Exodus
Lead Game Designer & Level Designer
Overview
Exodus is a tactical escort shooter where you protect a convoy of civilians from an invisible demonic threat. Switch between normal vision - fast but blind - and a slowed demonic state that reveals enemies and arms you for the fight. Stay sharp. Stay close. Keep them alive.
Screenshots
Responsibilities
- Led the overall game design direction, defining core mechanics and gameplay systems
- Made key design decisions regarding feature implementation and mechanical structure
- Created and maintained the Game Design Document (GDD), ensuring design clarity and team alignment
- Designed and developed Level 03 from initial 2D layout to final in-engine implementation
- Structured player progression, encounter pacing, and environmental storytelling within the level
- Oversaw level iteration and refinement, including spatial composition and gameplay balancing
- Completed final set-dressing to enhance atmosphere, readability, and player guidance
Tools
- Unity Engine - development
- YouTrack - task planning & tracking
- Google Docs - documentation
- Miro - sketching & brainstorming
Research & Design Process
This moodboard defines the mechanical and spatial foundation of Exodus, combining escort-based progression with a dual-dimension system. This helped in deciding the core gameplay structure as well as the level pacing strategy before the start of blockout.
Level Sketches & Documentation
At the initial stage of development, I drew multiple hand-drawn level sketches. That layouts helped me determine the route of the convoy, where combat encounters would occur, and find out ways to regulate timing as well. This enabled me to play around with the ideas about how the convoy would move through the level, where exactly the fight would begin and how to accommodate the player’s movements.
Simultaneously, the structure of the core gameplay systems and mechanics was defined in formal documents - the Game Design Document, along with separate Enemy, Player, Weapon, and Features design documents, outlined the escort structure, dual-dimension logic, and progression system. As a result, the mechanical design and level design will remain in line from the first moment of production allowing for consistency before the blockout and implementation phases of the game.
Layout & Development
Before development could begin on this last level, a general structural layout was worked out, including convoy movements, areas of spatial pressure, and encounter rhythm. Areas of interest, defensive positions, and switching points were carefully planned so that the convoy movement dictated the combat rhythm, while progressively increasing convection levels.
After defining the basic structure, the route of the convoy was set up and the enemy spawning points were strategically profiled to create continually increasing tense battle scenes and add combination ability. After determining the balance and tempo of the gameplay, the level's set-dressing was completed by adding elements to the environment that improve the readability, atmosphere, and guidance of the game.
Iterations & Lessons Learned
- 1
Difficulty Spikes at Stopping Points
One of the key iteration focuses during development was refining convoy pacing and encounter balance. In early versions, enemy waves were too concentrated around single stopping points, creating sudden difficulty spikes that limited the strategic depth of the escort mechanic.
- 2
Redistributing Encounters
Through iteration, enemy spawn zones were redistributed and staggered across multiple spatial layers, creating more controlled combat escalation and encouraging players to actively reposition between dimensions rather than holding a single defensive spot.
- 3
Balancing Tension and Recovery
Convoy stopping durations and encounter timing were also adjusted to better balance tension and recovery windows. These iterations improved pacing clarity, reinforced the importance of dimension switching, and strengthened the relationship between level layout and gameplay systems.