enemies appear to shape tension and flow
NavMesh awareness: enemy pathing constraints, expanding/baking nav areas as layout evolves
Team-friendly scene structure: clean hierarchy, prefabs, subscenes/additive loading workflow

Gameplay systems integration

Worked with NavMesh and expanded/baked navigation as levels evolved
Collaborated on spline-based moving platforms and designer-friendly tooling (editable knots/paths)

Production-friendly workflow

Organized scenes/hierarchy for team readability (folders/subscenes, separating collision work)
Supported artists with collider workflow guidance (box vs mesh colliders, reusable collider prefabs)
Troubleshot regression issues caused by asset swaps / set dressing (colliders removed, scripts broken by prefab changes)
Designer tooling mindset: setting up reusable prefabs (colliders, triggers) to speed iteration

Gameplay systems integration

Built modular interactables: gates/doors, levers, rotating gears, moving platforms (editor-tweakable speed/direction/targets)
Implemented trigger-based UI prompts (text/icon) for interaction readability
Created trigger-driven SFX systems (play sound on player enter, scalable for multiple events)

Iteration & refactoring

Refactored scripts to handle prefab/asset changes (e.g., gate opener updated from mesh reference → GameObject workflow)
Debugged broken behavior after merges/asset swaps and restored functionality

Design-support logic

Systems thinking in scripts: checkpoints/respawn behavior considerations, collision/readability fixes, “don’t break gameplay space” guardrails

Level Design Support