Süreg’s Masks was a major academic project developed over a semester by a team of around 20 people, using SDL from scratch without any prebuilt engine. As the lead designer, I took full responsibility for the game's entire structure. This included designing the interconnected dungeon system and over 100 individual rooms with unique layouts and enemy encounters. I created every enemy archetype, player ability and the entire stat progression system.

Narrative design was also a key focus. I wrote over 200 lines of dialogue for the NPCs in the central village, building emotional arcs and worldbuilding through interactions. The game follows a tone of personal struggle and growth, which I made sure was reflected both in gameplay pacing and dialogue content.

One of the major challenges was working with an external art team for the first time. Most of us had never collaborated before, and aligning our visual and gameplay goals required constant communication. I handled this by maintaining a close feedback loop with the artists, preparing UI mockups and ensuring every asset matched the needs of the design.

This project was a turning point for me as a designer. I learned how to structure and execute a large-scale system from scratch, how to balance creative ambition with scope, and how to manage a mid-sized team across disciplines with zero previous cohesion.

Out of four parallel projects developed that semester, Süreg’s Masks was selected as the best. It was showcased at IndieDevDay, the most prominent indie game event in Spain, where it was presented publicly and received highly positive feedback.