Life is Strange: Double Exposure
Contributions:
Designed and implemented freeroam player interactions
Designed, prototyped, and implemented puzzles and gameplay moments
Designed and greyblocked levels in editor
Collaborated with narrative team to build scene structures and flow
Designed and implemented logic for hints and objectives
Designed and implemented NPC behavior states and pathing
Trained employees on design processes and proprietary tools
Freeroam Interactions:
I was the feature owner for frearoam interactions and lead a small team to bring consistency to them throughout the entire game. I was the point of contact for all departments involved with this feature and defined the parameters of how the interactions should look and feel. Some of these parameters included the visibility distance and volume for the dot UI and the name UI, the interaction distance and angle, the scale and placement of the UI, the position of verbs on the UI, and the highlighted object for the interaction. We made these aspects editable in the Unreal Blueprints so that we could make all necessary changes in editor to get everything feeling smooth and correct.
Scene Design:
As a Gameplay Designer at Deck Nine, I would be given scenes to co-own along with a member of the Narrative Team. When creating a scene, we would use concept art along with a narrative and a design outline to make sure the scene hit the beats we needed. I would handle the LDD along with greyblocking and prototyping any new features in Unreal, while narrative wrote the script. We would collaborate on all of these aspects together, bouncing ideas back and forth on anything needed for the scene. I joined this project while Episode 5 was in development and was given the above-shown “Lonely Motel” scene to design.
Hints and Objectives:
I was also the feature owner for the hints and objectives in this game. I wrote and implemented the logic for which objectives and set of hints would be given to the player at what time. Working on a decision-based narrative game with many different variables to juggle, I had to make sure the logic always accounted for all edge cases no matter what choices the player had already made and what order they accomplished objectives. I set up and maintained all objectives and hints throughout the game to make sure the player would always be correctly guided to the next step.