Short Description:

• Role: Level Designer on “Hinterland”-project for 3+ years

• Studio: Cyber Manatee GmbH, 13 employed developers at peak (Cologne, Germany - January 2021 - February 2024)

• Experience: Responsible for all gameplay spaces, game content, narrative delivery and level scripting via flowgraph and Unreal Engine 5

• Genre: Single-Player, First-Person, Narrative driven Action-Surival-Horror (Melee Combat and Spellcasting)

• Engine: Unreal Engine 5.1.1

Level Design Responsibilities:

• Conceptualized level structure, drafted level layout, defined scope, created mission outline based on the story/narrative demo goals, defined level contents, defined narrative beats & delivery

• Greyboxed/Whiteboxed all iterations of the level, defined implementation opportunities for gameplay mechanics, defined pacing balance between combat and narrative events and spaces, prototyped points of interest, camera framing, and desired player path(s)

• Designed and implemented all narrative & gameplay events (quests, combat encounters, narrative/atmospheric moments, level logic triggers, quest triggers, player objectives, scripted event timings, fallback scripts if players deviate from golden path) and all interactable objects (actor spawns, distribution of inspectable & interactive items)

• Scripted all gameplay events, narrative & combat encounters with UE5 Blueprint Plugin Flowgraph (node-based visual scripting plugin that emphasizes on sending & receiving gameplay tags between actors). Programmers were implementing the gameplay mechanics nodes, which I have utilized in the level flows to stage the desired experience.

• Balanced encounters and difficulty curve from start to level climax, including placement and distribution of weapon- & health pick-ups, cover placement, desired level of intensity, enemy balancing, enemy spawns, player checkpoints

• Designed overall content pacing - introduction of gameplay features and tutorialization of supported gameplay mechanics across demo level

• Defined level metrics together with artists and programmers to support consistent gameplay affordances and scale metrics across the level

• Organized playtest sessions with external players, evaluated and incorporated relevant playtest feedback into the gameplay experience to achieve demo/briefing goals

• Integrated environmental storytelling bits, events and locations, as well as event triggers for for sound designers and writers to work with; Tweaked narrative experience and delivery

Additional Tasks / Responsibilities:

• Conceptualized game mechanics in coordination with gameplay programmer and creative director

• Stat balancing of weapons, enemy stats (data table value tweaking & playtesting)

• Designed and scripted cinematics, cinematic level sequences, camera cinematography

• Level Art / Set-dressing and prop placements, terrain & landscaping, foliage dressing (50% of the levels), village set-dressing using customly made assets from our artists and megascans

• Co-Founder of the studio since its inception

Detailed Project Description:

• Title: Hinterland

• Studio: Cyber Manatee GmbH (Cologne, Germany)

• Status: Cancelled December 2023, mid-production

• Time Frame: Concept, prototype & vertical slice development ranging from 2021 - 2023, funded three times during that time frame with project breaks for contract work

• Demo play time: 25-35minutes

• Pitch / Vision: “Hinterland is a highly intense Action-Survival-Horror game in the veins of Resident Evil: Village, that combines the visceral melee combat of Condemned: Criminal origins and the Bioshock-esque supernatural powers.”

• Objectives / Goals for the demo:

  • Showcase the setting, world, themes, and scenario of the game pitch

  • Include and support all core gameplay mechanics in a half-hour demo slice

  • Demonstrate storytelling methods (scripted events, cinematics, journals)

  • Deliver a level that is indicative of near-shipping quality (excluding animations), stay within the available prototype budget

  • Facilitate a high completion rate, for players to reach the end