August 2018 to Now
Online multiplayer PvE ARPG with light survival and roguelike mechanics.
● Start from scratch project
● Deep spell crafting system
● Numerous prototypes folded into a single system
● Nearly all things in the world are destructible, drop resources for crafting (spells, buildings, gear, enchantments, potions)
My roles:
● Sole dedicated designer for most of the project, two founders established high level goals
● Developed a custom AI solution
● Developed a custom procedural world generation solution
● General design for game systems
● Implemented most content in the game for about two years
● Onboarded and oversaw a junior designer who took over enemies and combat
● Balanced enemy spawn rates/loot tables/crafting recipes/durability rates
● Charted world discovery progression (the world is revealed over iterations and design decides what is shown in each iteration)
● Implemented procedural-based world building data
June 2020 to Now, part time
Gigantic-inspired project, class-based team vs team third person shooter/brawler. Made in UE4/5
● Analyzed problems about why Gigantic failed
● Created design solutions that reduced complexity while maintaining or improving Gigantic’s design
● Designed new game modes, armor system, modular gameplay elements
● Creating a level for new game mode
● Prototyped new heroes
January 2018 - August 2018
● Level Design - greyboxing, gameplay experimentation
● Experimental prototyping for gravity gameplay
● Design guidance in an untethered, blue sky game
July 2016 - November 2017
Gigantic was a team vs. team 3rd person hero shooter/brawler. Strong focus on team cooperation.
● Improved existing heroes, prototyped new heroes
● Progression design including full breakdown of player time investment/currency/unlock schedule.
● Live dev cycle. Staggered cadence with regular small, medium, and large updates.
● Prototyped new maps - utilized character class traits to encourage flow and emergent goals
● Tutorial - full redesign, made map, scripted experiences, spliced in FMV, voice lines, led multidisciplinary team
March 2015 - July 2016
After leaving Runic, I worked on a solo project for a little over a year. It was a PvP turn-based strategy driven by a deck building mechanic. I stopped working on it shortly after the birth of my first child and returned to traditional game development.
● Made in blueprints:
○ UI - deck building, card selection, game state
○ Animation - facing, movement, attacks, hit reactions, death
○ Camera - Smooth transition toward selected tile, lateral camera movement with wasd, rotation around selected tile
○ UX - moving pieces around on a hex grid tactical board, spawning, attacks, turns, etc. Also card management - hands, draws, card rules.
○ Board creation tools - place tile nodes in editor to build board in runtime. In-game creation, removal, modification of tiles.
○ Pathfinding - hex-based grid pathfinding, including height restrictions and movement costs based on tile terrain
○ Data driven robust in-editor character creation system - movement, attack range, flying, health, skills
○ Skills - leap attacks, charge attacks, ranged, modify tiles, power ups
○ Outline material shader
● Contracted artists, defined expectations and worked with them to get desired results
April 2010 - February 2015
● Level Design/Decoration
○ Utilized procedural tile-based world building techniques to create randomized, replayable experiences.
○ Developed procedural approaches to increase quality/variety of decoration, as well as retroactive tuning/refinement of decoration
○ Made procedural feel hand-made by layering hand-made and generative content
● Procedural loot
○ Developed approaches to promote fairness in loot distribution
○ Created excitement by leaving loot treadmill slightly unbalanced - finding a great item let you fly through the game, but only for a few minutes.
○ Assisted in tuning/balancing loot and skills
● Puzzle Design
○ Made tons of puzzles for a canceled project
○ Used composition to guide player through puzzles with non verbal cues
August 2007 - August 2009
● Level Design - Both open world and linear design
● Composition - non-verbal queues to lead the player through spaces
● Responsible for scripting Traps/Interactables. Focus on reusability
● Teamed with programmers on designing/implementing new scripting system, overhauling AI system in between Fallout and Skyrim projects