Lady Umbrella is a third-person action-adventure shooter where your only weapon is an umbrella made in Unreal 5. This video game is part of a project for the Master’s in Game Design at U-tad.
It was a project developed by more than 30 juniors, and I was part of the design team, specializing in Level Design.
Lady Umbrella will be released in October 2025 in Steam.
3D third-person shooter.
Action-Adventure.
Narrative Driven.
Umbrella as both weapon and protection.
Closing the distance with enemies.
Use of gadgets to tackle different challenges with varied strategies.
Use the environment for an advantage
Main Level Designer for Chapter 4.
Level Designer for Chapter 1.
Main Tutorial Designer.
Encounter Design for Chapter 5.
Gameplay and Mechanics Design focusing in player states.
Testing and Bug Reporting.
Game Feel and User Experience (UX) Design.
Blueprints Programming for gameplay elements and prototypes.
Environment Dressing for Chapter 4.
For the level design of Lady Umbrella, we followed a methodology defined by the team to ensure consistency, pacing, and a clear sense of progression in the gameplay experience. The process was developed through the following stages:
1. Planification
2. Dirty Layout
3. Dirty Blockout
4. Clean Layout
5. Clean Blockout
After creating the beatchart, a bubble diagram was developed for each level.
The bubble diagram visually represents every beat of the level, including combat moments, puzzles, narrative sequences, exploration, and more.
In addition, specific objectives and constraints were established.
Drafting an initial paper sketch to represent the beats of the level.
Early organization of the flow and overall structure.
Translating the initial layout into the game engine as a first blockout.
Measuring space, rhythm, and beats to obtain an early playable version.
Refining the layout based on team feedback.
Defining each beat and gameplay space with precision.
Validating progression and player paths before moving to the final build.
Rebuilding the level in the engine, consolidating spaces and bringing them closer to the intended visual experience.
Integrating gameplay elements, puzzles, and mechanics.
Delivering a clean, playable version ready for the artistic phase.
