Knight Light
Knight Light is a third-person action-adventure game developed in Unreal Engine, which I joined during its third semester of production to help polish and prepare for a commercial Steam release. As a Level Designer, my primary goal was to transition the game from a single-arena environment into a structure, three-level progression map. I drafted and whiteboxed the first two major areas, designed the enemy encounters, and collaborated closely with the art team to seamlessly integrate 3D assets into the playable space. Additionally, I worked alongside programmers to define the encounter-driven progression system and tuned Blueprint variables to ensure a polished gameplay pacing for launch.
Project Details
Type: Game Project
Engine: Unreal Engine
Duration: 3 months (9 total)
Team Size: 39 total
Platform: PC (Steam)
Year: 2024
Key Contributions
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Level Design & Whiteboxing: Transitioned the game's original single-arena layout into a structured, three-area progression map, taking ownership of drafting and whiteboxing the first two major levels.
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Encounter Design & Progression: Designed and placed enemy spawn groups to drive the new gate-progression system, pacing out combat waves that unlock subsequent areas upon completion.
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Cross-Discipline Art Integration: Collaborated directly with the environment artists to seamlessly build the playable space around their 3D assets, ensuring legacy pieces like a church, mural, and water fountain fit naturally into the gameplay
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Layout & Set Dressing: Blocked out the environments using Unreal Engine's modelling tools to establish preliminary set dressing, locking in spatial composition, scale, and sightlines before the art team did their final passes.​
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Lighting System Integration: Partnered directly with the programming team to implement dynamic environmental mechanics, utilizing their custom tools to manually place hanging light systems throughout the map to guide player navigation.
Knight Light Steam Trailer
Level Redesign: From Arena to Adventure
When I joined the Knight Light team for its third semester of production, the game was originally functioning as a finite, single-level horde survival experience. To prepare the project for a commercial Steam release, we needed to introduce structured pacing and progression. I was responsible for redesigning the game's architecture, pivoting the map into a linear, three-stage experience. I was in charge of the level design and flow for the first two of these major areas.
Initial level section drafts from early design meetings, outlining the core combat flow
Building on these combat-focused brainstorms, I sketched multiple top-down iterations of the level layout. I refined these drafts continuously based on feedback from the Design team to ensure the space supported our wave-based encounters. To guarantee the environment wasn't just functional but visually striking, I planned out composition shots early in the analog phase. I color-coded specific camera angles and vistas directly onto the map to ensure the geometry would naturally frame key landmarks and guide the player's eye.
Iterative top-down drafts featuring color-coded composition shots to plan out camera framing
3D Blockouts: Cross-Discipline Collaboration
I started the 3D blockout phase with the game's second level. Since it was the middle section of the map, it was planned to hold the heaviest combat content and the majority of the art team's requested hero assets. I collaborated closely with the environment artists to carve out specific focal points for their models, seamlessly integrating a central church mural, a statue, and a water fountain into the combat arenas. The artists also wanted more landmarks for their portfolios, so I pitched the idea of an observatory; a large dome structure with multiple entrances. This design served both my need for a multi-directional combat space and their need for a new centerpiece.
Level 2 blockouts specifically designed to highlight the art team's hero assets like the statue and church mural
Once the Level 2 whitebox was implemented and iterated upon based on team feedback, I moved on to designing Level 1. To ensure the world felt cohesive, I worked backward, directly connecting the start point of Level 2 to the endpoint of Level 1. I took a top-down screenshot of the in-engine Level 2 blockout and sketched my Level 1 drafts right over it. This hybrid analog/digital drafting process guaranteed the scale and flow matched perfectly before I committed to whiteboxing the new geometry in Unreal.
Drafting Level 1 directly over an in-engine screenshot of Level 2 (notice the adjusted spacing)
Level 1 whiteboxed environment featuring basic set dressing and top-down view
Standalone Level 1 scene vs. additive Level 2 scene
Player Guidance: Elevation and Illumination
To connect the first and second levels, I designed a spiral staircase transition that served multiple design purposes. Mechanically, it acted as a physical barrier; by elevating the player into the next arena, it prevented them from skipping the first section's combat triggers. Thematically, this verticality reinforced the narrative feeling of ascending higher into the town as the game progressed. This transitional space also functioned as a checkpoint, ensuring if a player failed the subsequent encounter, they wouldn't be forced to replay the entire game from the beginning.
Spiral staircase transition between Level 1 and Level 2
Beyond structural gating, I relied heavily on lighting to implicity guide the player through the arenas. I utilized the modular light system, a tool feature requested from the engineering team, to create subtle trails across the map. By strategically placing these light fixtures along the path, I was able to naturally draw the player's eye toward the next combat gate or point of interest without relying on intrusive UI waypoints.
Utilizing the modular hanging light system to naturally guide players toward the next combat gate
Post-Mortem: Pipelines, Blueprints, and Collaboration
Joining Knight Light during its final semester of production was my first deep dive into a 3D pipeline within Unreal Engine 5. Redesigning a live project taught me how to structure my workflow entirely around the needs of a multi-disciplinary team.
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Parralel Level Development: Because we were transitioning the game into a three-level structure on a tight deadline, I knew I couldn't bottleneck the other level designer by working strictly chronologically from the beginning. I deliberately started whiteboxing Level 2 first. By establishing the middle chunk of the game early and utilizing Unreal's additive scenes, I enabled my co-designer to being building Level 3 simultaneously without waiting for me to finish Level 1. This parallel workflow kept production moving smoothly across the entire map.
Bird's eye view render of the finalized environment and final top-down views of the complete three-level map
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Iterating with Blueprints: While our engineering team handled the core mechanics, I needed to manage level-specific fail states independently. Rather than relying on programmers for every adjustment, I utilized the event graph to check the player's vertical position continuously, tirggering an out-of-bounds reset if they fell below a certain threshold. Working directly within these Blueprints allowed me to rapidly adjust death heights and combat variables on the fly.
Utilizing Blueprints to check for death heights
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Iterating with Blueprints: This was my first time working alongside a dedicated team of environment artists. I quickly learned that level design isn't just about pacing and flow, but also about creating a gallery for the artists' hard work. By actively pitching new building ideas and deliberately framing areas around the church mural, statues, and fountain, I ensured the level geometry highlighted their hero assets from the best possible camera angles.
FInal release renders highlighting artists' hero assets
Play The Game!
If you're ready to defend the Witchballs and take on the nightmares yourself, Knight Light is available to play for free on Steam. It was a great experience privoting this project into a full adventure, and I'd love for you to see how the final level flow and combat encounters turned out. If you give it a try, feel free to reach out with any feedback or leave a review on the store page!