Vanessa Aguillar
Level Designer • Game Designer • Architect
Ruff Ghanor

Position
Work Period
Platforms
Engine
Media Links
Info
Overview
Shipped on 2024
Ruff Ghanor was released in February 2024 on Steam, Nuuvem, and Xbox. The game is a rogue-lite deck builder inspired by the Ruff Ghanor trilogy by Leonel Caldela. The project originated from the RPG Nerdcasts by Jovem Nerd. I was part of the game design team at DX Gameworks, contributing to core combat mechanics, exploration systems, and user experience flow.

Responsabilities
Implementation and Scripting
Collaborated on the implementation of encounter logic using Blueprints and Unreal’s data table system for scalable content management. Designed gameplay behaviors through gameplay tags, modular triggers, and conditional logic systems.
System and mechanic design
Designed and balanced both combat and narrative encounters. Integrated exploration mechanics into story-driven levels, ensuring consistency with the tone of each chapter.
Narrative design and Branching Logic
Co-wrote in-game dialogues and designed a fully guided tutorial that introduces key mechanics through narrative. Worked closely with the narrative team to ensure consistency with the lore.
Designed flowcharts for multiple-choice encounters in both combat and narrative sequences, ensuring logical consistency and emotional pacing.
Documentation and Tutorial design
Created wireframes and step-by-step documentation for the tutorial screens, detailing every UI/UX interaction, animation cue, and feedback sequence. I also developed narrative flowcharts with multiple-choice outcomes for both combat and story-based encounters, guiding implementation for engineering, tech and art teams.
Playtesting and iteration
Conducted internal playtests passes and adjusted encounter pacing and onboarding flow based on feedback.
Collaboration
Worked closely with writers, programmers, and tech artists. My documentation and system planning were used across disciplines to implement the onboarding and branching interactions.








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