Project overview
Senior Combat Designer · Lilith Games
March 2021–September 2025 · Shipped live battle royale
March 2021–September 2025 · Shipped live battle royale
I owned Ling Bo, Beau, and Jue Chen from combat concepts and prototype validation through launch and live iteration, and contributed to or maintained abilities for four other heroes.
My focus: distinctive hero experiences, responsive controls, and reusable tools for the design team.
Two heroes, two kinds of freedom
LING BO · Fluid movement
The challenge: preserve full-body transformation animations without compromising agile survival and repositioning. I tuned the experience around fluid control and a roaming identity.
Player response: consistently among the top three heroes in preference surveys; players also described her as a roaming hero, matching the intended experience.
JUE CHEN · Tactical choices
I designed a separate realm isolated from conventional abilities and gunfire. It gave players options to reposition, rescue teammates, evade fire, and secure advantageous positions.
Beau · Combos with counterplay
Design intent — Powerful abilities with vertical reach, built around a core mechanic that rewards skill combinations while preserving opponents’ opportunities to respond.
Player response — Highest ability-combo feel rating among heroes in player surveys. Seeing players execute the intended combinations was another direct signal that the design was landing.
Beyond individual heroes
My work also addressed the shared foundations of combat: dependable inputs, flexible ability timing, and tools that enabled other designers to iterate.
01 / RESPONSIVE CONTROLS
Advocated for input buffering to reduce dropped inputs. Decoupled presentation and gameplay timelines so startup, activation, and recovery could be tuned independently. Redesigned summon-placement search and fallback rules.
02 / REUSABLE DESIGN TOOLS
Identified recurring Buff / Effect needs and defined reusable configuration workflows with engineers, who implemented the underlying functionality. VFX / SFX iterations supported multiple effects, team-dependent presentation, linked audio, and premium-skin overrides. I documented the workflows for hero and monetization designers.
03 / A CLEARER START FOR NEW PLAYERS
Coordinated tutorials, scripted matches, and matchmaking. Independently designed the tutorial level and in-match and out-of-match tutorials, developed the tutorial level, and iterated through A/B tests and live data, contributing to a substantial improvement in day-one retention.
What guides my decisions
I start with the experience and power fantasy a hero should deliver. In live balancing, I consider character identity, data, and player feedback together—and revisit assumptions when the actual experience differs from the goal.
