CROSSING
CROSSING
CROSSING
MICHAEL KIRBY
BATTLEKIN
I worked as a Game Designer on Meta’s Horizon Worlds BattleKin, contributing to the design and refinement of core gameplay systems. My work spanned UI/UX flows, combat mechanics for Kin, stat balancing, dungeon paper designs and in-game economy design. I also explored and prototyped gameplay features for the Training World mode, where players could have trained their Kin. I provided design insights for systems that, while ultimately got cut, they would have broaden the overall player experience.
Collect, train, and evolve mystical creatures in BattleKin, the action-RPG where every fight is fast, strategic, and thrilling. Explore vibrant realms, master elemental powers, and grow your team from Junior to Elder Kin. Are you ready to battle and evolve your way to victory?
DESIGNING KIN
I took full ownership of designing four Kin for BattleKin: Rockcat, Avalanche, Decoy, and Shrimp. Rockcat was built around its agile, feline concept art, it's a fast-moving and quick-attacking Kin. So I crafted abilities that emphasized speed, precision, and its Earth-type identity, including an elemental move tied to its armour design.
Avalanche, one of the game’s most distinctive Kin, is an ice-armoured reptile focused on defence and counter-defence; I designed its abilities around building fortification, breaking enemy defences, and delivering a unique hero ability with the shortest cooldown in the game due to its non-aggressive, protective nature.
Decoy (my personal favourite) is a mischievous plant-type Kin whose false “eye ears” silhouette inspired a full suite of illusion, ambush, and trickery-based abilities, blending deceptive gameplay with strong offensive potential.
Finally, I designed Shrimp, a power Kin intended as Avalanche’s counterpart: while Avalanche reinforces defence, Shrimp specializes in breaking defences, removing buffs, and delivering decisive one-two power strikes. Although Shrimp did not make it into the final release, its design served as an important balance counterpart and expanded the strategic depth of the roster.​
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I also worked in implementing and balancing multiple other Kin in the game.
​Below is a video of the Kin gameplay.
DUNGEON DESIGNS
For Dungeon Designs, I drew inspiration heavily from Marvel Contest of Champions, the primary reference requested by the client, and used its structure and pacing as a foundation for our early dungeon layouts. I began each dungeon with detailed paper designs, then brought them into Unity using our custom dungeon creation tools to build functional, visually readable spaces. From there, I iterated continuously and integrated feedback from teammates, the client, and my own playtesting to refine the flow, difficulty, and player engagement. Our core design principles for early-game dungeons emphasized clarity and elemental variety: typically three elemental Kin types, and paths ranging from three to six nodes (occasionally up to eight as complexity increased). As development progressed, these foundations allowed us to expand into more intricate and challenging dungeon experiences while maintaining consistency with the game’s design pillars.
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I was also pivotal in shaping the evolution of our dungeon creation tools themselves; after performing an extensive teardown of Marvel Contest of Champions. Where I analysed the mechanics, gameplay structure, UI/UX patterns, and overall dungeon logic, I produced a comprehensive mind map comparing their system to our old existing one. This research highlighted gaps, strengths, and actionable opportunities, allowing us to cherry-pick key features and significantly improve our toolset. The resulting new dungeon tool was far more flexible, intuitive, and developer-friendly than the original, greatly enhancing our design workflow.
TRAINING WORLD (UN-USED WORK)
I also contributed extensively to Training World, a companion game mode intended to complement the main dungeon-based experience. While the core game focused on battling Kin, Training World offered a dedicated space heavily inspired by Roblox’s Gym League, where players could train their Kin using a variety of exercise machines, each tied to specific training stats and XP gains. I worked on several of these machines, focusing primarily on stamina tuning, stat balancing, and the overall training progression framework. My main area of ownership, however, was the Kin Contest, a recurring event designed to reward players with items and bonuses usable in the main game. Running every 5 minutes, the contest evaluated players based on their training performance, stat progression, and rotating themes such as elemental type, evolution stage (Junior, Adult, Elder), and other variable criterias. The system was broad, dynamic, and well-received by the client, and building it was one of the highlights of my work on the project. Although Training World and the Kin Contest were ultimately cut from release, the depth and ambition of the design remain some of my proudest contributions to the game’s development.
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Below is a video of some gameplay.
