Hang Zheng
Level Designer

Peblito: Rock and Roll

Peblito: Rock and Roll is a 3D platformer where you play as Peblito, a small yet determined pebble, on his journey through a mystical volcano on the day of the foraging festival.

The Factory

The Factory is a first-person shooter game where players must escape from a perilous, collapsing factory. Utilizing time dilation as a key mechanic, players can navigate through the space, overcoming obstacles and challenges in creative ways.

CyWork

Cywork is a FPS RPG game that takes place in a space facility. Players will play as a scientist and try to figure out what's going on with the invasion.

Medieval War City

Medieval War City is a RPG action game. Players play as a hero and try to save as many civilians as they can.

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Other Projects

Courier's Quest

Courier's Quest is one of the capstone projects I participated in as an undergrad student. At the time, I was working on two capstone projects simultaneously. I learned a lot about time management and how to handle stress. I also learned that different teams required different methods of communication. I frequently shared knowledge between the two teams. This greatly improved production time and decreased scope limitations.

Courier's Quest is a 3rd person action-adventure game inspired by Norse mythology.

London Heliports

This is my first multiplayer FPS map. I want to challenge myself and get myself out of my comfort zone.London Heliports is a fast pace 6v6 Deathmatch map inspired by COD.

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Hang Zheng
Level Designer

Vlog

Vlog 9/3/2024
This week, I learned how important it is to have an intention for my design. Having a design space Makes my life better, and makes my level better. Before, I always wondered why certain rooms or spaces in my level just worked, and why some took me so long to develop, and I still end up not feeling good. Its because I didn’t have a clear theme and objective for this room. Everything in the game is not a coincidence, it has a cause and effect. If it worked without an intention, it's just pure luck.
In conclusion, I think from here now on, I need to think more about the constraints, the goal, the theme, and what am I trying to achieve at this level. What should the player feel in this room? The production values that go into making a level can make a big difference in how the entire level feels.

Vlog 9/9/2024
This week, I got stuck whiteboxing a room for my personal project. I tried many things, but it just doesn't feel good. So it got me thinking, why am I stuck in this room? I think I didn't apply what I learned last week very well, which is designing for cause and effect. In my LDD, it was not clear what am I trying to achieve in each room and throughout the level.
For this week's lesson, I think I need to focus a lot more on how to plan better with LDD. I should be constantly inspired when I'm designing a room, not getting hard stuck.

Vlog 9/17/2024
This week, I used Unity for the first time. I had a tough time. But I also noticed I was picking it up super fast. This helps me know that I can easily pick up whatever engine I must use.

Vlog 9/23/2024
This week, I worked on a game pitch. It is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Designing on-paper mechanics for an audience requires a lot of thinking. It is especially hard when you have to create something for two groups of audiences. We will be doing another one next week, but I think I understand the structure better now. Creativity is forceable if I can build my framework correctly around the game pitch.In conclusion, the game pitch is not something everyone does every day, but it helps to practice and approach design from the audience's perspective. Knowing what kind of production value and gameplay will appeal to them is a huge help to make a good level.

Vlog 9/30/2024
This week, I did a little art test to concept proof the tone of my personal project. The set design part of this scene was not hard, I already have a story in mine, but lighting and fog are big issue. I start to put downlights, but the more lights I put in, the harder it gets. I actually started to reduce the amount the lights in the scene and it became more manageable. Fog was also hard to get right because I wanted blooms in the light, but didn't want the room to be overly bright. This took me a lot of times and trial and error. I'm still not happy with how it looks, but I will keep working on it

Vlog 10/21/2024
This week, we were tasked with real-world environment blackouts. I spent a lot of time on proportion and scale. I spent around 4 hours on this project, and 1 hour was just me trying to find an object in the world that I could use for proportion. The result was a pleasant surprise. Most people who looked at it thought this was a photo of the location. All I used was just plane texture and simple geometry. This made me realize how powerful can blockout be if done correctly.

Vlog 10/29/2024
This week, I had the oppertunity to work on a 2 week narrative game. I get to do a lot of sequencer and set dressing of the game. The level looks good and all, but I was so focused on making the level look good, I forgot I also need to make the level play good. I end up have to do a lot of patches to make the level playable. I think next time, in a short project like this, I will do the reverse. Make the level playable first, and then make the level looks good.

