Transformers: EarthSpark
Expedition

Launch Trailer

My Role

As Level Designer / Game Designer, I managed the end-to-end lifecycle of the game's open-world zones — from initial greybox conceptualization to final technical implementation — acting as a vital bridge between the Art and Programming departments through rigorous documentation and scripting.

• Level Design & Navigation: Structuring large-scale, intuitive environments that accommodate smooth navigation for both foot traversal and high-speed driving.
• Race Circuit Design: Conceptualizing, prototyping, and balancing the racing tracks and time trial circuits throughout the open world.
• Combat Arena Layouts: Designing and setting up open-world combat zones, strategic cover placement, and interactive environmental hazards.
• Economy & Collectibles: Managing the in-game economy through tactical asset placement, mineral distribution, and hidden collectibles to reward exploration.
• System Tuning: Participating in the design, behavioral implementation, and tuning of Bumblebee's upgrade systems and general traversal mechanics.

Design Pillars

Iteration & Problem Solving

Key Takeaways

In-Game Screenshots

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Key Points

• Dual-Traversal Metric Standards: Managed the transition from initial greybox blockouts to final production, establishing strict metrics to ensure spaces felt mechanically sound both for slow-paced platforming/combat on foot and high-speed vehicle driving.
• The "Golden Path" Integration: Architected the main progression route around a clear, central road system — serving as an organic visual guide that anchored the world topology and led players naturally through the level's lifecycle.
• Ability-Gated Exploration: Implemented gated alternative paths throughout the levels that required players to unlock specific character abilities or upgrades to access. These hidden routes housed chests and rare collectibles, significantly driving replayability.
• Environment Architecture & Scale: Collaborated closely with Environment Artists to maintain visual fidelity without compromising gameplay — adjusting road widths, turning radii, and sightlines to fit Bumblebee's high-speed vehicle form.
• Interactive World Setup: Scripted and placed dynamic level assets — explosive hazards, interactable elements, and environmental triggers — to enrich exploration and add tactical layers to the open-world layout.

Map Flow — Integrated Structure

Traversal Mode Breakdown

World Biomes — 3 Zones

The game world was structured across three distinct biomes, each with its own visual identity, traversal challenges, and design constraints — requiring a unique adaptation of the Golden Path architecture and metric standards per zone. Each biome culminated in Mandroid's Fortress, a dedicated boss arena that served as the narrative climax and gating mechanism to the next zone.

Mission Archetypes

Mission Lifecycle Pipeline

Each side mission was developed through a consistent production pipeline, ensuring design intent translated cleanly into technical implementation without handoff ambiguity.

Iteration & Problem Solving

Key Points

• Spacious Arena Layouts: Architected encounter zones with optimized spatial metrics, ensuring ample room for dodging, executing combos, and managing crowd-control mechanics comfortably.
• Environmental Interactive Hazards: Positioned tactical asset types — explosive and elemental barrels — allowing players to leverage the environment to damage or stun groups of enemies.
• Destructibles & Cover Placement: Designed layouts featuring both static and destructible cover, creating a shifting battlefield topography that provided safety while forcing tactical repositioning.
• Enemy Composition & Flow: Balanced encounters by blending distinct enemy archetypes with varied abilities, structuring wave compositions to introduce escalating tactical complexity without overwhelming the target audience.

Iteration & Problem Solving

Arena Anatomy — Design Template

Every combat arena followed a shared structural template adapted per biome. The diagram below illustrates the standardized spatial logic applied across all encounter zones.

Race System Architecture

• Checkpoint Trigger Logic: Engineered and implemented the comprehensive technical framework for the game's racing activities — scripting checkpoint progression, sequential tracking, and countdown/timer backend systems.
• UI Layout & Data Binding: Handled the core race HUD layout and data binding prior to final art pass, establishing the functional layer the UI team built upon.
• Boundary Gating System: Scripted dynamic level boundaries that automatically activate upon race start, soft-locking the player within the track perimeter to prevent sequence breaks and exploit paths.

Modular Barrel System — Blueprint Base Class

Engineered a modular Blueprint Base Class (Parent) for interactive environmental barrels. This scalable OOP architecture allowed the rapid creation and deployment of custom variants with distinct gameplay behaviors and damage profiles.

Dual-Form Game Feel & Traversal Tuning

• Acceleration Curves: Worked extensively on adjusting and polishing the game feel (juice) for Bumblebee's dual movement states — tuning acceleration ramp-up and deceleration response for both forms.
• Turning Friction & Weight: Collaborated on tuning turning friction and weight distribution to ensure transitions between foot traversal and high-speed driving felt fluid, responsive, and satisfying throughout.
• Form Transition Polish: Iterated on the transformation transition itself — ensuring the swap between robot and vehicle was not only visually smooth but mechanically seamless, preserving momentum where design intended.