Karkuei Cheung

Systems and Gameplay Designer with over 8 years of industry experience across Unreal Engine and Unity. Specializing in combat mechanics, systemic progression loops, and UX design, with a proven track record of taking complex features from rapid prototype to final balance. Experienced in leading cross-disciplinary teams, managing live-service content drops, and mentoring junior talent while maintaining a strong focus on gameplay feel and player psychology.

Game Designer - '83 the Game - Blue Dot Games - London UK/Remote

(2025-03)

• Combat & Sandbox Ownership: Designed and balanced core gameplay systems for the tactical multiplayer FPS '83. Blended player data telemetry with design intuition to fine-tune weapon feedback, recoil, and time-to-kill.
• Cross-Discipline Feature Leadership: Served as Lead Designer for the multi-crew armored vehicle system, owning the end-to-end design pipeline from physics configuration to final implementation.
• Visual & Mechanical Synergy: Collaborated with art and UI teams to tie weapon VFX (smoke volume, muzzle flashes) directly to mechanical gameplay, intentionally driving player situational awareness.
• Technical Documentation: Maintained exhaustive GDDs, ballistic asset properties, and changelogs to ensure flawless alignment between engineering, art, and QA.

Game Designer - TerraTech, TerraTech Worlds & other unannounced titles - Payload Studios - London, UK

(2019-09 - 2025)

• Lifecycle Feature Ownership: Shipped and maintained TerraTech and TerraTech Worlds from early lifecycle through release, establishing design pillars for systemic crafting loops, progression, and resource economies.
• Mentorship & Pipeline Creation: Guided junior designers on best practices and workflows. Partnered with programmers to build bespoke mission-scripting tools that accelerated level and narrative pipeline development.
• Technical Prototyping (UE/Unity): Leveraged Blueprints and scripting to prototype dynamic world elements, combat AI behaviors, and handcrafted procedural map generation logic.
• Data-Driven Retention Design: Built a data-gathering framework alongside analytics teams from the ground up, using player telemetry to redesign the FTUE onboarding flow and significantly lower player friction points.

Junior Designer - TerraTech & other unannounced titles - Payload Studios - London, UK

(2019-03 - 2019-09)

• Designed, scripted, and balanced early game content and player-facing missions using node-based visual scripting tools.

QA Tester - TerraTech & other unannounced titles - Payload Studios - London, UK

(2018-06 - 2019-03)

• Reported critical bugs, collaborating with the design team to improve balance and functionality.

QA Tester - Elite Dangerous, Elite Dangerous: Horizons & Planet Coaster - Frontier Developments - Cambridge, UK

(2015-08 - 2018-06)

BA - Digital Media Design - London College of Communication, University of the Arts London (2008 - 2013)

Kingsbury High School (2001 - 2008)