Claire Engvall
GAME DESIGNER
Hi, I'm Claire Engvall! I am a game designer specialized in how the psychology of a game's mechanics evoke the intended experience and player empathy. (Mechanics in games that interest me.) I have a B.S. in Games and a B.S. in English from the University of Utah. Currently, I work as an Associate Designer II on the 15-year running MMO Wizard101.
GAMES AND PROTOTYPES
Wizard101
A wizard school adventure MMO featuring collectible card magic, duels, and far off worlds to explore.
Associate Designer II - KingsIsle Entertainment
A wizard school adventure MMO featuring collectible card magic, duels, and far off worlds to explore.
Associate Designer II - KingsIsle Entertainment
- Onboard quickly onto a 15-year running MMO, evaluating and implementing improvements to game systems and authoring GDDs within one month of employment
- Responsible for designing and implementing all standard combat and twelve boss encounters for the Wallaru expansion
- Designed and implemented all combat encounters and reward economy for a one-hour dungeon experience
- Collaborate with a Narrative Designer, World Designer, and Environment Artist to design and implement self-contained content experiences and communicate the design vision through documentation and presentations
- Construct mathematical models in Excel to evaluate existing game economies and pitch improvements for player engagement
- Work with the Design Director and Lead Designer to author GDDs and define new game features
- Manage the development of new game features from concept through release
- Engage directly with the player community via discord and livestream chat to discuss design direction, and collect player feedback on existing and upcoming initiatives
Heroes League
A superhero game-based learning MMO to underprivileged children learn critical life skills.
Mission Designer - Next Mission Inc.
More
A superhero game-based learning MMO to underprivileged children learn critical life skills.
Mission Designer - Next Mission Inc.
- Outline and script missions in a variety of educational subjects for game-based learning
- Design fun gameplay sequences to reinforce educational lessons
- Adapt content to strict technology and audience limitations
- Document mission designs in a variety of formats to best collaborate with different external teams during the implementation pipeline
- Stage mission levels in a propriety engine
More
Natural Disaster
A point-and-click adventure game played as a butterfly wreaking havoc via the butterfly effect.
Gameplay Designer
- Collaborate with artists, engineers, and designers to ensure all aspects of the game support the intended player experience
- Create internal and external design documents using Miro
- Iterate frequently on ideas to balance sandbox objectives while avoiding player confusion
- Create levels in Unreal Engine 5 using composition to provide breadth within a fixed camera
Baker's Dozen
A 2D pixel platformer with a delicious twist on the "save the princess" trope.
Gameplay Designer, Producer
More
Gameplay Designer, Producer
More
PROTOTYPES
Sprout
A snake-like puzzle game. Traverse each square only once and collect all the nutrients in the level to ascend.
10 day game jam
A snake-like puzzle game. Traverse each square only once and collect all the nutrients in the level to ascend.
10 day game jam
Handcuffed for 24 Hours Challenge!!!
Control a couple handcuffed together, completing activities and minigames to survive the 24 hours.
48 hour game jam
Control a couple handcuffed together, completing activities and minigames to survive the 24 hours.
48 hour game jam
Scorched Keep
A 2D pixel adventure uncovering a secret beneath a desert fortress. Made for a two-week game jam.
Solo Developer
More
Solo Developer
More
TABLETOP
LEVEL DESIGN
Clairmont Manor
A whitebox level of a scene from my novel.
ENCOUNTER STUDIES
Created in Unity's level design plugin, ProBuilder.
An exercise in building battle maps around a chosen enemy, designing an environment specialized to the opponent's strengths and weaknesses and how the environment may become an advantage or disadvantage for the player.
An exercise in building battle maps around a chosen enemy, designing an environment specialized to the opponent's strengths and weaknesses and how the environment may become an advantage or disadvantage for the player.
CUBE STUDIES
Created in Blender.
An exercise in set dressing, composition, isometric cameras, and art. I sketched, modeled, colored, and lit these cube scenes.
An exercise in set dressing, composition, isometric cameras, and art. I sketched, modeled, colored, and lit these cube scenes.
NARRATIVE DESIGN
Crazy Maple Studios
Writer Intern
Writer Intern
- Adapted a thirteen-chapter novella into a five-chapter game
- Wrote scripts for five chapters in Microsoft Excel with over 500 lines of dialogue and 15 narrative choices each
- Took the story through the narrative process of a beat sheet, outline, and script with review sessions of each
ABOUT ME
My name is Claire Engvall, and I am a game designer, fiction writer, and all-around nerd.
I graduated in May of 2023 from the University of Utah with a Bachelor's of Science in Games and in English. I double majored to explore, in-depth, the methods of storytelling through game mechanics in comparison to literature and film.
I want to make the kind of game you would study in a classroom.
My time in the Entertainment Arts & Engineering program transformed the way I think about games. I began my development journey planning to become a narrative designer. Then, my EAE classes unveiled a new passion within me for the way the design and mechanics themselves in games tell a story, make you feel things, and reveal deeper themes about humanity. Underneath each story told in dialogue and cut scenes, there is a deep philosophy supported through the very psychology of the game's mechanics. This is the kind of depth I want to achieve with my designs.
You can read information about the courses I reference and the games that evoke this kind of mechanical depth here.
I want to be a good human and live my life through connections with others.
One of the things I love most is Critical Role, an ongoing show of eight actors livestreaming their Dungeons & Dragons game to the world. Their characters' adventures are riveting tales, but the real story is the one above the table, of their friendship and how the game brings them closer together. Games are a platform for human connection. When these friends fight for their lives against a Beholder, or when they scream in victory at a make-or-break Natural 20, it's an unparalleled experience shared between players and viewers. These people shed real tears at the table, and I have shed real tears while watching.
I aspire to share connections with others as they do; to not only bond with others over games, but to make the games that build these friendships. It is rare, it is beautiful, and I will become a part of it.
I aspire to share connections with others as they do; to not only bond with others over games, but to make the games that build these friendships. It is rare, it is beautiful, and I will become a part of it.