Hello! I'm Wyatt Waters.
Junior Level Designer, Valedictorian of DigiPen Institute of Technology 2021
Contact Me:
Phone Number: (425) 443-6384
Building Spaces with Story
In every level, room, puzzle, and combat encounter, I strive to tell a story. Whether it's blasting neon skeletons, saving the world from a demon, or rebuilding an aquarium, I believe that every moment of gameplay contributes to the larger story of the player's experience.
To craft that experience, I test early and often, employ level design fundamentals to shape the flow, tension, and pacing of each space, and work collaboratively to connect my levels with a game's system and narrative.
My Work
Skeletron.exe
A 3D first-person shooter developed by team of 6 in Unity.
I was the Level Designer on the project.
My Responsibilities:
• Blocked out 10 combat and transitional encounters using Unity ProBuilder
• Designed a 3-phase boss encounter to assess the player's mastery
• Collaborated with the System Designer on documentation for the game's progression, encounters, and enemies
• Placed enemies, pickups, and props to build dynamic combat arenas
• Playtested levels and encounters to identify strengths and flaws
Until You Wake
A 3D third-person shooter developed in Unity by Enoom, a 16-person student game team.
I was the Level Designer and Design Lead on this game team.
My Responsibilities:
• Grey-boxed 7 levels in Maya to facilitate rapid iteration
• Planned and Implemented encounters with a focus on evolving mechanics
• Scripted all cutscenes, gameplay events, and encounters with C# and Cinemachine
• Collaborated with the art team on the game's environmental storytelling
• Organized the design team through weekly sprints
• Playtested all levels and encounters to refine the difficulty curve
Prism Pistol and the Doom Cube
A 3D first-person puzzle-shooter developed in Unity. This game was a solo project developed over one semester.
My Responsibilities:
• Planned, implemented, and iterated all content, from systems to levels
• Encounter design targeted at deeply exploring a small set of mechanics
• Scripting the player controller, enemies, and events using C#
• Weekly testing to identify issues with all elements
• Playtesting and iterating all levels throughout development
Aqua Blast: Puzzle Adventure
A match-three game developed by Ember Entertainment, Inc. available on iOS and the Google Play Store.
In it, the player completes levels to restore a sprawling aquarium to its former glory.
I was a Level Designer on this game.
My Responsibilities:
• Created new levels using a level editor in a custom, lua-based engine
• Developed level sets for both experienced and new players
• Revised existing levels to improve player retention and conversion rates
• Scripted tutorial and dialog events in Lua
• Conducted competitive research on other games in the genre
Coin City
A slot-machine city-builder developed by Ember Entertainment, Inc. available on iOS and the Google Play Store.
The player spins the slot machine to earn resources and attack their friends, then uses those rewards to build their way through a series of unique cities.
I was a Level Designer on this project.
My Responsibilities:
• Planned and built new cities in Unity with a focus on novelty and achievement
• Connected each of my cities to the multiplayer systems and UI through Lua scripts
• Coordinated with design leadership to ensure that my cities fit in the larger progression
• Worked with the QA Team to test all content that I developed