Vlog 11/5/2024
This week, I didn’t work on any in-engine tasks, but I focused on refining our capstone game pitch. It’s been challenging because the pitch wasn’t originally mine—I’ve had to enhance and improve it without altering the core direction. This has been tricky since I need to retain the original concept while carefully cutting elements of theme, tone, or mechanics that might clash with the overall pitch. Throughout this process, I’ve had to ask myself a lot of questions: Do the mechanics fit the theme? How does the tone shape the story? Does the theme align with the narrative? It’s been tough, but I’ll have more updates on my capstone game pitch next week

Vlog 11/12/24
This week, I've been thinking a lot about iteration. It's fascinating—there's almost no such thing as too much iteration, yet hitting the point of diminishing returns is trickier than I thought. Iteration is constant in my process, but I’m realizing I rarely push it as far as I could. Throwing away the first, second, even fifth drafts is pretty normal because those early ideas tend to be derivative. Clearing out the obvious solutions helps uncover something fresh. Plus, it’s a great way to ‘fail fast,’ letting me rapidly prototype and explore new directions

Vlog 11/19/24
Alright, it’s whitebox week, and let me just say—I really need to get better at remembering to take photos. Like, future me is definitely gonna regret that. I started out strong! I was super quick, got the whole level blocked out in no time. Feeling great, right?
And then... iteration happened. I playtested a ton, ran into all kinds of challenges, and ended up reworking so many rooms. One big issue is verticality. At some point, I realized the level felt way too flat, so I went back and added a bunch of vertical elements. Problem solved? Nope! That totally threw off the pacing. Suddenly, the flow was all over the place, so I had to make even more changes to balance it out.But here’s the win: I put every room in its own folder. Seriously, that saved my sanity. Being able to just grab a room and move it around without messing up everything else? Absolute game-changer. Iteration is messy, but staying organized makes it so much easier

Hang Zheng
Level Designer

Peblito: Rock and Roll

Story and background

Peblito: Rock and Roll is a 3D platformer where you play as Peblito, a small yet determined pebble, on his journey through a mystical volcano on the day of the foraging festival. Here is a video of the gameplay compared to whitebox.I worked very closely with other disciplines in order to get two levels done within 3 months of time.

Project details

  • 3 months (20 hours per week)

  • Engine: Unreal Engine 4

  • 17 People Team

  • Responsibilities:

  • Level design

  • Setdress

  • Lighting

  • Iterate action block

Overview

Temple Level's Design Decisions

LandMark

My limitation for the landmark is that I can't have it in the center of the area. So I set up a composition where the landmark will still have the center effect, but not in the center of the room. Players will still be able to see the landmark anywhere on the level.

Speedrun capability

Speedruner is not our target audience, but who doesn't like a shortcut in a platformer game? This quickly turns into a novelty that I want players to chase for. My goal here is when they finish the game, or when they talk to their friend about the game, they will talk about all these shortcuts in challenges that award them for their effort.

Leading lines

I intentionally didn't place any other crystals beside the main path. It is critical because this is a lava chase scene (lava will slowly rise up and catch up to the player), and guiding the player with shiny crystals dramatically helps them escape the lava.

Environmental Storytelling

One of my duties in the game is setdressing. Rather than just making the game look pretty, I want to add lots of narrative moments to the game. I communicated with our design team and made sure environments and narratives were cohesive with the other level/areas.

Sandbox

After seeing the playtest from the previous level, I want to polish up player's skill by making a playground area. This area contains lots of collectibles and fun platforming. With combinations of dashing, jumping, and vine wiping, players can get to some fun places. My intention here is to prepare the player for the next set of actions.

Credit Level's Design Decisions

Goals

  • Engaging and interactive

  • Blue/Orange color schemes for cave

  • Don't let players think they can die

Restriction

  • Player can't die in this level

  • Players will be in rolling form

  • Players can't get stuck

  • level length under two mins

Summary

I was also in charge of our credit level, but this level is a bit different from the rest of the game. Players will be rolling downhill the entire time and crushing through all the crystals that have been assembled into the dev's names. The idea is that we want our credit to be more interactive and more engaging.

Priority

Everyone in the team agreed that this level would only be a thing if we had extra time. Turns out we did have extra time. However, we made this level during alpha, and tasks are popping up here and there. I made a conscious decision to focus more on polishing other levels first.

Things I’d do differently

Have a plan
This is the first large game I've ever worked on. Been so stupid at the time, I didn't know I have to do level outlines, 2D maps, and all that stuff. It did bite me back in future iterations, but we did manage to solve the issues. It also made me realize the power of teamwork. I was actively working with other team members in order to solve the problem.
Play test like a player, not a designer
One of the tasks I failed to do is playtesting. I should be constantly asking myself questions like "Does players know where to go? Is this level too hard? Will players know what to do here?" While playtesting, I need to switch my mindset between player and designer.
Metrics
We didn't have proper documentation for metrics, and this is a platformer game. I know. Looking back, the game will have much higher consistency with metrics. Designers will also have a better time communicating with each other and players will have a better time understanding the space and distances.

