Principal Systems Designer: Romero Games
Unannounced Cross Platform FPS
Owner of systems and designs across the entire experience, from Meta, Progression, Gameplay, Core Modes, UX, Accessibility features, Live and Social systems.
Successfully led feature teams through complex systems challenges, fostering an environment of collaboration, creativity, and growth.
Initial responsibilities involved shaping the overall Live Ops plan for the experience, involving live systems design, and pitching to both internal and external stakeholders. The live plan went through many iterations as the live landscape and player expectations evolved.
Additionally I granted the role of PVP Product Owner after internal pitching and being a driving force in shaping the PVP vision.
Lead Game Designer: Electric Manta
Merge Rivals - Merge Royale - Hi-Lo Clash
Leading the PVP division at Electric Manta, I was the Product Owner and Lead Game Designer of several PVP titles in various stages of production and live operations.
Hi-Lo Clash was in an early live iterative stage, and I pitched the initial concepts for Merge Rivals and Merge Royale.
After incredibly successful market tests we concluded to prototype both Merge Rivals and Merge Royale. Leading both prototyping teams in the early stages of development until moving to fully dedicate my time to Merge Rivals.
I pitched both to internal stakeholders and to external potential investors and clients.
Lead Game Designer: Ubisoft FGOL
Ambitious, yet sensible design, playing to team and project strengths. A team united and excited by a shared vision, informed by data and driven by passion to deliver community-centric updates that elevated the brand.
Leading the design vision on Hungry Shark World for a highly successful run that reinvigorated interest in the brand for both the audience and the team building it. Added new characters, retentive systems, economy balance, innovated on core gameplay and modes. Boosted engagement and retention, successfully hitting KPI targets.
Managed and mentored a small team of talented designers, leading by example and active collaboration, while providing freedom to grow.
EXTINCTION: Update 3.9
HAS SCIENCE GONE TOO FAR? Extinction looms over Hungry Shark World in our biggest update!
EXTINCTION MODE: New end-game mode to unlock.
NEW LATE GAME ECONOMY: designed, balanced, maintained.
APEX TIER: New late-game Shark category unlocked via Extinction Mode
NEW APEX SHARKS: Unlock and activate the special abilities of 3 abyssal monsters, Ancient Megalodon, Meltdown Shark, Alpha Zombie Shark.
NEW LEVEL: The Pacific Island has been turned into a Toxic Wasteland.
NARRATIVE REBOOT: Kicking off a multi update narrative arc.
LIKE & SUBSCRIBE: Update 4.0
Adding a multi-tier recurring subscription for Shark Week 2020.
NEW EXCLUSIVE SQUADMATE: Free instant revives to preserve flow of play.
NEW EXCLUSIVE PET: Florence Sharkingale, a valuable healing pet.
NEW SUBSCRIPTION: Exclusive content, daily coin login rewards.
10th Anniversary: Update 4.1
HUNGRY SHARK 10TH ANNIVERSARY!
Mecha Sharkjira: new ultimate Apex Shark
Shark Quests: unique quests for each shark, collect schematics to assemble and unlock Mecha Sharkjira.
System to increase content consumption, usage and unlocks.
Final ability upgrade to unlock for completionists acquiring all schematics.
Huge 10th Birthday narrative arc: driving a huge marketing build up to release
NEW YEAR NEW ME: Update 4.2
Quality of Life update: array of improvements and re-balance.
120 FPS Mode for high end devices
QUALITY OF LIFE: Robo Shark ability overhaul, now with an ability button.
Data informed Shark re-balance to improve difficulty ramp.
Shark Quest re-balance to improve early experience and progression velocity.
ARCTIC APOCALYPSE: Update 4.3
PLAY THE EXTINCTION MODE, SAVE ARCTIC FROM APOCALYPSE!
NEW SHARK: SharkJira is reborn and powered up as SHIN SHARKJIRA! Gain power by eating and unleash various energy attacks alongside infernal breath!
NEW EXTINCTION MODE: The Arctic has been ravaged by Mecha SharkJira MK2. New ways to earn and play.
NEW LIVE EVENTS: We're delighted to partner with non-profit partner Oceana to build a fintastic live fest and a thoughtful video spot to expand your ocean conservationist knowledge.
SHARK WEEK 2021: Update 4.4
Introducing the first battle pass to the Hungry Shark brand, for Shark Week!
NEW FEATURE: SPLASH PASS! Designed the first battle pass for the Hungry Shark brand.
NEW SHARKS: Explore the depths of the sea with THREE new sharks - NURSE, VETERAN GREAT WHITE and LEGENDARY GREAT WHITE! Each tailored to a different part in the player journey, something for everyone.
NEW LEVEL: Celebrate SHARK WEEK in the famous Bay mini-level with a haul of special live-events, earn exclusive rewards!
GOING COSMIC: Update 4.5
Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird, or a plane? No, it's COSMIC ALAN!
NEW APEX SHARK: COSMIC ALAN plunges into Hungry Shark World and packs an array of otherworldly powers that defy the laws of science. Dive in today!
MAP IMPROVEMENTS: Edible spawner overhauls for a more exciting and enjoyable experience in the skies.
Lead Game Designer: BravoCompany
Forces of Freedom was a 5x5 competitive tactical (third person) multiplayer shooter, with a focus on unique heroes from across history.
Led design on an overall vision shift to a hero focused design, with stronger characters and unique ability gameplay. A user experience overhaul to compliment and reinforce the new vision.
Spearheaded new systems including bots, friends lists, fireteams (squads), monetization, heroes, abilities and new map content. Maintained live ops support with regular gameplay balance updates, successfully boosting engagement and community activity.
Live Action & Early Access
Forces of Freedom was a live and ever changing product. Available in Early Access for Android users, and upon request for iOS via the Bravo site.
UX REDESIGN: A full user experience redesign was undertaken and rolled out to better fit the hero vision, and a more approachable and readable tone for the competitive scene.
LIVE TESTING: Ran several live early access tests of new maps, A/B tests on balance and features. Store page optimization via Google Play Experiments.
MENTORSHIP: Managed and mentored a Junior designer. Regular reviews, growth plans, advice. Space to learn, freedom to grow.
Friends, Fireteams & More!
Design of foundational social and onboarding systems.
FRIENDS LISTS: Curate and manage a friends list, add your friend and players you meet in battle with ease. View profiles, compare stats.
FIRETEAMS: A party system to invite friends and recent players to team up and battle together.
BOTS: Robust bot system to curate a smooth (and unseen) onboarding experiences with a controllable difficulty curve, adjusted and curated based on live data.
Bots reacted and utilized the emote system to appear more human, even encouraging players to more actively emote!
Game Designer: Tag Games
Active collaborator from pre-production prototype through to post-launch live operations. Ownership and contribution to core gameplay systems, user experience and level design.
Driving force behind Level Design, contributing to the majority of levels shipped for release, and the additional batch of levels featured in the post-launch Piggy update.
Mentored and onboarded a Junior Level Designer to take over Level Design duties.
Heroes Across History
Character roster overhaul moving away from generic classes to a more Hero focused approach.
HEROES: Existing heroes were rebranded with their own profiles, names and abilities. Each bringing something new to the experience.
ABILITIES: Every hero received their own ability for a unique experience, adding to core game variety and expanded tactical options.
MAPS: Oversaw reworks of existing maps and the implementation of several new additions, each providing positive retention increases.
New heroes were added at a later date, starting with CRASH, which flipped the entire game meta on its head, adding much needed combat depth.
