Resume

Galvanic (Wizard with a Gun)

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

Secret Project

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

Heart Machine (Solar Ash)

January 2018 - August 2018

●     Level Design - greyboxing, gameplay experimentation

●     Experimental prototyping for gravity gameplay

●     Design guidance in an untethered, blue sky game

Motiga (Gigantic)

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

Solo Project

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

Runic (Torchlight 2, Hob)

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

Bethesda (Fallout 3, Skyrim)

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