Blast Path is a fast-paced, hack-and-slash game and my final project at Abertay University. Our client is Sumo Digital. They requested a game that delivers a strong sense of "flow" and targets the casual market. After brainstorming, we chose to develop a first-person parkour game with hack-and-slash elements. The core mechanic rewards momentum by increasing the player's damage output as they move faster—allowing them to kill more efficiently. In turn, successful combat helps maintain their speed. This loop keeps the gameplay fast-paced and high-intensity, requiring players to stay fully engaged.

My contributions included:

• Conducted research on level design and gameplay references.
• Created detailed level design documentation.
• Collaborated with fellow designers to test and adjust gameplay metrics.
• Designed the layout and blockout.
• Integrated 3D assets.
• Scripted placeholder environmental interactions, including:
  • Bounce Pad
  • Dead Zone
• Organized and conducted multiple playtests to gather and analyze player feedback.

Preproduction: Research & Documentation

Blast Path Level Design Document.pdf

When we decided the core gameplay, I started to create level design documents. I followed the guidance from *The Level Design Book* (Robert Yang, 2025) and Steve Lee's video "How I design levels in text first, and why" (Steve Lee, 2022) **to carry out pre-production and documentation.

Game References

Doom

In the beginning, Doom was our most important reference. We admired its fast-paced and satisfying combat experience, so I spent considerable time researching how it achieves “flow” and analyzing its level structure. As a result, the early versions of my level were open in layout and focused heavily on verticality.