Game Overview
Game: HamsterBallin’
Role: Track Designer
Editor: Unreal Engine 5
Team Size:45
Genre: Cart Racing
Steam Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4319370/Hamsterballin/
“Hamster Ballin’” is a fast-paced single-player obstacle course game where players guide a hamster inside a rolling ball through a lively, oversized toy factory.
Along the way, the hamster picks up speed, builds momentum and bounces through a series of playful mechanical challenges.
Players race across ramps, half-pipes, gears, bounce pads, moving platforms, boost rings and branching paths while trying to stay on track and reach the finish in one piece.
Game Trailer
Track Design
Structured the track around a clear difficulty curve, gradually introducing movement challenges, hazards, shortcuts and interactive obstacles.
Refined pacing by balancing high-speed sections, technical platforming challenges, recovery spaces and moments of visual spectacle.
Improved readability through stronger track silhouettes, environmental landmarks, color contrast and clearer visual communication of hazards.
Used playtesting feedback to adjust track width, obstacle placement, player approach angles, and recovery opportunities.
Collaborated with other designers to ensure that the track supported the game’s movement mechanics and intended player experience.
Technical Level Designer
Acted as the primary communication bridge between the Level Design and Programming teams.
Translated level-design requirements into clear technical requests, implementation priorities, and production-ready use cases.
Tested customized Procedural Content Generation tools to identify usability problems, technical limitations, and potential improvements.
Provided programmers with structured feedback based on practical level-design workflows and production needs.
Trained the level-design team to use the tools consistently during production.
Helped troubleshoot implementation issues and supported designers when integrating procedural content into their levels.
Quality Assurance
Conducted regular playtesting to identify gameplay, technical, visual, and localization issues.
Documented bugs with clear reproduction steps, expected behavior and supporting screenshots or videos.
Evaluated gameplay clarity, obstacle readability, difficulty balance and collision reliability.
Worked closely with other track designers to improve navigation, visual guidance, encounter balance, and overall player flow.
Collaborated with programmers to reproduce technical issues, verify fixes, and prevent regression.
Used testing feedback to support iteration and improve the overall stability and usability of the game.
Postmortem
What went well
Designed a playful track that combined speed, verticality and varied obstacle types.
Iterated on the track using playtest feedback to improve pacing and readability
Communicated Level Design requirements clearly to Programming and supported the development of the PCG tools.
Helped onboard the design team by testing and teaching the workflow for the programmer-developed tools.
What went wrong
Some track sections were difficult to read because of overlapping paths and vertical geometry.
Several obstacles, including bounce pads and split paths, did not communicate their intended use clearly enough.
Certain high-speed turns and narrow track sections caused players to fall more often than intended.
Tool development and design iteration occasionally became disconnected when requirements changed during production.
Even better if
Conduct more playtests earlier to identify readability, balance and navigation issues before final polish.
Improve visual guidance around branching paths, bounce pads, speed boosts, etc…
Define PCG tool requirements earlier to reduce revisions between Design and Programming.
Spend more time balancing track width, speed and obstacle placement to create a smoother difficulty curve.