So some exciting news. Starting tomorrow I will be working at
@valvesoftware
as a level designer.
Living in the Seattle / Bellevue area now so if you’re local, say hey!
Thank you to every last one of you who supported me during this difficult and surprising transition.
well, i picked up my workstation so i think it’s official. i’m delighted to announce i’ll be joining
@ArkaneStudios
in Austin as an Associate Level Designer on Redfall! impossibly grateful and stoked for this opportunity! 🧛♀️ 🩸
to clarify: not against the depiction of police in games. just glorified or uncritical depictions of police.
body cams are oftentimes the means through which we view acts of police brutality. turning that into a game where you play as a cop and shoot nameless thugs— im against
level designers, i feel like i’m going crazy. if you’re posting something for a portfolio, i don’t care how gorgeous it looks, my first question will always be can i play it? 5-10 second clips are great at catching attention, but level design is so much more than blockouts.
all these years later, i still cant help but play Dishonored 2 every couple months. impossible to understate how this game changed my life. feeling incredibly blessed to work with such talented people
So much I want to say, but its hard. Trying not to let my love for Arkane turn into bitterness for this situation. It really was a good team, filled to the brim with talented people who loved immersive sims, and who only ever dreamed to make them. Forever grateful.
I find it weird people commenting telling him that this stuff is unrealistic or SO expensive when it’s really not if you build your tools early on to support level designers. Thoughtful level design is not an unrealistic standard.
This is the kind of basic 'encounter design' that's often missing from VR games. Yes, nobody has the budget that Alyx had, but the point is to create specific moments of fun, instead of purely expecting it to magically emerge from dynamic systems.
Hey y'all. The dust has settled a bit, and I've finally got my portfolio in order. Would appreciate if it can be shared:
I've been working in
#leveldesign
for 4 years and specialize in immersive sims and first person adventure games.
Love that we get to see more of Karnaca's grime and gloom in Death of the Outsider... Excellent level design and environment art on display as per usual.
Arkane Austin will always have a special place in my heart. They took a risk on me when I was young and I learned so much from them— team of world class developers and designers top to bottom.
I feel like level design is actually just what you make of it. Of course, it’s not *just* layouts. It’s also not *just* creating gameplay scenarios. The best levels find a way to integrate all its components meaningfully. I’ve always felt space is core to most levels I enjoy.
what else can i say other than… so happy to be able to share my work and be a part of such a wonderful team. we’ve achieved so much together and i look forward to everyone getting their hands on it
Redfall gameplay reveal is finally here!
We couldn’t have done it without help from our partners at Roundhouse Studios and the patience and support of all our fans. Thank you all! 🖤
To the fans who have reached out, humanized us, defended us, consoled us and grieved with us— thank you. Arkane has one of the best communities in the world.
Ages since I was able to participate in
#Blocktober
but here's a small beach scene I cooked up!
#leveldesign
(disclaimer: not affilated w/ my work at Arkane)
incase you're curious what's inside:
- OFFLINE SINGLEPLAYER MODE W/ PAUSE
- Nests have been GREATLY expanded
- New Optional Bosses & new enemy variants
- A new open world skill-tree
- Tons of new hand-made open world encounters
- New weapons
- General bugfixes and polish
Amnesia: The Bunker makes me badly want another Penumbra. Don’t get me wrong I love Amnesia but the fiction and setting of Penumbra was a lot more rich in my opinion, and seeing how much they’ve been able to prove out the imsim survival horror elements gets me excitedddd
22 as of today (*confetti noises*). i’m feeling incredibly blessed to have worked with such amazing people up to this point in my life. thanks everyone who’s leant me a helping hand or even an ear, y’all make this job so worth it ❤️
a playthrough, even just a video of one, is the only way to really assess anything from a level’s actual design. maybe parts of it are jank, maybe you’re not totally happy with the gameplay. that’s fine! every level starts that way. but it’s important to demonstrate process
my recommendation? start fresh with a new character. midnight difficulty if you want a challenge. Steam Deck runs beautifully, and it's tons of fun to cozy up in bed with.
It really feels like leaks have gotten out of hand. People are way too quick to judge a thing that hasn’t even had a chance to present itself— and it kills hype and enthusiasm for revealing games. If people saw their favorite games 1-2 years before ship their jaw would drop.
I didn't know how to properly clear this lava in the dungeon before the chariot crushed me, so i improvised and made my own way.
This is why you don't backseat. Let people find a way to get it done in their own way. Chat couldn't believe it haha
just wrapped up my last day at Arbitrary Metric. much love to the team, and special thank you to
@oysterFAKE
for being such a wonderful mentor, collaborator and giving me a chance when I had relatively little experience. not quite ready to talk about what comes next but... (1/2)
I will be speaking on a panel moderated by Harvey Smith (Arkane) and some fellow indie imsim developers at the GDC level design summit on the design philosophy and challenges of modern immersive sims.
MOVEMENT ON OUR IMSIM, TANGIERS:
SO: Tangiers now under full development as an
@ArbitraryMetric
title following Paratopic.
Extremely proud to be working alongside
@Lazarus_Audio
,
@ppascal_s
and
@m1ke204
(do follow them~).
HQ vid:
Really wonderful talk by Nicolas Oueijan covering some of Kevin Lynch's research on urban design and mental mapping. We used a lot of this stuff planning out spaces in Tangiers and it's pretty much an essential watch for LDs I think. One thing to note...
... im super excited for what comes next. for now though, i will say that i'm leaving Tangiers in incredibly capable hands, and i cant wait to see where the team takes it (2/2)
beat Alien Isolation again for the first time since it came out. not everything aged quite as well as I remembered but it’s still a pretty incredible game. would’ve loved to see a sequel with a bit more soft-failure and more environmental variety, interactions and hazards.
I know that these days I don’t *professionally* work in Unity much anymore, but the recent news is abysmal and shocking. Even if they were to revert this decision, without some legal protections for developers— the damage is irreversible in my opinion.
@TafferKing451
Unreal 5 has some realtime in-engine modeling stuff that I've been enjoying quite a bit. Not quite as flexible as brushwork but good for fast iteration and complex architecture.
ENTER.
🌴Escape the captivating luxury resort like no other!
Get a taste for the sublime with our new trailer for Roman Sands RE:Build. Coming to PC in summer 2023 and consoles in winter 2023.💕
But we both know where this leads.
EXIT.
WISHLIST. 🙌
There is a lot to rightfully criticize Kamala Harris about but god it’s such a breath of fresh air to have an actual coherent candidate that isn’t trying to federally criminalize abortion, HRT and other civil rights.