Epigenesis

Epigenesis is an arena sports game made by Dead Shark Triplepunch, a small indie studio I co-founded with nine other people. The game won Epic Games' Make Something Unreal Live 2013, as well as Game of the Year at the Swedish Game Awards and the Game Concept Challenge (50,000 SEK).

Since we were a small team, I worked on a bit of everything, but mostly level design. I also helped with the gameplay mechanics and wrote UnrealScript.

Designing, scripting, and testing

Position

Level Designer & Scripter

Platform

PC (Steam)

Engine

Unreal Engine 3

Team Size

10 people

Duration

1 year in Early Access + 10 months of final development

My responsibilities included:

• Designing and building the main arenas
• Working with our lead designer, Michael Levall, on the core gameplay mechanics
• Scripting arena events and player interactions in UnrealScript
• Running playtests and setting up playtest data tracking
• Using playtest data and feedback to improve the arenas

Designing the arenas

Gadget Arena

I owned Gadget Arena from concept to polish, including the layout, lighting, and player flow. I also added the gameplay mechanics and obstacles used in the arena.

Omani Arena

I designed the layout for Omani Arena with a focus on competitive play and skill expression, and iterated on it based on internal and external playtests.

Mixed Arena

I co-designed Mixed Arena with Joakim Westblad, and we worked on the layout, mechanics, and gameplay balance together.

Argos Arena and Gran Arena

Joakim Westblad led the design for Argos Arena and Gran Arena. I worked on them as a secondary designer and playtester, giving feedback and helping with iteration so they stayed consistent with the rest of the game.

Working in a small team

With only ten people on the team, everyone took on whatever was needed. For me, that meant going between level design, scripting, and playtesting, and taking the arenas all the way from the first idea to release.