02/2015 - 04/2017
Embedded Files
Character Physics
Character Physics
Physics-rigged all 44 characters in the game.
Characters' gameplay bodies were represented by a deforming sphere, so all distinguishing features needed to look good while smashed into arbitrary terrain as it rolled or collided.
Worked with artists and looked at concept art to plan characters from a technical perspective to see how far we could push designs beyond being simple spheres. Each unique character design came with its own challenges which kept the process interesting.
Added a lot of other physics objects to the game including destructible pillars and boxes, giant soccer balls, waving flags, flexible safety nets, and bouncy hot air balloons, all of which helped make the levels feel more interactive and alive.
DISCLAIMER: Some salvaged video footage was originally compressed or contained early content.
Music playing during captures was retained since all copyright holders recognized by YouTube allow other videos to use their songs.
Cosmetics
Cosmetics
Configured positions for props to fit characters' rigs, so that anything could be worn by any character regardless of their unique anatomy.
Locators on character models represented positions and scales for entire categories of props like "glasses", "hats", "back", etc.
Added extra physics to several props like butterfly wings, knapsacks, or spinning pinwheels.
Shop Icons
Shop Icons
Rendered high resolution images for game props to make icons for the shop. Talented artists modeled and textured the props, which I posed, lit, cropped, and color adjusted to get the final pictures.
Photoshopped existing prop thumbnails to fix polygonal silhouettes and other artifacts. Note the bottom edge of the Valentine's Day chocolate box icon.
Talked with artists about preserving higher resolution versions of props. This improved renders, which ended up saving us extra time going forwards.
Level Design
Level Design
Designed level layouts to be both pleasing to the eye, and simple enough to be quickly learned or intuitive.
Play tested the game frequently to experiment and iterate on level layouts.
Developed a feel for distances, managing sight lines, balanced open areas with cover for combat encounters, etc.
Converged on some basic metrics that fit the size of characters, their jump heights, their various attack ranges, and what space was needed for managing third-person cameras for future levels.
Several of my levels were chosen as final level designs and sent to the art department for official art passes. It was a joy to see our team's extremely talented artists give them makeovers.
Named my levels "Panic Plateau", "Arid Arches", etc. which ended up setting a soft precedent for other's cool levels getting names like "Prickly Peaks".
Prototype Art
Prototype Art
Supported the programmers during pre-production by rapidly making placeholders for all the content they needed.
Created all prototype sprites for the HUD and UI, which lasted until an official artistic style was chosen for the game's displays and menus.
Modeled all prototype in-game props, power ups, ammo, debris, obstacles, destructibles, meteors, enemies, etc.
Designed all early levels of the game which were used for play testing.
Prototyped level gimmicks like capture points and jump pads to experiment with gameplay variations.Â
Responsibilities - Deformers China
Responsibilities - Deformers China
02/2015 - 04/2017
New Game Modes
Created prototype capture regions. Used mesh sets to swap colors based on team ownership or neutral status. Added locks above to uncapturable nodes.
Designed test maps to experiment with new modes like "King of the Hill" and "Tower Assault" levels to explore game play changes.
Made new placeholder sprites for the HUD.
Added destructible pillars for both teams, acting as the game-winning objective.
Playtesting favored control maps with few graph connections, keeping altars as the main team objective.
Talented artists designed awesome levels including these with Aztec temples facing each other containing their altars.
Authored the level collision, capture regions and trigger events, rigged cloth physics on hanging banners, and setup the destruction for the new altar models.
More Characters & Cosmetics
The China build added a lot of new content to the game, so many of my earlier contributions got renewed:
Physics-rigged dozens of new deformable characters which were added to the original cast.
Authored level collision for all the maps.
Setup and posed dozens of new cosmetic props on characters.
Rendered the shop icons for those cosmetic props.
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