<![CDATA[Level Design Portfolio - HIGHLIGHTS:]]>Wed, 18 Dec 2024 22:42:51 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[MythForce Development Log]]>Sun, 31 Oct 2021 02:53:37 GMThttp://dodgethis.com/highlights/on-designing-character-abilitiesWorking on a co-op dungeon crawler game has led me to broaden my technical skillset in Unreal. Now, I'll be moving on again after a few months spent designing and troubleshooting procedural generation constraints to allow encounter balancing. Not easy when parties range from 1 to 4 players and may include a mix of classes!

I am having a lot of fun designing character abilities on a small pod. My work interfaces heavily with Combat Design and, luckily, I work with a veteran in this field joining our team after many years at Behavior Interactive: Joel Galarneau. His vision and patient approach have set clear, iterative goals for our core mechanics and abilities to improve as we enter Early Access.
The past 6 months have required me to learn and study a lot of our competitors, including Warhammer: Vermintide II. It's been an exciting challenge to grow in this specialized area of game design. I'm always up for new challenges!
While the first three characters for our game came with their own history and implementation, [Hawkins] is the fourth playable character to join the lineup. His story and direction came to us in early stages - with a lot more freedom to reinterpret the verbs that define him. We also started from scratch on his three abilities. Evan Funnell and Taylor Jambrich have done amazing work to bring them to life, while Logan Buchanan's work on the design and early pitches for the ideas have also been an immense help.
I have contributed by writing detailed designs, championing a reasonable course for implementation through JIRA tracking, and reviewing and tuning the amazing content that my team delivers. I am so proud of what we've created together and I cannot wait to show it off in [six] months!

Note from future: MythForce released into Early Access in April 2022.
See a retrospective description of my contributions here.

]]><![CDATA[Tomb Raider (2013) Camera Analysis 24 Chasm Ziggurat]]>Sat, 02 Dec 2017 20:49:43 GMThttp://dodgethis.com/highlights/tomb-raider-2013-camera-analysis-24-chasm-zigguratA camera beat chart and additional analysis for the Summit Forest mission.
See the whole series of articles on the Camera page. "Read More" for details.
Camera Beat Chart
Each minute of the Chasm Ziggurat mission, broken down into the camera types found within it (see analysis below for details)
A satisfying ending to a phenomenal game - and the crystallization point for what the Crystal Dynamics team saw as the definitive Tomb Raider experience. The whole game is about the birth of an icon, so it appropriately feels like everything has been leading up to this moment when "A Survivor Is Born."

Lara Croft dual weilds pistols for the first time while fighting the final boss in a quick but satisfying conclusion to the action. This is presented as a custom gameplay sequence where the player controls the reticle with the right stick and can shoot with both triggers.

Then 4 minutes of cinematics wrap up the loose ends in the character arcs and overall story. This is not a lot of time, given the total cinematic length and the amount of cinematics in the introductory missions. The ending may be intentionally light on expensive cinematic content, as common standards from 2001 indicate that less than 20% of players for any game actually finish, according to John Lee, interviewed by Blake Snow (CNN 2011); and that number has moved closer to 10% in the last decade.

Tomb Raider's second to last boss is an large undead Samurai whom Lara must battle at close range, and that is the climax in gameplay intensity as far as combat goes. Notably, the developers succeed at bringing all aspects of the game into the last mission, including puzzles, climbing, and ranged combat. The level of challenge is not necessary the hardest in the game, but the completing each test is rewarding and let's the players show their mastery of the games' major systems.

Add the fan service of seeing Lara's iconic silhouette with two pistols after the cult leader falls to his death, and it's enough to give you chills of excitement for the future of this franchise.
Camera Time by CategoryChart skewed by 4 minutes of NIS at end of game
Exotic cameras refer to the zipline and balance cameras as well as custom or rarely used cameras
Static-facing cameras are better versions of the industry standard static cameras. Includes camera pulls and shots with movement/rotation on one axis
NIS include transitions and any unresponsive shots
Follow cameras are driven by mouse or stick input
Climbing cameras support the climbing features
]]><![CDATA[Tomb Raider (2013) Camera Analysis 23 Chasm Shrine]]>Mon, 13 Nov 2017 01:16:16 GMThttp://dodgethis.com/highlights/tomb-raider-2013-camera-analysis-23-chasm-shrineA camera beat chart and additional analysis for the Chasm Shrine mission.
See the whole series of articles on the Camera page. "Read More" for details.
Picture
Each minute of the Chasm Shrine mission, broken down into the camera types found within it (see analysis below for details)
Camera Time by CategoryMore menus, exclusively from collectables
Exotic cameras refer to the zipline and balance cameras as well as custom or rarely used cameras
Static-facing cameras are better versions of the industry standard static cameras. Includes camera pulls and shots with movement/rotation on one axis
NIS include transitions and any unresponsive shots
Follow cameras are driven by mouse or stick input
Climbing cameras support the climbing features
]]><![CDATA[Tomb Raider (2013) Camera Analysis 22 Chasm Stronghold]]>Sat, 28 Oct 2017 22:11:25 GMThttp://dodgethis.com/highlights/tomb-raider-2013-camera-analysis-22-chasm-strongholdA camera beat chart and additional analysis for the Chasm Stronghold mission.
See the whole series of articles on the Camera page. "Read More" for details.

Camera Beat Chart
Each minute of the Chasm Stronghold mission, broken down into the camera types found within it (see analysis below for details)
Camera Time by Category Primarily follow even considering major setpieces
Exotic cameras refer to the zipline and balance cameras as well as custom or rarely used cameras
Static-facing cameras are better versions of the industry standard static cameras. Includes camera pulls and shots with movement/rotation on one axis
NIS include transitions and any unresponsive shots
Follow cameras are driven by mouse or stick input
Climbing cameras support the climbing features
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