Game Designer - Level Designer
October 2025 - April 2026

• Play Demo

Game Overview
For the 2025-2026 academic year, the mock-AAA student-run studio, Studio Aspen, presents: Charon's Corner.Charon's Corner is a Narrative 3D Platformer where Greek Mythology's ferryman of the underworld has given up his boat for a bowling alley, where he now bowls the skulls of the damned down dynamic bowling lanes that reconnect these souls with their memories before death. You play as a flawed skull who must face their past across these memory lanes and convince Charon you're worthy of another chance

Work Summary:

Position: Game Designer, Level Designer-Worked with smaller teams for faster rotation of work and feedback.-Concepted player mechanics and level elements, as well as, pitched them to the team with detailed write outs.-Collaborated with Narrative team ensuring levels reflected the narrative and took into account intended mood of the level's story, translating it into spaces and flow.-Provided guidance to fellow designers for avoiding and solving GitHub merge conflicts, as well as, helping with issues blocking work in engine.-Used knowledge of Unity C# programming to ease workload on programmers and quickly create designer friendly scripts for testing level mechanics.

For this level, I wanted to design a level that stood out and felt interesting to traverse. I wanted to break away from using splines as the normal path and have players actually feel as though they are going through memories. I took some narrative elements literally, and had certain areas physically and mechanically represent their respective plots in the narrative. For the beginning of the level that told the story of the child being taken in I used childrens toys to reflect that and created playful environments by using the aspect of these toys. I grayboxed many layouts trying to find which elements would be fit most and be least fun. With the shapes toys, I tried a puzzle area, where the player would come to winding paths and select the right order of shapes to get by.I quickly created prefabs of toys and other level elements from basic primitive shapes and materials within Unity to accurately express my vision of the level and provide a more solid picture.

The final level has the player experience the final memory of the last core character, reenacting the tragic accident of their hurt friend. I wanted to keep up the momentum with the previous level and deliver the feeling of living the memory. The character's friend experienced a car accident so I imagined the space being highways and car traffic with players dodging traffic and speeding through lanes would be a good start.The level is also the leaving of Charon's Corner where the player would rush to the end of a collapsing cave with the help of the friends, loved ones, and Charon himself. To highlight the rush to the end, this area is kept simple with falling objects and little need to pause and think, encouraging players to hold forward. I reused and repurposed certain assets to deliver a clearer picture of my vision of the level layout and atmosphere.Due to time constraints, there was little time for planning mechanics and sending them to our team's programmer for implementation, so I created C# scripts for new mechanics as well as made copies of certain older mechanic scripts to create different mechanics with new rules and behaviors. These scripts were designer friendly, easy to read, labeled, and with settings easy to edit inside of Unity's Inspector. This allowed me to deliver my level to the team on time for showcasing and final edits.

Contributions:

Position: Game Designer, Lead Programmer- Worked with small team of students to deliver a game of the selected genre within the span of one semester.- Sketched and revised level layouts, proposing ideas for different rooms and tasks to be done in them.- Built grayboxes based on sketches approved by the team which allowed for early testing of Enemy AI behavior.- Ensured mechanics and features were kept within the bounds of the narrative and were mostly diegetic.- Recorded and evaluated gameplay notes of player feedback from playtests and implemented appropriate fixes and adjustments.

Early Version

Final Product

Game Designer - Level Designer
Team of 20
September 2025 - June 2026

• Play Demo

Beckon is a Third Person Puzzle Platformer game where you play as a sea creature with the ability to control light. You end up within the insides of a massive whale and now use your abilities to explore, unlock paths and help other creatures all in a to escape. This was my Senior Project where the entire class came together for two semesters to create a project of our choosing.

Pirate Ship - Storage

Simple | Dark | Surrounded

Lighthouse

2 Levels in one | Tutorial | Final Level

Temple - Eulogy

Puzzles | Adventurous | Mystery

Pirate Ship - Map Room

Secret Level | Lore-focused | Fun

Stomach - Prototype

Expansive | Exploration | Beginner-friendly

Pirate Ship - The Brig

Straightforward | Tutorial

I was tasked with creating a simple beginning level that would introduce the player to the light beam mechanic while being simple and engaging. For this I designed the level so that player would need to go over and under objects, go around fallen items and feel like they are making their own path. I grayboxed many versions and reiterated with many playtests to try and capture this feeling and make a simple room into an adventurous journey.

