Justin Lu
Level Designer
High on Life | Level Designer
Squanch Games, 2022
Humanity is being threatened by an alien cartel who wants to use them as drugs. It’s up to you to rescue and partner with charismatic, talking guns, take down Garmantuous and his gang, and save the world!
Main Contributions:
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Developed level blockouts and enemy encounters to create engaging combat, traversal, and exploration experiences.
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Scripted mission flow and narrative gameplay for several areas in the game using UE4 blueprints.
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Designed unique traversal mechanics and communicated them to team members through detailed pitches, docs, and diagrams.
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Dreg Town is a city built into the inside of an asteroid. I did the level blockout for the introductory area. I also did scripting passes on the narrative content. The goal of this space is to guide players deeper into the city while allowing players to eavesdrop on various NPC conversations.
The view as the player enters the space. The true scale of Dreg Town is obscured at this point so that there can be a big reveal later.
Another view of the entrance also showing some rooftops that can be accessed in the future by unlocking the jetpack.
Other view of where the player sees the vista.
The view as the player enters the space. The true scale of Dreg Town is obscured at this point so that there can be a big reveal later.
The Dreg Entry area I was primarily responsible for is shown below from 13:15 to 14:20.
I was the level design owner of the jungle planet Zephyr Paradise. It is a huge interconnected space that hosts 3 of the game's bounties. Zephyr contains a variety of environments, including an alien village, a mineshaft with a sprawling tunnel system, and a forest of giant mushrooms.
I did the blockout for all the jungle planet gameplay shown in the video below from 3:00 to 48:15 with the exception of the combat section from 24:10 to 28:10.
I incorporated lots of hidden paths throughout the level to make exploration interesting. For example, in the mineshaft, players can reach a suspended platform by using a rotating platform as a see-saw launch pad. They can then control the crane holding the platform with buttons.
Besides doing the blockout, I was also involved in making this moment work by:
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Wring the design spec for rotating platforms detailing how they function.
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Working with an engineer to get rotating platforms implemented and tuning attributes such as platform rotation speed and launch force.
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Scripting the crane movement and making it controlled by the buttons.
One of the missions on Zephyr takes place primarily in Skrendel Labs. I designed the blockout and puzzle gameplay throughout this interior space.
I did the blockout for all the gameplay shown in the video below from 11:35 to 44:40. The interior labs gameplay specifically can be seen between 18:54 and 26:35.
I did the blockout for this upscale section of a slum. It consists of a combat zone leading up to a store where the player obtains an important item.
This area is shown in the gameplay video below between 8:12 and 12:42.
Neon White | Level Designer
Angel Matrix, 2022
Neon White is a lightning fast first-person action game about exterminating demons. You are White, an assassin handpicked from Hell to compete with other demon slayers for a chance to live permanently in Heaven.
Main Contributions:
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Designed level blockouts and enemy encounters that emphasize fast paced movement and replayability.
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Refined the game’s progression experience by tuning rewards for completing missions and costs of unlockable content.
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Created the 3D environment art kits for most of the game's worlds and did the initial art pass on several levels.
2022 The Game Awards - Nominated Best Indie, Best Debut Indie, Best Action
2022 Golden Joystick Awards - Nominated Best Indie, Ultimate Game of the Year
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Boom was initially intended as a tutorial level for explosive barrels, which in Neon White are useful for traversal as well as taking out groups of enemies. The level guides players through a series of barrel-focused gameplay beats, each one teaching players something new. I did the level blockout, enemy placement, and first environment art pass for this level. I also created the majority of the art assets used in the level. After I left the team, some art and level design adjustments were made by other team members.
The main path is emphasized by interactable objects (barrels and destructable barriers), splashes of color, and enemies. Later parts of the path are visible in the background, informing the player whats to come and making the level very easily navigable on the first run. Glass windows are used to show a future path that is not immediately accessible.
Each barrel in this level serves a teaching purpose and also guides you to the next beat. There's a barrel that players typically target with the intention of killing an enemy but it simultaneously breaks a door down and reveals the path forward. In the next beat, the room is shaped to encourage use of the downward Stomp ability, which when used on some barrels provides the extra powerful jump needed to exit the room.
Each level in Neon White has a shortcut allowing players to optimize their completion time. For the main path, the player explodes a barrel and kills a threatening enemy to reveal the path forward. However, if players explode the barrel later, they can use the explosion to propel them onto a hidden roof area.
Red is the main path. Blue is the shortcut that allows players to skip a room.
Executing the shortcut. Careful timing is required because of the enemy targeting the player.
My instructions for this level were to use every weapon and enemy introduced previously. This was going to be the final level of Mission 9 and needed to feel epic and test the player's skill. It ended up being the longest level I designed for the game. I wanted to invoke the feeling of breaking into a castle and dismantling all it's defences from the inside. In planning this level I came up with gameplay beats that would fit within this theme.
The first half of the level is meant to test the player's ability to use the main cards of the game. Both regular shooting and use of discard abilities are required to be succesful. These beats of scaling a wall, clearing the ramparts, and fighting up a causeway are also intended to feel like you're peeling apart layers of defences from the castle.
One of the shortcuts in this level is to shoot at half of the balloon demons instead of chain jumping them from the bottom as most people would usually do on the first run. Killing all enemies is required to complete levels in Neon White.
This level closes out Mission 9 so I wanted to make sure it had a memorable ending. I used interactable gameplay objects to create a player-triggered chain reaction that invokes the feeling of breaking down the final defences of the fortress. As the player is launched into the air in the final stretch, tripwires travel between the towers and explode a barrel, shattering the glass covering the end goal.
Ginkgo | Lead Designer
Student Project, 2020
Ginkgo is a single player horror game inspired by East Asian horror. Armed with a magic needle that can sew parts of the world together, solve puzzles and outsmart monsters as you explore a surreal world.
Main Contributions:
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Created level blockouts for narrative moments, traversal puzzles, and chase sequences.
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Designed many of the game's unique stitching mechanics and behaviors of various NPC creatures.
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Developed a modular environment art kit used throughout the game and did final art and lighting for many rooms.
2020 Intel University Games Showcase - Best Gameplay, 3rd Place
2020 BAFTA Student Awards - Interactive Media Showcase Selection
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Golden Loft | Game Designer
Halon Entertainment, 2019
In Golden Loft, you will explore your grandfather’s attic and uncover his fascination with the Golden Ratio. Play with various contraptions and curios that your grandfather collected in his travels around the world.
Main Contributions:
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Designed puzzles that provide an intriguing escape-room-like experience while teaching mathematical concepts.
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Created game design documentation and level layouts.
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Modeling, texturing, and lighting for the game's two puzzle rooms.