Chris Wang
I build level spaces that turn story context into player-driven decisions.
My primary focus is level design, environmental storytelling, player agency, and spatial gameplay structure. I am especially interested in action, shooter, RPG, and immersive gameplay spaces where exploration, combat pressure, and narrative context work as one system.
About
I approach level design as gameplay architecture: a level should not only contain gameplay, but actively shape what the player notices, chooses, risks, and remembers.
Level Design Projects
Main portfolio track. Gonggong's Wrath is the current hero project. Two additional whitebox slots are reserved for future deep level-design studies.
Gonggong's Wrath
A mythic action-adventure dungeon focused on environmental storytelling, tool-based traversal, player-driven problem solving, and a unified level arc from village to cave, avalanche, river, aerial path-building, and boss space.
Whitebox Level 02
Placeholder for a focused spatial-design study. Suggested direction: nonlinear exploration level with readable landmarks, optional routes, and player choice.
Whitebox Level 03
Placeholder for a combat-space level study. Suggested direction: encounter arena, cover logic, route pressure, enemy composition, and pacing control.
Supporting Design Work
These projects support the level-design main track by proving combat awareness and systemic experience design. They should be secondary on the homepage, not hidden.
Information Creates Advantage
FPS tutorial level about observation, positioning, cover use, and decision-making under partial information. Use this as combat-informed level design proof.
Blessing
A satirical incremental game about workplace pressure. Use this as proof of experience design, systemic feedback, player emotion shaping, and readable UI/behavior loops.
Design Process
This section is designed for North American level-design recruiters: it explains how each project will be documented once content is filled in.
Design Intent
What player experience should this level create?
Spatial Plan
Top-down map, flow diagram, landmarks, gates, routes, and sightlines.
Playtest Diagnosis
What did players misunderstand, miss, rush, avoid, or exploit?
Iteration Evidence
V1 → V2 → V3 changes, with design reasoning and player-experience impact.
Gonggong's Wrath
A level-design case study about environmental storytelling, tool-based traversal, player autonomy, and one continuous level arc. This should become the main project for Level Designer applications.
1. Design Pillar
Placeholder: Explain the core design statement of this dungeon. Example: "The player should understand the world, danger, and available choices through the environment before relying on explicit instruction."
2. Level Flow Overview
| Stage | Player Experience Goal | Level Design Function |
|---|---|---|
| Village | Low-pressure orientation and narrative setup. | Introduce context, destination, and visual anchors. |
| Cave | Tool discovery and safe learning. | Teach the ice-block tool through spatial affordance. |
| Avalanche / River | Pressure escalation and route commitment. | Turn tool understanding into traversal decisions. |
| Boss Space | Final application of learned spatial rules. | Unify environment, tool, threat, and narrative resolution. |
3. Player Agency
Placeholder: Document where players can make meaningful choices. Focus on optional routes, alternate uses of the ice-block tool, risk/reward paths, and moments where the player solves space rather than follows instructions.
4. Environmental Storytelling
Placeholder: Explain how the village, cave, broken terrain, water, snow, and boss arena communicate story and danger through layout. Include before/after screenshots and prop/narrative intent later.
5. Iteration Log
| Version | Problem Found | Design Change | Player Experience Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| V1 | Placeholder: unclear tool affordance / path readability issue. | Placeholder: adjusted layout, landmark, spacing, or hint structure. | Placeholder: player understood route or choice faster. |
| V2 | Placeholder. | Placeholder. | Placeholder. |
| V3 | Placeholder. | Placeholder. | Placeholder. |
Whitebox Level 02 — Exploration & Choice
Placeholder project for a future deep level-design study focused on spatial readability, optional routes, landmarks, and player-led exploration.
Design Question
Placeholder: How can a level make players feel they discovered a path themselves while still staying readable?
Required Future Content
- Top-down flow map
- Route-choice diagram
- Landmark plan
- Iteration log
Whitebox Level 03 — Combat Space & Pacing
Placeholder project for a future combat-space study focused on encounter flow, cover logic, enemy composition, flank routes, pressure control, and level pacing.
Design Question
Placeholder: How can space teach threat priority, encourage repositioning, and support multiple combat solutions?
Required Future Content
- Encounter map
- Enemy placement rationale
- Pressure curve
- Iteration log
FPS Tutorial Level — Information Creates Advantage
A first-level FPS prototype designed to teach players that gathering information, choosing better positions, and planning movement can create advantages in combat.
1. Design Problem
Placeholder: Players often rush into combat without understanding enemy location, route structure, or positional advantage.
2. Experience Curve
| Phase | Learning Goal | Experience Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Start Area | Basic movement readability. | Safe orientation. |
| First Combat | Distance, dash, cover, target priority. | Controlled pressure. |
| Observation Room | Information before commitment. | Curiosity and control. |
| Final Combat | Incomplete information and careful movement. | Tense but fair mastery test. |
3. Iteration Evidence
Placeholder: Convert current notes into V1/V2/V3 format with problem, change, and player-experience impact.
Blessing
A satirical incremental game that uses behavior loops, feedback systems, UI pressure, and escalating workplace collapse to create a strong systemic player experience.
1. Experience Goal
Placeholder: Explain the intended emotional arc: early control, mid-game acceleration, late-stage ethical collapse.
2. System Loop
Placeholder: Add a diagram showing player action → income → hiring/upgrades → employee states → pressure feedback.
3. Why It Supports Level Design
Placeholder: Connect the project to your ability to shape player experience through structure, pacing, feedback, and readable consequences.
Skills
Keep this concise. Recruiters should see a Level Designer first, with supporting combat and systemic design awareness.