Vourukasha Oasis is the last area of Sumeru in Genshin Impact. I joined its version mid-development, when the map was already mostly finished, which made the design hard: my job was mainly to place gameplay on the existing map and guide players through exploring the area.

By then, live-ops research showed that many players found Sumeru’s intense combat and underground caves oppressive. So in the parts I owned, I set aside the usual way of laying out a level: I removed all combat, used light puzzles and parkour collecting instead, and worked with the music team on a calm piece of music to match.

The area was very well received after launch — and for me, it was a challenge in changing how I think about design.