Latest Work: Tian - NPC Defense Event
Transforming a character premise into a risk-reward combat encounter.
April - June 2026
Role
Gameplay & Systems Designer | Unreal Blueprint Prototyper
Project Type
Co-op Top-Down Action Roguelite
Tools
Unreal Engine 5 Blueprint, Miro, Git
My Contribution
I designed the event flow, progress and failure rules, optional SP enemy objective, outcome logic, and central Blueprint controller for a playable prototype and production handoff.
Last-Second Standard Completion - The Cost of Pursuing the SP Enemy
GameProjects featured entry
A co-op NPC defense event prototype built in Unreal Engine 5 Blueprint. I designed the event flow, progress rules, optional SP objective, outcome logic, and central Blueprint controller that turned Tian's character premise into a risk-reward combat encounter.
Intended Player Experience
The encounter was designed around a shifting safety-vs-speed decision. Players can stay near Tian to stabilize the event, or leave the defense area to chase SP enemies that can accelerate completion.
Core Event Loop
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The core loop keeps returning the player to the same question: protect Tian now, or trade safety for faster completion?
The SP objective is reversible. Returning to defend Tian does not cancel the opportunity, but the timer continues. The opportunity is lost only when the SP enemy escapes.
Progress, SP, And Outcome Rules
The event uses one shared progress value as the central state. Passive repair, Tian damage, and delivered SP parts all feed into the same system.
The event uses one shared progress value as the central state. Passive repair, Tian damage, and delivered SP parts all feed into the same system.
OUTCOME
CONDITION
All arranged battles are cleared before 100% after Tian has taken damage
Failure sequence
Progress reaches 100% after Tian has taken damage
Progress reaches 0%
Progress reaches 100% and Tian remains unharmed
Highest-tier no-damage completion
Standard completion
Event failure
All arranged battles are cleared before 100% and Tian remains unharmed
No-damage clear before assembly completion
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SP Objective And Co-op Delivery
During active battle, an SP enemy can spawn at a randomized time from predefined locations away from Tian. If defeated before escaping, it drops a part that can be delivered for a large progress bonus.
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Any teammate can collect and deliver a dropped SP part.
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Each player can carry one part.
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Delivery happens automatically inside Tian's delivery area.
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Carrying does not restrict movement, attacks, or combat control.
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Blueprint Architecture
I implemented the event through a central Plot Blueprint controller. Local actors reported state changes, while the Plot BP coordinated progress, SP objectives, battle flow, quest updates, rewards, resolution, and cleanup through one event-level control structure.
I implemented the event through a central Plot Blueprint controller. Local actors reported state changes, while the Plot BP coordinated progress, SP objectives, battle flow, quest updates, rewards, resolution, and cleanup through one event-level control structure.
The portfolio page shows one readable architecture snapshot first; the full node-level breakdown is available in the complete PDF.
Central Plot BP architecture overview, with local gameplay actors reporting actions into one event controller.
DELIVERY AREA BP — APPLY INSIDE-AREA STATE
Entering the delivery trigger applies a Buff to the player, marking that the player is currently inside the submission area.
DELIVERY AREA BP — VALIDATE CARRY STATE & NOTIFY PLOT BP
Delivery Area BP checks whether the entering player has valid Buff and reports a valid submission to the Plot BP.
Delivery Area BP checks whether the entering player has valid Buff and reports a valid submission to the Plot BP.
QUEST RESULT DISPATCH
TianQuestResult routes the resolved Tian event Quest result through a single Plot BP entry point. The success branch commits the success state, while the failure branch closes the defense event, disables future SP spawning, and begins the failure presentation.
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State Handoffs And Edge Cases
The system supports multiple handoff paths while keeping the final resolution centralized.
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Battle Lifecycle And Resolution
The event separates encounter state from battle cleanup. Progress reaching 100%, progress reaching 0%, and final battle completion are separate resolution entry conditions.
This allows the prototype to handle immediate success, immediate failure, and final-battle evaluation without breaking the surrounding combat sequence.
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Validation And Production Handoff
The playable prototype passed Game Director gameplay and flow review, then moved toward production handoff.
I prepared the event framework so art, animation, VFX, UI, and production-side replacements could be integrated while preserving the core event logic.
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Playable prototype review.
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Cross-discipline discussion.
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Asset review and replacement planning.
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Outcome and strategy clips.
This case demonstrates my ability to design and prototype gameplay systems from a character-driven premise. The event required player-facing design, encounter pacing, reward and failure logic, co-op rule handling, Blueprint implementation, edge-case handling, and production handoff.
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