Things I’d like to do if I have more time

More iterations on action blocks
I joined the project during mid-production, which means I have a lot less time to design my level with the provided action block. I did end up having to redesign some of the action blocks, but in a very hasty manner because we're going into alpha. It was a quick fix, but not a good fix. If I have more time, I want to deep dive into some of the action blocks and study how would player react to them, and how would I make them better.
Playtest my peer's level
It's good to put attention on my level, but looking at and playing my peer's level can also be very helpful. I was so busy with my level that I trapped myself in it. I want to provide feedback to my peer and bounce ideas off them.

Game Trailer

Dragonkin: The Ancestral Blood is a third person hack-n-slash game with Japanese inspired art style.

Dragonkin: The Ancestral Blood

Hang Zheng Level Designer

Peblito: Rock and Roll
TeamSize: 17
Hour: 300+
Position: Level Designer

CyWork
Personal Project
Hour: 200+

Medieval War City
Personal Project
Hour: 60+

Courier's Quest
TeamSize: 15
Hour: 300+
Position: Level Designer

Dragonkin: The Ancestral Blood
TeamSize: 15
Hour: 200+
Position: Level Designer

Lighting Practice
Personal Project
Hour: 50+

Hang Zheng
Level Designer

Art Work

Here are some of the 3D work I've done in the past years, see full details in my art station:

3D Art

Level Art

Here are some of the work I've done for a game jam, and personal projects.For the first sets of pictures, I created a simple snow scene with a composition in mind. After I finished with the terrain, foliage, and rocks, I wanted to get a better tone of the scene, so I did some lighting exploration with day and night scenes.The second sets of pictures are the level art I did for the 2022 Epic MegaJam. The theme I was going for is an Asian futuristic neon city.For the third set of pictures, I took away all the lights from the room and placed my own in. I want to explore the possibility of tone shifting using different colors.

Hang Zheng
Level Designer

Medieval town

Medieval town is an action game where it take place in a small medieval town. This is my first large personal project. I put a lot of the focus on setdressing and the lighting.

Hang Zheng
Level Designer

Repair.Me

Repair.Me is a space puzzle game that place in a space ship.
I mainly worked as a technical designer. Setting up cutscene using sequencer and blueprint for the first two room. I was also in charge of white box and setdressing as well.

Hang Zheng
Level Designer

Courier's Quest

Team Size: 15
Hour: 300+

Courier's Quest is a 3rd person 3D action-adventure game inspired by Norse mythology.In this video, I talked about some of the challenges that we have to face as a team, and how did we solve them

One of the biggest challenges we have to faced as a team is to make a decision on whether or not we should give up one level that was well planned. We needed more time for the vertical slice. We decided that the vertical slice is more important, but we also left behind some assets that's already been made. So, as a team, we all started to brainstorm and use problem solving skills to get these assets into one of our existing levels. The intention here is to make the level richer without ruining the current pace. I personally loved this process because it provoked challenges. I put our big wolf character into use, and made it into a chase scene using sequencer. It added urgency and excitement to our tutorial level.

Hang Zheng
Level Designer

Dragonkin: The Ancestral Blood

Team Size: 15
Hour: 200+

Dragonkin: The Ancestral Blood is a third person hack-n-slash game with japan style of art.In this gameplay video, I talked about my design decisions through out the entire game.

Hang Zheng
Level Designer

Medieval War City

Medieval war city is an 3rd person action adventure game takes place in a burning medieval city.

  • Hour: 90+

  • Team Size: 1

Goals:

  • Medieval/War theme

  • Civilians saving mechanic

  • Exploration

Restrictions:

  • Approximately 10-20mins of gameplay

  • At least one secret room and unique loot

  • Must have NPC interactions

Mood Board/Reference

While searching for references, I put a lot of my emphasis on architecture. The moment players enter the game, they should know the era immediately. I also look for compositions. What will draw players' attention? What color will suit my theme?

Flow Chart/2D Map

While I do want players to explore the level more, it is a very linear level. I made sure that besides the golden route, there are lots of side quests and buildings that players can explore and learn about the world. For the flow chart, I try to keep the pace tie between fighting, questing, and exploring. As the game goes on, the fights become harder, so I introduce explosive arrows and unique items to players to match that difficulty. Making sure the player's power and game difficulty stays in balance.

Gamplay

There are lots of interactable NPC, objects in the world. Players can talk to NPCs and save them. Players can also destroy objects to create an advantage for themselves.

