Luke Pierson - Level Design
Hello! I'm Luke,
I fell in love with game design at a young age. The moment I played my first video game, Spyro the Dragon, captured my imagination and inspired me to draw my own Spyro levels.
Later on, I found the world of tabletop roleplaying games. I spent an entire winter break handwriting my own 60 page ttrpg. I spent countless hours worldbuilding: questlines, NPCS, drawing maps, and designing encounters. Throughout my high school years, I grew as a designer by getting feedback from my players about what worked and what didn't.
I kept designing tabletop games and started designing video games in 2017. By 2024, I had specialized in level design, got the opportunity to go to GDC for the first time, and officially became a professional Level Designer!
My favorite games include: Dark Souls, Hollow Knight, Spyro, Hyper Light Drifter, Zelda, StarCraft, God of War, Halo, Persona, and The Last of Us.
Feel free to connect with me!
My Design Philosophy
Players need "FED"
Fantasy
When I say players need fantasy, I mean that designers need to fulfill the fantasy of whatever experience we have promised the player. For my projects, I establish what the fantasy is early on and use that as a guide to ensure my designs moving forward support it.
Engagement
Games are an interactive art form. My goal as a designer is to utilize interactivity to share experiences that are unique to the medium. This is why I focus on finding the fun and engagement within the distilled core experience before expanding a project's scope.
Depth
Complexity is a barrier that prevents new players from reaching the depth that provides a rewarding experience. I design games through the lens of maximizing depth and minimizing complexity to create a game that is easy to learn but difficult to master.