AWARDS AND ACCOLADES:

• Game Developers Choice Awards - Judge [2024]

• Grand Prix Award in “Digital Craft” - Travis Scott and Fortnite Present: Astronomical (Cannes Lion) [2020/2021]

• Grand Clio for Experience/Activation - Travis Scott and Fortnite Present: Astronomical (Clio Awards) [2020/2021]

• Best Live Special - Travis Scott and Fortnite Present: Astronomical (The Streamys) [Nomination] [2020]

• Presidential Scholarship (DePaul University) [2010 - 2014]

• Mike Harper Leadership Scholarship (ConAgra Foods) [2010 - 2014]

• Ted Ryan Creative Writing Award (Hinsdale Central High School) [2010]

PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS:

• Top 10 Live Events in Fortnite (WatchMojo)

• The best Fortnite live events of all time (Digital Trends)

• New Games with Old Names; On Sequels and Why I got Back Into Call of Duty (Gamasutra Featured Post)

• A Train With No Brakes; On Hype and Why No Man’s Sky is Important (Gamasutra Featured Post)

About Me

Hey there! My name is Riley Halligan, and I’m an award winning game designer based out of Chicago, Illinois. From an early age, I have always been fascinated with playing and creating games. I never really outgrew that, and after studying game design in college, you can still find me playing and making games for my career. I am deeply passionate about using aggregated player data to create a complex and engaging player journey. As a game designer, my job is to design and iterate until I’ve created play. This is a huge responsibility to my players, one that I do not take lightly. Every day I strive to deliver the best possible experience I can to my players.

My most prominent role as a designer came when I worked at Epic Games on award winning Battle Royale title Fortnite. As a balance designer I was responsible for creating, implementing, playtesting and balancing season to season loot and gold economies. This was a start to finish process, from pen and paper conceptualization to post launch support. I also owned start-to-finish weapon creation and supported several other gameplay features. Prior to my role as a balance designer at Epic, I was a QA Analyst at Epic responsible for developing our in game event testing strategy. I also worked on Kartridge with Kongregate, and Jackbox Party Pack 4 with Jackbox Games earlier in my career.

CREDITS:

• “Designed, Developed and Published by” - Fortnite (Epic Games, 2017)

• “QA Tester” - Kartridge (Kongregate, 2018)

• “QA Tester” - Kongregatre.com (Kongregate, 2006)

• "QA" - Jackbox Party Pack 4 (Jackbox Games, 2017)

  • "QA" - Fibbage 3

  • "QA" - Survive The Internet

  • "QA" - Monster Seeking Monster

  • "QA" - Bracketeering

  • "QA" - Civic Doodle

• "Lead Designer / Original Concept" - I See What You Did There (I See What You Did There Game, 2016)

CERTIFICATIONS:

• Certified Tester, Foundation Level (CTFL) [Spring 2016]

Currently Playing:

Favorite Games: