Project details

Using Unreal Engine, me and my team of 18 other developers created "Inferno" A third person speedrunning game where the players goal is to reach the finish in the fastest time possible

Designed & Built the layout of the main level
Designed & Built the layout of the onboarding level
Scripted and Designed enemy encounters
Peformed multiple playtests and utilized the feedback to iterate on the game
Sketched and Planned the layout and enemy placements in the level
Set-dressed the level using modular kit pieces provided by the artists of the team.

18 people

8 weeks

Unreal Engine 5

Try it out on Itch!

Project Information

Elevator Pitch:

Step into the world of Inferno - an ultra-fast speedrunning shooter-platformer where you blast through demonic enemies to charge your momentum-based movement abilities.

Theme:

Hellish Castle

Unique Selling Point:

Inferno is a third-person speedrunning game where your movement abilities charge by killing enemies.

Player Experience:

Rushed, Chaos, Timing, Powerfull, Fast

About Inferno

Inferno was the largest project I worked on as a Level Designer, developed over eight weeks with a multidisciplinary team of seventeen students. The game is a fast-paced third-person speedrunning shooter where players fight their way through a blazing castle, using wall-running and precise movement to reach the throne of Hell.

As one of two Level Designers, I was responsible for designing, documenting, blocking out, and iterating on both the onboarding and main level. My focus was on maintaining strong combat pacing, ensuring clear player guidance, and creating a smooth gameplay flow across each section of the experience.

Throughout development, I collaborated closely with the Environment Art team to align gameplay and visual design, ensuring that each area supported the intended tone and player experience. Working within a large team taught me the importance of communication, iteration, and balancing creative ideas within a shared vision—all while delivering a complete, playable level within the project’s eight-week timeframe.

Game Trailer

Level Breakdown

Designing for Mastery:

From the start, my goal was to create a level that supported all skill levels while rewarding improvement through mastery. The layout encourages exploration on a first run, yet offers numerous time-saving routes for experienced players to discover. What might take a minute to complete initially can be cut in half through precision movement and creative routing—turning the level into a space players can truly learn and master.

Forged in the Abyss:

Built using the modular kit from our Environment Art team, the level captures the essence of a crumbling castle suspended in a fiery void. The design draws inspiration from Dante’s Inferno, portraying an otherworldly realm consumed by heat and destruction. Vertical layering, broken pathways, and suspended ruins all serve gameplay—pushing players to maintain momentum while navigating unstable, shifting spaces.

Combat as Movement:

Enemy placement was designed to seamlessly merge combat with traversal. Each enemy type—Turret, Linker, Balloon, and Launcher—interacts uniquely with the player’s movement, launching them across gaps or resetting abilities mid-air. By integrating these mechanics directly into the level’s flow, I aimed to create a rhythm where movement, combat, and timing all feed into one another.

Teaching the Inferno:

To ensure players understood these systems from the start, I also designed the onboarding level. It introduces the game’s movement mechanics, enemy behaviors, and pacing in a safe environment that encourages experimentation. This tutorial lays the groundwork for players to apply what they’ve learned once they enter the full Inferno experience.

Project Research

Crumbling Infernal Ruins

Early in development, our team agreed on a Gothic Infernal setting to fit the game’s tone and mechanics. From there, I proposed several ideas to support this direction while keeping production limits in mind. With only seven weeks left of development time and restrictions such as no liquids or complex geometry, we needed an environment that felt dramatic yet achievable within scope.

Working alongside another Level Designer, I focused on researching layout references and visual solutions for gameplay readability—particularly for wall-running surfaces. Together, we analyzed environments that captured the look and feel of infernal decay while remaining modular and practical to build.

Inspiration and Adaptation

My main visual references were Elden Ring’s Volcano Manor and Crumbling Farum Azula. Volcano Manor inspired the grand, decaying architecture and heavy atmosphere, while Farum Azula’s floating ruins influenced how we approached verticality and movement. That reference also directly informed the idea of having wall-runnable surfaces suspended in the air, tying the environment’s destruction to gameplay flow.

Additional research included Doom (2016) and Dante’s Inferno paintings, which helped shape the project’s color palette and tone—balancing fiery intensity with darker gothic contrasts.

