Juan Lagisquet

About

Senior game designer with shipped experience on Outlanders, focused on systems/economy balance, player motivation loops, and clear cross-discipline implementation. Built rapid UE5 prototypes (48-hour cycle) and iterated based on feedback—especially leveraging audio to guide players in an atmospheric horror concept. Has led design decisions under mobile performance constraints, aligning engineering/art/direction to ship a sandbox mode with acceptable entity/map limits.

Experience

Education

Key Strengths

• Resource-economy balancing to create intentional tension and humor (e.g., “bread man” festival level in Outlanders)
• Strong playtest-driven iteration: simplifies goals and improves clarity based on tester feedback
• Uses environmental art/visual cues to improve objective readability and reinforce narrative
• Rapid prototyping in UE5 (idea-to-playtest in ~48 hours) using Blueprints plus custom gameplay scripting
• Audio-first iteration that improved player navigation and increased mystery/atmosphere in a horror prototype
• Designs progression via optional challenge objectives with cosmetic rewards to drive replay without blocking new learners
• Quantitative approach to difficulty/accessibility using time-based completion checkpoints and objective progress tracking
• Shipped sandbox mode while aligning stakeholders around mobile performance constraints (entity/map limits)

Reference Highlights

• Key impact through strong communication
• Leads new feature implementations
• Effective stakeholder management and negotiation
• Bridges engineering feasibility with art capability/timeframe constraints
• Thorough and precise in design tuning
• Iterates until gameplay feels right
• Strong at making characters balanced and engaging
• Very hands-on in Unity
• Fast, effective prototyping and testing
• Strong systems thinking; designs that endure over time in live games
• Clear and implementable design docs with minimal need for clarification
• Quick to resolve ambiguity in communication
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration
• Handles trade-offs and constraints with ease
• Handles re-balancing/competitive constraints properly