AAA Action RPG

I was the first team member assigned to a project that I'm only able to refer to as "A AAA action RPG". I worked on the project for 3.5 years in total.

I am allowed to say that I spent the first year of the project as the sole designer leading a team of coders and artists to research the tools, production processes and overall approach we would need to make Rebellion's most ambitious game to date.

During this process I researched a variety of other engine's tools and workflows and then used my UX and game design experience to design and (with the help of the code team) build bespoke tools to enable production to begin.

I then used the tools we had created to build a protoype of the game with the aim of demonstrating our ability to create the volume and types of content the project requires. This included creating the whiteboxes of all of the levels using our brand new pipeline, testing our new scripting system to it's limits (and then extending those limits to meet our needs), writing and implementing all dialogue, scripts and ingame text and designing and implementing every mechanic we needed to prove the game could be engaging.

 I also defined the overall structure of the game, presenting it to Rebellion's senior management team to get buy in and allow us to move forward. In addition to this I helped production to define the form of the team we would eventually need for full development and the resources/deadlines we would be looking to meet.

After the initial period a colleague (and friend) joined the project as the Lead Designer to begin rounding out the team for full production. This enabled me to concentrate on the areas I'm most passionate about and consequently I'm currently straddling the roles of a lead narrative designer, writer and senior technical designer. The team has now grown to roughly full production size and development continues apace.