Level | World Designer

I joined the project shortly after its Early Access release and worked on two large-scale maps. My work focused on defining points of interest and shaping traversal routes that guided players through the environment while maintaining a sense of open exploration. Because the game’s mechanics were intentionally simple, traversal and world layout carried much of the gameplay experience.

One of the main challenges when designing for Equinox was creating meaningful variation within a system where the horse’s movement mechanics drove most of the interaction. I approached this by designing routes that balanced moments of discovery with calmer stretches of travel, while embedding hidden paths and environmental storytelling elements that rewarded players who explored beyond the main routes.

During my time on the project, I also designed and implemented a new gameplay feature tied to one of the game’s core mechanics: jumping. Previously, jumping obstacles were only present in race events. The goal was to introduce this mechanic more naturally into the open world to add variety to exploration.

To differentiate these from official race content, the obstacles were framed through environmental storytelling. The structures were presented as the work of a mysterious character living somewhere on the island, leaving traces across the world that subtly suggested their presence and encouraged players to investigate further.

Because Equinox was already live, another important challenge was ensuring that all updates were stable and production-ready. The areas I worked on were large and required extensive testing and validation before deployment, ensuring that new features and level updates integrated smoothly without disrupting existing content.