This project was my first time working in a large multidisciplinary team. In total we were 18 people including designers, programmers and artists all from different studies. Together we spent 3 months building and releasing a full fletched game on steam. As a designer on this team I was mainly responsible for everything functional in the game from movement to all the system as its main structure and core gameplay loop. During the project I fairly quickly grew into a leading role creatively.

Creative Direction & Team Collaboration

• Maintained the overall gameplay vision and ensured consistency across disciplines

• Facilitated daily design discussions and made final calls on core gameplay decisions

• Worked closely with artists, programmers, and sound designers to align timing, pacing, and style

• Provided direction and feedback that kept the team centered on shared goals

What I learned: Leadership isn’t about controlling the project, it’s about making sure everyone can do their best work toward the same outcome.

Systems & Meta Progression Design

• Designed the game’s core progression loop and in-run upgrade system

• Built spreadsheets to track stats, growth curves, and balancing rules

• Designed long-term meta progression to support replayability

• Defined damage logic, movement feel, and core combat interaction rules in collaboration with programmers

What I learned: I learned how much clarity and structure matter when balancing a complex game loop. Good systems design is creating rules that make the game feel intuitive long before the player understands them.

Character & Enemy Design

• Co-designed player abilities and enemy behaviour patterns in collaboration with concept artists

• Prototyped and iterated on combat abilities to support clarity, flow and challenge

• Tuned movement, hit feedback and enemy readability through playtesting cycles

What I learned: A character’s silhouette and animation timing are part of the gameplay not something added at the end. Visual identity informs behaviour and vice-versa.

Level Design

• Created full level flows, encounter pacing, and spatial layouts

• Produced blockouts and grayboxes to validate combat space functionality

• Placed assets and worked with environment artists to maintain clarity and atmosphere

What I learned: Level design is ultimately about guiding the player’s attention, not just placing obstacles. Designing levels taught me how pacing and movement create emotional rhythm during play.

Reflection

This was easily the toughest and most fulfilling (group)project I have worked on thus far. I believe it also is the project in which I grew the most not just as a designer but also as someone who can connect and guide people towards a common goal. Further my confidence and worth as a designer definitely got a boost, to see my individual qualities add to those of talented artists and developers. I learned a lot more in depth on the uniqueness and depth of game design and look forward to developing these specific design skills further.