Game Design Portfolio

Professional Experience

pdbanner

The Initiative

Perfect Dark

March 2021 to Present

Senior Level Designer

  • Details to come!

moonbanner

Moon Studios

Unannounced Action RPG

February 2020 to March 2021

Level Designer

  • Pitched level design concepts using prototypes focused on unique level mechanics.
  • Created level layouts to be integrated into the game world.

gearses

The Coalition

Gears of War 4, Gears 5, Gears 5: Hivebusters DLC

June 2015 to July 2017 +
November 2018 to February 2020

Level Designer

  • Level design owner for multiple shipped campaign levels.
  • Responsible for level layout, level flow, gameplay functionality, combat scripting, level streaming and performance.
  • Prototyped level and gameplay concepts during pre-production.
  • Collaborated heavily with level artists, audio designers, animators, VFX artists, programmers, game designers and user researchers to bring levels to final quality.
  • All levels feature local and network co-op.

More details for each game can be found here: Gears of War 4, Gears 5, Hivebusters

lmbanner

Next Level Games

Luigi’s Mansion 3

November 2017 to October 2018

Game/Level Designer

  • Primary level designer for procedural networked multiplayer mode.
    • Designed room types, repeatable procedural puzzles, prop types, prop placement logic.
    • Worked closely with programmers to determine level generation logic.
    • Performed tuning tasks for multiplayer, including adjusting prop placements, enemy density, and enemy type spawn logic.
  • Performed game design role for multiplayer team.
    • Worked with other designers and leads to design floor objective types and non-combat challenges.
    • Designed and implemented prototypes of enemy variants for multiplayer.
    • Worked with programmers, animators and artists to create multiplayer boss battle.
  • Primary level designer for one shipped single player level.
    • Designed and implemented puzzles, combat encounters and surprises for players to discover.
    • Worked with concept artists, level artists, lighting artists and animators to ensure the level met high presentation standards.
  • Performed game design tasks for single player team.
    • Collaborated with UI team and game directors to create meta goals for players to achieve.
    • Worked with design team to refine and pitch concepts for player abilities.
  • Contributed to offline multiplayer design.
    • Created level layout and prototyped game logic for one shipped offline multiplayer mode.
    • Regularly took part in offline multiplayer playtests and provided design feedback.

swbanner

Electronic Arts Vancouver

Unreleased Star Wars title

August 2017 to November 2017

Associate Level Designer

  • Prototyped and pitched action-packed space flight levels.
  • Heavy emphasis on cinematic feel and presentation.
  • Collaborated on level planning, including level beats and 2D maps.
  • Created level layouts.
  • Worked with game designers and programmers to develop an engaging flight model based on specific requirements from team leadership, within engine limitations.

Other Projects

cliffsidebanner

Cliffside Temple

Unreal Engine 4 level design project

October 2018
  • First person exploration level created in UE4.
    • Goal was to create an interesting space to traverse, even with limited interaction.
    • Interesting sight lines, contrast between spaces (interior vs. exterior, claustrophobic vs. wide open), and a feeling of progression (clear change in spaces as player progresses, clear where the player has been) were used to achieve this goal.
  • Created using UE4’s BSP tools and starter content.

huebanner

HUE 

Unity game project (unreleased)

January 2012 to August 2015 (sporadic solo development)
  • Platformer concept built around changing the player’s colour to change how they interact with the environment.
  • Coloured walls in the world change their properties based on the player’s colour.
    • This system uses the 6 primary and secondary colours only, and is best visualized as a colour wheel.
    • Same colour (i.e. player is red, wall is red) as player is sticky and can be climbed, but also limits jumping and running.
    • Opposite colour (i.e. player is red, wall is green; the furthest colour on a colour wheel) is bouncy and repels the player, acting as a trampoline that can repel the player to greater heights.
    • Adjacent colours (i.e. player is red, wall is violet or orange; the nearest colours on a colour wheel), are solid. These are treated as solid walls that cannot be passed through.
    • Triadic colours (i.e. player is red, wall is yellow or blue; the two colours that form a triangle with the player’s colour on a colour wheel), will be passed through as though no wall is there.
  • Learned a lot about Unity, game programming/scripting in general, physics and camera tuning for a 2D platformer and 2D puzzle/platformer design.
  • The name “Hue” has since been used on an indie release, which I had no involvement with.

Education

British Columbia Institute of Technology 

Software Development – Part Time Studies

2014 to 2015
  • Object-oriented programming using Java.
  • Gained familiarity with core programming concepts and practices.

The Art Institute of Vancouver

Game Art and Design Diploma

2006 to 2008
  • Education focused on game design and art, with some exposure to programming and narrative.
  • Gained familiarity with software such as Maya, Photoshop, Unreal, Flash.
  • Completed “Graveyard Smash” game project (Unreal Tournament 2004 mod) with team of designers, artists and programmers. Competitive multiplayer game.

Demo Reel

“Shafted” level design project