PROJECT DETAILS
STUDIO
Tandemi
DURATION
February 2023 - September 2023
ROLE
Level Designer
INTRO
Begone Beast is a top-down, cooperative action game for 1-4 players, with local and online multiplayer. I worked on the project for eight months as a Level Designer, building combat encounters and additional content with a small indie team.
COMING SOON ON STEAM:
MY RESPONSIBILITIES
I worked at Tandemi as a Level Designer to build combat encounters and additional content across two major milestones. My responsibilities included:
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Worked with a tight-knit indie team to develop the PAX East 2023 demo from first concept to a playable show-floor build
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Designed the Ballroom crescendo event, a multi-wave, holdout-style combat encounter with a unique level ingredient (the Ice Sculpture mechanic), destructible hazards, and escalating enemy waves, from concept to final version
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Implemented the Ice Sculpture mechanic, a giant sliding ice statue players attack to wipe out enemies and create chaos, iterating on several versions from playtest and leadership feedback
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Scripted mechanics and interactions in C#, including environmental hazards and minigames
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Created several dozen modular encounter spaces for the campaign's procedural level generator
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Collaborated with teammates on iterations of boss fights and the end-of-campaign gauntlet run
BALLROOM CRESCENDO EVENT - PAX EAST 2023
© 2023 Tandemi
ENCOUNTER GOALS
Leadership gave me three goals this encounter needed to accomplish:
1. A Unique Level Mechanic: Design a high-spectacle combat encounter that features a unique gameplay mechanic
2. Spotlight the Slide: The encounter needs to feature the Table Slide mechanic as a means of evading enemies and accomplishing Goal #3
3. Create Chaos: Use the Ballroom setting to create an elaborately decorated event that players would slowly destroy
© 2023 Tandemi
DESIGN DECISIONS FOR THESE GOALS
Shaping the Room (around a Unique Mechanic):
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The original plan for the Ballroom started as a rectangular room. The idea was to keep it simple and focused on the spectacle of the gameplay, but that was before we concepted the Ice Sculpture mechanic.
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When the Ice Sculpture was added, I thought the pathing would become more chaotic if the room was reshaped with more angles and objects for the sculpture to bounce off.
Dividing the Room with Tables (to Spotlight the Slide):
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I used tables to create a clear divide between the inner and outer parts of the room, with the Ice Sculpture starting in the center.
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At the start of the encounter, the center acted as a safe space for players, allowing players to slide over the tables to get away from enemies.
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The Table Slide is one aspect that makes players more powerful than monsters because enemies can't slide over tables. So, I laid out the room to create more safety at the beginning as a way of escalating difficulty over time.
Opening the Room Over Time (creating Chaos)
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The tables gave players cover, and the Ice Sculpture took it away. Each table it destroyed opened the room up more.
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Players lost safety, but the sculpture gained more space to bounce around, and players gained more open paths to hit it straight into enemies.
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That trade-off, less safety for more opportunity, made the chaos build as the encounter progressed.
© 2023 Tandemi
© 2023 Tandemi
© 2023 Tandemi
REVISITING ENCOUNTER GOALS
How did this meet the three goals?
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A Unique Level Mechanic: The Ice Sculpture was the encounter's centerpiece, and the room was built around giving it angles to bounce off and avenues to use it against enemies.
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Spotlight the Slide: Sliding over the tables was how players escaped enemies because the monsters couldn't climb over tables.
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Create Chaos: The room's angles and the tables breaking apart meant the encounter got more chaotic the longer it ran, and the initial setup covered the room in destructible chairs and dinnerware that the Table Slide would destroy.
