About me

Hello, I’m Karuna Ketan, a game designer.

I specialize in Player Psychology, System Design, Level Design, and Economy Balancing. Leveraging a strong technical background, I translate creative pillars into actionable Game Design Documents and rapid prototypes. I am driven by crafting balanced gameplay loops and spatial layouts that create intentional, deeply engaging player experiences.

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Professional Work

In Development

FatCatPlay Game Studio

AOA: Space Scrap Smugglers

Contract Game Designer 4-Player Co-op Unreal Engine 5

Drafted and maintained structured Game Design Documents (GDDs) for a physics-driven space mining simulation, establishing core loops.
Engineered physics-based tool synergies to simulate smuggling, including a Gravity Beam that forces emergent team communication.
Created top-down level layouts and structured early graybox blockouts for the Training Spoke to validate spatial metrics.
Designed textless onboarding sequences utilizing diegetic visual cues to teach spaceship piloting organically.

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Personal Projects

Survival Horror

Eclipse of Fear

Game Designer & Dev Unreal Engine 5 Duration: 1 Month

Designed the diegetic "Lives as Papers" health system where losing a life physically burns a mandatory quest item.
Balanced 4 distinct enemy waves using Data Sheets to tune speed and detection radius for an escalating difficulty curve.
Scripted a dynamic Intensity Director altering lighting states and enemy aggression based on objective completion.

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Action RPG

Shattered Charms: Through The Veil

Game Designer & Dev Unreal Engine 5 Duration: 3 Months

Designed the "Charm Matrix" progression system allowing players to discover new abilities through specific Charm Fusions.
Modeled a Purification Economy in Excel to balance drop rates and enforce exploration before the final boss.
Architected a Hub and Spoke world layout using lighting cues to control pacing and signal environmental transitions.

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Action Adventure

Project Singularity

Game & Level Designer Unreal Engine 5 Team Size: 3

Designed a Teleportation Mechanic as a dual purpose tool for environmental puzzles and combat flanking.
Prioritized "Game Feel" validation by iterating on camera shake and hit stop feedback loops for responsive combat.
Defined Spatial Metrics for level blockouts accommodating NPC escort mechanics and vertical encounters.

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Game Deconstruction

Analysis

The Last of Us: Part I

Level Pacing Economy Player Psychology

Analyzed the use of "Pacing Pockets" to balance gameplay tension and emotional relief.
Deconstructed how resource scarcity mechanics for ammo and crafting force strict defensive play.
Mapped environmental storytelling techniques that successfully guide navigation without UI.

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My Process

Research

I conduct deep Game Deconstructions to understand design pillars, game loops, and pacing.

Brief

Establishing clear Design Pillars early to ensure mechanics align with the core player fantasy.

Ideation

From brainstorming to Paper Prototyping. I test math and logic on paper to fail fast before coding.

Docs

Creating Live GDDs. I know when to write detailed specs and when to make quick flowcharts.

Prototype

Jumping into Unreal Engine 5 using Blueprints to build ugly but functional mechanics to test Game Feel.

Testing

Regular playtests to tune difficulty curves. Gathering feedback is my bread and butter.

Release

Packaging and shipping builds, ensuring the first time user experience is frictionless.

Analysis

Digging through playtest data and writing Post Mortems to understand what went right and what broke.