Final White Box

For the white box, I put a lot of emphasis on how to make people better understand my level setup. There are lots of proxy props and houses to show the architecture of this place. There are a lot of proxy lighting to show the mood I was looking for. I also did a lot of proxy blueprints with the NPCs, boss battle, quest, and cutscenes. Now, they are by all means not optimized, nor look good, but it does show the function of the level and my design intention.

Post Mortem

Normally, after finishing a project, I like to look back and think about the things I could have done better. What would I do differently? What will I do if time isn't a limiting factor? This time, I actually returned to this project and did a small renovation. Below is a gif of how the level looks like before.

What did I do to improve my level?
I added lights and VFX to better express the mood of the level. I adjusted the difficulty of the game by adding more covers and changing enemy placement. I added a new market area to add more world-building to the game. I added more cutscenes to enrich the story even more. Players can now also destroy status to make it into an obstacle. All entrances are also gated and make more sense why they are gated.
More learnings
Looking back to my 2nd iteration, I think I can improve the level by having more elevation and fewer symmetry rooms. The level is also too straightforward, players barely take any turns in the first half of the level. I also didn't have a solid landmark to let players know where they are headed to.

Gamplay Video

Hang Zheng
Level Designer

Cywork

Story and background

Cywork is a First-person RPG 3D game in a space facility. The space facility is conducting research on an advanced energy source. But a group of space pirates wants to intervene.The player can choose a fiction to help the facility or the pirate. The ending of the game is different depending on the player's choice.

Project details

  • 1.5 month (20 hours per week)

  • Engine: Unreal Engine 5

  • Personal Project

  • Level Design

  • Level Art

  • Narrative

Overview

Pre Production

Goals:

  • High-tech future theme

  • Use the environment to influence choice

  • multiple ending

Restrictions:

  • Approximately 15 minutes of gameplay

  • Within 2 months half time

  • Must have cut scenes(proxy)

Mood Board

Before I decide on my POIs, I like to look at interesting pictures that are related to my theme. I typically look for unique architecture, silhouettes, and colors. I think about the interesting mission that can potentially happen in the location as well. Then I dig deeper into the POIs I want to do and make sure there are all kinds of variety.

Brainstorm

For the brainstorming section, I just put down any element/idea that has potential. My scope is huge at this point. But as I work my way into the planning phase, I slowly cut down ideas, I then puzzle them into a blockout with good cohesion.

Early Blockout

After I've decided on my POIs from the brainstorming section, I want to box them out in the engine and see how the space feels like. It took me a couple of iterations to get here, but a solid foundation was important for me

Topdown

Flow Chart

Explicit and Implicit
Narrative

I used implicit narrative in the game to forewarn the player of upcoming danger. Something as easy as a dead body in a crawling position to the door tells the player they're trying to run away from something. There are also multiple explicit narratives in the game including the lab log, computer log, holographic speaker, or a camera looking at the player and starting to speak to the player.

Combats

Surprise attack

For this encounter, I want to make sure when the player gets scared by the enemies, they have places and covers that they can fall back to. There's also an explosive barrel right next to the elevator as well.This is also the first time that the player learned more about pirate fiction and the objective.

Rush

If the player just wants to fight without thinking too much, this is the perfect route for them. It's way more risky than the other route, but I've made sure there are plenty of covers and explosive barrels to help the player out.

High ground

The high ground route is the safer route. The catwalk itself provides natural cover. Some covers from the ground also extend horizontally. If the player wants to avoid fighting, they could also just crouch and slowly walk through the catwalk.

Route

The objective of the game(key card to disable the reactor) is in the room next to the reactor room. However, there are many ways the player can go across the reactor room and get the key card. Some routes have more or less enemies, and some are more stealthy than others.

Endings

After the player gets the keycard, they can choose to disable the reactor or not, and it will affect the ending of the game.

Ending 1

If the player chooses to join pirates, and disable the reactor, the player will have to kill the facility people. This also triggers the alert, and the reinforcement of the facility will break in.

Ending 2

If the player chooses to help the scientist, they will have to fight the pirate. The player will also have to be careful and not let the scientist(facility fiction) die in the crossfire.

Ending 3

If the player didnt do any quest around the facility or the pirates and go straight up to the final room, they will just die because both fictions knows nothing about the player.

