
P MICHAEL NORRIS
Game Designer | Levels • Missions
GAMES
TEMPEST
2023 • META
Levels | Missions | Puzzles

EXPERIENCE
2025 - PRESENT
BYTEBACK STUDIOS
Senior Level Designer
Developing modular RNG-driven room templates for Nightmare Kitchen, a co-op FPS, including puzzle, minigame, and combat variants that integrate into procedural dungeon grammar for replayability and handcrafted experiences.
2023 - 2024
META
Senior Level Designer
Designed single-player and co-op levels & missions in Unreal Engine 5 on an Unreleased FPS, integrating story objectives and gameplay mechanics while collaborating cross-functionally with narrative, design, and art teams.
2018 - 2023
Ready At Dawn
VR Level Designer
Owned multiple levels on Lone Echo 2 from blockout to ship, contributed to worldbuilding and spatial design using Maya and proprietary visual scripting tools
2012 - 2017
Gazillion Entertainment
Content Designer
Shipped live MMO content including missions, public events, enemy encounters, and interactive NPCs for Marvel Heroes; later focused on endgame content such as raids, daily/weekly missions, and tutorials.
2011 - 2012
NCSoft
World Designer
Created open-world layouts and encounters for City of Heroes MMO releases Where Shadows Lie and Resurgence.
2010 - 2011
Wayforward Technologies
Level | Mission Designer
Designed platformer levels focused on traversal mechanics and dynamic environmental interactions for Happy Feet 2 before transitioning to Silent Hill: Book of Memories, where I focused on missions, puzzles, and traps.
2008 - 2009
Activision Blizzard
Environment Artist
Created environments for several Guitar Hero ports and designed props and vehicles for Our House: Party.

ABOUT
Hello there!
I started my game design journey at 17, cutting class to build deathmatch levels for my local LAN arcade. That early curiosity shaped my obsession with crafting interactive worlds. A few years later, I discovered 3DS Max and immersed myself in environment art, which naturally evolved into working in Unreal Engine.
After a few twists and turns, I landed my first industry role as an Environment Artist on Guitar Hero. Midway through my career, I shifted focus to Level Design, and that is where I truly found my niche. I love worldbuilding in every sense, shaping spaces, composing layouts, and designing encounters, puzzles, and missions that guide players’ choices and experiences. My design philosophy centers on clarity, rhythm, and tension, making spaces readable, moments impactful, and gameplay loops intrinsically engaging. I draw inspiration from theme park design, Nintendo’s four-step approach, and the principle that form follows function, always iterating with collaboration at the heart of the process.
When I am not designing games, I am still creating, scribbling, writing, and experimenting with new tools for my next project, most recently a visual novel in Figma.
