HYPERFIST
HYPERFIST is a fast-paced, comic-styled, first person melee action game focused on punching, grabbing, and other hand-to-hand combat.
Role: Level and Encounter Design
Project Status: Ongoing (2026 Release)
Tools Used: Unreal Engine 5, Excalidraw
Steam Wishlist: CLICK HERE
Below is a detailed description of my process of Level Design contribution.
Level Layouts
- Workflow starts with communicating with environment artists to have a collaborative vision of what our levels should look like.
- Come up with types of locations (suburbs, cities, etc) and landmarks or hot spots that help those locations to stand out.
(Involves research, attaching reference images to the layouts, etc.)
- I make it a point to ensure that the layouts are readable, so that every person in the environment team can understand the general plan for the levels.
Whiteboxing/Blockouts
- Blockout process starts by using simple grid-textured boxes to create a basic 3D representation of the Layout.
- Textured models of buildings and props are imported into the level.
- Encounters are added to the level and playtested.
- A scale pass is done to reduce the overall size of the level and the props to add a sense of realism.
- A second pass of prop placement is done to fill the level space and make it more believabl
Encounter Design
Aside from moment-to-moment encounters and combat scenarios, the game consists of arena-style gameplay with multiple waves of enemies. This helps to break up the flow of the game by having the player fight in a gated combat arena, where the skills they have learned thus far are put to the test through expansions and evolution. This also allows the environment team to make eye-catching landmarks for combat spaces, helping those locations to stand out.
Encounter Layouts
- Encounter layouts are made to create a mental image of how the combat space should flow, when and where enemies should spawn, etc.
- Simple blockouts of those spaces are made using Unreal's modeling tools.
- Artists go in and replace blockouts with polished models with textures
- Wave-based enemy spawning is implemented with varying levels of difficulty
- Encounters are playtested extensively and iterated upon