Things I’d do differently

Don't rush into the art phase
I rushed into the art stage a little too early in this project. I thought I'd spent enough time in the white box stage, but I found myself constantly going back and changing the white box because it is not ready for art. In this case, it wasn't nearly as bad, because it's just a personal project, but I can imagine mistakes like this can cause many problems for other people in a team environment.
Research the engine limitation and playtesting
Going into this personal project, I had plans for playtesting, but in the end, I couldn't do it because I didn't know how to package the project correctly, nor how to tune the performance so it can at least perform at 30 fps. Next time, I will do more research so I know my scope and performance budget.Cover placement and metrics
"What's considered full cover, what's considered half cover? Can I jump up from here?" I should be asking questions like these more at the beginning of the project. Making sure I have a solid metrics system going into whiteboxing.

Things I’d like to do if I have more time

AI blueprints
I'm using an asset pack for the AI, but from my own testing, these AI are very inconsistent. They will shoot correctly, but they might bug out and shoot randomly if there's a height difference. If I have more time, I will spend some more time improving AI behavior.
Boss Battle
As of right now, the boss battle doesn't feel too much different than the regular fights in the game. I want to make the boss battle gameplay unique from the rest of the game. This will take some effort, but I think it greatly helps the variety of the game.
Blocky Room
If I have more time, I want to step out of my comfort zone and explore the different shapes of the rooms. I want to see how it will impact the gameplay and the level.

Gameplay Walkthrough Video

Hang Zheng
Level Designer

Hi, I'm Hang! I'm a 25-year-old level designer from China. I came to America when I was 12. I still remember looking out the window of the plane and seeing New York City revealed to me through the clouds. It was at that moment, That I realized I was entering an entirely new world. This world seemed unreal to me, but ultimately I knew it was a creation. This epiphany led to my desire to not just live in the beauty of someone else's world but to create my own beauty.For the years that followed, my desire was but a dream. It wasn't until I was introduced to a game called League of Legends that my dream seemed attainable. Watching their world's tournament that fall and seeing the prize pool gave me hope of convincing my more traditional parents there was money in games after all.I begin playing League religiously. I enjoyed the gameplay, but what I really looked forward to was the patch notes. Breaking down these notes to better understand the design philosophy behind them would keep me entranced for hours. I begin shifting my perspective from that of a player to that of a designer. Over the years, this new perspective evolved into an identity. I was determined to be a game designer.

If you're interested to see some of my artwork, here Artstation:

Hang Zheng
Level Designer

London Heliports

Hour: 60+

London Heliports is a fast-paced 6v6 deathmatch map inspired by COD. This project is a very interesting attempt for me, because I've never designed a multiplayer map before, nor have I played COD before. It's hard to get a good grasp of what the player wants when I have no information about the genre. But I learned a lot during this process, and it is always nice to step out of my comfort zone and challenge new design problems.

Things I’d do differently

Play the Game
I really should play some COD before I make this map. I did a lot of research and watched a lot of videos, but it was not enough. I do think it's possible to design a game without playing the game, but it's way easier if you know the game, and know the genre.
Player Fantasy
I learned that different play style is extremely important for games like COD. Each encounter and corner will have to be designed differently for a different types of guns and fantasy. Next time, I would do more research about the guns, play them in the actual game and feel it out.Believable environment
I don't think I present the white box very well in terms of the environment. The architecture of the map is basically none existent. What I should have done is try my best to blend the architecture into the gameplay. It doesn't have to be real, but it has to be believable.

Things I’d like to do if I have more time

Modes
Deathmatch is the only mode I was considering while making this map, but people get tired of one mode very quickly. I think it will be interesting if I spend more time and get the map to work with multiple modes. There will be a lot of problem-solving in this process, and I'm all down for it!
Playtest
I didn't set up any multiplayer function for people to test, the level only functions like a single-player. If I have more time, I want to see how people will play and react to my map.

Hang Zheng
Level Designer

The Factory

My Goal

Story and background

The Factory is a first-person action game set in a sprawling steel mill. Players must overcome numerous challenges as they strive to escape, using time dilation as a key ability to navigate obstacles and outsmart their environment.

My Goal

My main goal is to create a blockout that clearly communicates my vision to other disciplines. I also aim to include cinematic, Hollywood-style moments to enhance the experience. Iteration is a key focus for this project, as I continually refine and playtest to improve the design.

Project details

  • Engine: Unreal Engine 5

  • Personal Project

  • Level Design

Restriction

  • Engine: Unreal Engine 5

  • Personal Project

  • Level Design

LAYOUT AND BASIC DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Description of layout and design thoughs. Picture is place holder, but I will have layouts here

Process

My first step and description, picture is place holder, but I will have mood board, brainstorm and reference here

My second step and description, I will have my prototype here, as well as the process of making my level

My final step and description, I will have my iteration process here

Things I’d do differently

Things I’d like to do if I have more time