Zhiyuan Li
Level/Systems Game Designer
Projects
Heirloom
Role: Level/System Designer
2 Person | Jan 2026 – Current | Unreal Engine 5
Heirloom is a first-person horror investigation game built in Unreal Engine 5. Players take on the role of a GIA intern arriving at a suburban house fresh off a murder case — using a camera to document anomalies and cross into an "inner world" that reveals fragments of a 70-year-old curse.
Out of Frame
Role: Producer | Level/System Designer
10Person | Jan 2025 – May 2025 | Unreal Engine 5
Out of Frame is a horror exploration puzzle game developed using Unreal Engine 5. Players take on the role of a high school student who searches for lost memories within a dream world while attempting to escape a nightmare filled with danger and the unknown.
Additional Level & Quest Design Projects
Little Red
This is a project focused on quest design and level design. Based on an adaptation of the Little Red Riding Hood story, I designed a playable adventure quest and built a quest level demo using the Fortnite editor. The main goal of this project was to explore how quest flow, combat encounters, and level space can be combined effectively, while training my ability to integrate quest objectives, player progression, enemy placement, and spatial pacing into a cohesive gameplay experience.
Encounter Design
This is a project focused on encounter combat design, built as a roughly 5-minute combat level demo using Fortnite Editor / UEFN. The main focus of the project was to practice enemy encounter design, combat pacing, and the player’s moment-to-moment combat experience within a limited playspace.
Zhiyuan Li’s game design portfolio showcases level design, systems design, Unreal Engine prototypes, gameplay mechanics, and narrative-driven projects.