Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty

  • Full remake of the original 1997 PlayStation classic Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
  • Sole Game Designer at Just Add Water
  • Released July 2014 on PS4 and later on PS3, Windows, Mac, Linux and Xbox One.
I was (for the most part) solely responsible for redesigning and implementing almost every aspect of the game's design using the original Abe’s Oddysee as a foundation.

I worked closely with all members of the development team, including working directly with series co-creator Lorne Lanning.

My responsibilities included:
  • Level design
  • Camera design
  • Character behaviour and animation tuning
  • Writing and managing in-game text and dialogue, including localisation
  • Difficulty tuning
  • Scripting gameplay logic
  • Front End and UI design
  • Meta-game and save system design
  • Trophies
  • Particle effects
  • Optimisation and redesign for ports to other platforms

Alf's Escape (DLC for Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty)

I also worked with a small team of artists to design and create the Alf’s Escape DLC levels.
Unlike the main game, this was an all-new chapter and not a remake of existing levels. It built on many new ideas we had during development of New 'n' Tasty's, focusing on a hardcore challenge for long-time fans of the series.

​We had minimal programmer support during this time, so a lot of its new features were developed with creative use of existing functionality and assets.

Oddworld: Soulstorm

I contributed to the level design and game design of Oddworld: Soulstorm, the sequel to New 'n' Tasty, from June 2016 to April 2018.

​The game is still in development and as such the details of my work are under NDA, but more details are available on the official website.
However, I can share a talk I gave at EGX 2016, which covers the design changes we made in Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty and the direction we were taking the series in Oddworld: Soulstorm. This 30 minute talk was to a room of about 500 people.

Smart As...

  • Brain training game with social connectivity
  • Game Designer at Climax Studios (14 months)
  • Released 23rd October 2012 
  • PlayStation Vita exclusive
  • Designed and iterated on a collection of 20 mini-games and parts of the overall game structure.
  • Wrote design documents on the project’s wiki, then worked closely with programmers and artists to see each mini-game through to alpha quality for monthly milestones.
  • Communicated design direction throughout the team in the lead designer’s absence.
  • Chiefly responsible for all the game’s audio implementation (sound effects, music and voice-over). This involved liaising with an outsourcing audio company, managing assets and cueing sound up to animations and gameplay events in Kismet.
  • Played a key role in managing, writing and implementing the game’s message prompt system (over 400 voice-over clips and text strings).
  • Various polish work on the interface flow, tutorials, camera transitions, object behaviours/animations, etc.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

  • Third-person cover shooter based on the film license
  • Level Designer at EA Bright Light (4 months)
  • Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3 / Wii / PC
  • Released 12th July 2011
  • Initially worked on the Wii port. I was tasked with finding ways to adapt the game to the technical constraints of the hardware. For example, using scripted enemy AI behaviours to give the impression of a battle that was larger than it really was.
  • I was later responsible for taking early designs for two of the game’s boss battles (Amycus & Alecto, and the final duel against Voldemort) and implementing them using in-house tools.
  • During this stage I had the opportunity to propose my own changes to the structure and flow of the battles. These changes were approved and I worked closely with the engineering team to implement and balance them.

Create

  • 'Rube Goldberg machine' physics puzzle game
  • Level designer at EA Bright Light (4 months)
  • Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3 / Wii / PC
  • Released 12th November 2010
Create is a physics-based puzzle game in the vein of The Incredible Machine, with an additional layer of creative world-decoration.

Puzzles have a simple objective such as "get the basketball to the goal" or "pop 10 balloons", and the player is given a lot of freedom in how they solve it. The physics simulation is paused at the start, but at any time the player can press Play to watch how the physics objects interact in a kind of 'Rube Goldberg machine' scenario. The player can then reset the simulation, modify their setup, and press Play again to see if it worked.

My responsibilities included:
  • Design and implementation of physics challenges.
  • Blocking out level shapes to support a wide variety of challenges, including user-created content.
  • Setting up a library of objects with physics properties and creating 2D collision meshes in Maya.
  • Setting up camera stings for level overviews and challenge introductions.
  • Thoroughly play-testing and supporting QA for alpha, beta and final deadlines.
  • Creating video content for promotional material.