This level was a cool concept the team gave me to work with. The Lighthouse is two levels in one scene, with one signifying the beginning of the journey and the other being the end of it. This was a new fun challenge for me with designing a space that had different level flows and puzzles in the same space. As the team was quickly reaching the deadline, I had to work fast and pour most of effort into creating this level before that.There were many things I had to account for when designing this level. The building remains untouched before the player arrives back in the lighthouse for the final level, so I was focusing on creating different directions of flow while keeping each level almost the same. Puzzles, items, and areas for each level would exist alongside each other but not impede on their respective levels. It was also a challenge trying to fit simple tutorial level interactions in the same space as late game puzzles.I designed the flow of the levels to be opposite of each other. The tutorial would have the player start in the middle floors of the lighthouse and descend the building, taking in the surrounding environment while learning the controls. The final level would then have them ascend it. Work their way up the lighthouse without the ability to use the stairs and utilize what they have learned from previous levels.

Early Version

Final Product

Grayboxed an adventurous and puzzle focused level for Beckon's second chapter. Designed gameplay with sections for players to utilize mechanics.The Mirror Room would have players reapply what they learned from their splitting mechanics and also expand on it by giving them a stress test.The Acid Room would have them utilize their dash and light beam, having them juggle parkour skills and precision.The Shadow Room would also introduce a new mechanic with using light to cast shadows onto walls and create images from them to progress. This room is much more straightforward as I take into account the previous puzzles before this section and is the player's first time with the mechanic.

Acid Room Notes- The Acid Room is a parkour focused section where players will be challenged to use their light beam to race on limited footing.- The acid rises and falls so players will need to utilize acid level for certain jumps and pay attention to which platforms become unusable.- Gems attached to pillars can be hit by player's light beam to reveal temporary platforms.- The last gem will reveal a floor from the wall between the upper wall and the entrance to let the player simply walk back to the center room.

Mirror Room Notes- Expansive room where the player starts the level. This room will have players aim and reflect light beams at mirrors scattered across the room to hit the gems on top of each section's door.- Center pillar has the only mirror the player can actually hit normally. The center pedestal can be rotated to 3 predetermined rotations by beaming a light at a receptacle attached at the foot of the pedestal.- Players can utilize their body double mechanic to keep the laser active and have easier time for adjusting the angle.- Each room’s door has a gem on top of it that when hit, reveals another gem on the door itself that also needs to be hit while the gem on top is being hit.- Lenses are present the strengthen the player’s beam and reduce guessing where in the room the mirror would need to be hit to open the door.

Shadow Room Notes
- Tutorial for Shadow Casting mechanic, meant to be straightforward and simple.- Murals on the wall will help players understand something needs to be "put" into them. Objects and statues are used to cast shapes and images onto the murals.- When the shadow image is cast correctly, stairs will rise leading to the puzzle allowing access to the next area.- Second puzzle utilizes the player splitting mechanic and can cast one image from two shadows.-Lighting the cauldron will reveal a tunnel that leads back to the center room.

Hello! I'm Elikson Rodriguez, a Game Designer with the desire to create fun and immersive experiences. Developing games has been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid and I am proud to be making them now.I've worked with many different teams varying in size and skills to bring many games to life. It excites to be working with teams of people because of the many different experiences and stories they have and being able to exchange thoughts. I also like to start up solo projects to learn new skills and try new things. I do game design, technical design and specialize in level design. I like to conceptualize mechanics, implement them, and create levels for them to shine.I love bringing meaningful and immersive experiences to players through thorough, clever, and thoughtful design. I'm always looking to thrill players and leave a lasting impression. I am constantly eager to pick up new skills, learn new moves and improve my craft. I'm always down for making connections and meeting new people.Also, some of my favorite games are Call of Duty, Stardew Valley, Minecraft, Grounded, Palworld, Far Cry 5, and Ark: Survival Evolved.