Designing Within Constraints

The project’s limitations encouraged creative problem-solving. To avoid visible geometry cuts, I introduced a dense fog layer beneath the level, giving the illusion that structures rose from an endless abyss. This not only solved a technical issue but also reinforced the atmosphere of dread and depth.

Wall Readability

Because wall-running was a core mechanic, I dedicated part of my research to making those surfaces visually distinct. I experimented with color contrast and rune-like decals inspired by Doom’s environmental design. These ideas were implemented early and tested throughout development to ensure readability during high-speed gameplay.

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Level Planning

Structuring the Experience

Once the research phase was complete, I began translating our ideas into a clear structure for the level. Rather than focusing on moment sketches, my approach centered around creating detailed node maps and one-pagers to communicate pacing, flow, and gameplay intent to the team. These documents helped visualize how each section would escalate in intensity and how both new and advanced players would progress through the environment.

First one-pager

Second one-pager

Third one-pager

First one-pager

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Each iteration focused on improving the balance between challenge, accessibility, and replayability. I regularly updated these documents to keep all disciplines aligned and to ensure the intended gameplay flow translated effectively into engine.

Ki and Sho: Introduction and Early Challenge

For the main level, I worked mainly on the Ki and Sho sections—responsible for setting up the player’s first impression and establishing the gameplay rhythm.

Ki (Introduction): Designed to teach core movement and rhythm in a controlled space, giving players time to grasp wall-running and combat flow.
Sho (Challenge): Built as the first test of skill, combining traversal and enemy encounters in faster, more demanding sequences.

Node map of the enemy placements and difficulty scaling

I prototyped both sections directly in Unreal Engine, ensuring that traversal lines and enemy placement aligned with player readability and movement timing. These early passes allowed the team to quickly test the overall flow and identify opportunities for speedrunning optimization.

Iteration and Testing

Throughout development, we playtested frequently to ensure that new players could complete the level comfortably while more advanced players could discover faster routes and movement chains. My focus during these tests was refining speedrun potential, ensuring flow clarity, and keeping documentation updated as the design evolved.

Frequent communication with my teammate was key—we reviewed each other’s sections often, providing feedback to maintain consistent pacing, readability, and challenge progression across the level.

Building Atmosphere and Readability

Beyond the layout, I contributed to set dressing and composition, focusing on maintaining clear navigation cues and enhancing key moments. Using the modular kit developed by the Environment Art team, I helped decorate key areas such as the opening section and bridge approach, emphasizing visual clarity and thematic contrast to guide players naturally through the level.

Onboarding the Player

In parallel, I helped design the Onboarding Level, focusing on how to teach player-enemy interactions effectively. I structured the sequence of tutorial moments so that each new element built naturally on the last—introducing wall-running, dashing, and each enemy type one at a time.

To improve player understanding, I collaborated with a Technical Designer to implement an in-game text display system. This allowed the tutorial to communicate mechanics contextually, creating a smoother learning curve for first-time players. This experience deepened my understanding of how to teach mechanics through level design, balancing information density with player engagement.

Final version of the onboarding level

Closing Thoughts

Inferno was one of the most challenging and rewarding projects I’ve worked on at BUAS. It pushed me to adapt constantly — both as a designer and as a collaborator. Because of the game’s speed and complexity, my approach to level design had to evolve significantly. Designing for movement at that scale meant accounting for momentum, timing, and precision in a way I hadn’t before.

Throughout development, I learned the importance of clear communication and consistent documentation. With so many moving parts and rapid iterations, keeping track of changes became a full-time task in itself. The materials I’ve included on this page — node maps, one-pagers, and planning iterations — represent only a small fraction of the total work done in-engine, but they capture the evolution of the level’s design without overwhelming the page.

Balancing the experience for different skill levels was one of my biggest challenges. I wanted new players to enjoy the level at a comfortable pace, while still giving experienced players opportunities to express mastery through speed and precision. This balance only came through constant playtesting and iteration, refining every shortcut and encounter to feel fair yet rewarding.

Seeing the results on playday was incredible — there was a long queue of students waiting to play, and even one of our lecturers spent time after hours trying to beat his own high score. Moments like that made all the late nights and reworks worth it. It was easily one of the best experiences I’ve had at BUAS and a defining moment in my growth as a game designer.