Rings of Hell
Role: Design Lead & Sound Team Lead Platform: PC (Steam — Free to Play) Engine: Unity Team Size: 17 (Design Team: 7) Release Date: August 4, 2021 Reviews: 90% Positive on Steam View on Steam →
Overview
Rings of Hell is a turn-based RPG about rivalry, friendship, and professional wrestling. Two former partners — Red and Blue — die in the ring and must fight their way through Wrestle Hell to become champions of the underworld. Built by Usual Suspects, a 17-person graduate team at the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA/UCF), over the course of 7 months.
My Role
As Design Lead I was responsible for the creative direction of the game's systems and content, managing a team of six designers, and coordinating with art, programming, and production throughout the project.
Combat Systems Design The core of my design work was the Active Time Battle system — a real-time pressure mechanic where players have a fixed window to select their move before the timer expires, similar to Chrono Trigger. This was one of the most contested features on the project. Most of the team doubted we'd have time to implement it, but myself and our tech designer worked extra hours to make sure it shipped. I'm proud of that one.
Together with the tech designer I designed the button prompt system for every move in the game — the timing windows, input requirements, and leniency values. We designed all moves, items, and equipment from scratch.
Boss & Combat Design I designed both boss encounters and balanced every combat encounter in engine. Balancing was an iterative process driven directly by playtesting data — tracking how many attempts players needed per fight, where they were losing, and tuning accordingly.
Playtesting & Iteration We ran multiple organized playtesting sessions recruited through Discord, recording sessions and following up with structured questionnaires. Questions focused on pacing, confusion points, and per-fight difficulty. Feedback consistently pointed toward balance and player conveyance issues which I addressed through in-engine tuning.
Team Management Managing a design team on a game without traditional levels meant adapting quickly. When it became clear that level design work was out of scope, I redirected my level designers toward narrative and dialogue — areas they were genuinely interested in — and kept the team productive throughout. I organized weekly design meetings and brainstorming sessions, and worked with our producer to maintain and update our Jira backlog across each deliverable cycle.
Story I co-wrote the overall story arc with another team member — the broad narrative beats that give the game its heart.
Cut Feature One idea that didn't make it in: a crowd interaction system where audience members could throw random items into the ring, helping or hindering either fighter unpredictably. It fit the wrestling theme perfectly and I still think it would have been a fun addition.
Sound Team
I also served as lead of the three-person sound team. I recorded original guitar for the OST and co-wrote one full song. The team collectively produced the game's soundtrack.
