Live Content Game Designer | September 2023 - Present

• Creating live content for Ultimate Team (UT) game mode.

  • Focus on Player Card creation & temporary event content design & implementation.

Program design was one of the most impactful ways I created content for CFB UT. For those not familiar with the mode, the structure is a game on a yearly cycle, where cards become increasingly powerful as the year goes on. The way players acquire these new cards is typically through what we call Promos. Promos are temporary content events with the goal of stringing together the latest content under one banner, generating hype in the process. As the Promo Owner, we are given a name and some high-level guidance, such as what volume of content we can expect, then set free to see that content designed and made.

All my physical contributions to the mode come in the form of player card creation. This is segmented into three main parts: Name Selection, Card Creation, and Novel Mechanic Additions. Name Selection is all about selecting the names of the real-life players we are going to make improved cards of. This part takes a fair amount of up-to-date football knowledge to know which players are relevant, as well as coordination with other player card designers to ensure we aren’t releasing too similar names/positions/teams/etc. 

Contract Game Designer | October 2022 - April 2023, August 2021

• WWE 2k22 / WWE 2k23

• Worked on the narrative design team creating the MyRise story mode.

Contract Systems Designer | September 2021 - May 2022

• Destiny 2

• Worked on the Vanguard Epsilon team, providing design support for the Vanguard teams working on seasonal & event content.

Implemented seasonal triumphs from documentation/frameworks and familiarize myself with the investment systems.

I also did a lot of playtesting to help better familiarize myself with the content and learn how to best communicate my design ideas. In addition to that, I also fixed bugs related to Season of the Risen content as they came in.

A large chunk of my work in this event was in building the GG medal tracking pages, using the existing designed medals and my knowledge of the investment systems to set them up properly. I familiarity with these systems also allowed me to pick up a few other investment related features, such as emblem metrics that worked in an atypical manner.

I also did a lot of playtesting to help vet the content for quality and better understand how my changes impacted the event. In addition to that, I also fixed bugs related to Guardian Games content as they came in.

One of my biggest accomplishments while at Bungie was getting to design and implement the new Solstice challenges introduced with the new event pass. These challenges were a significant part of the core loop of the event and a significant part of the event pass players could buy, so I needed to create challenges that worked for both sides. 

I did this by creating challenge tiers, with an emphasis on multitasking, letting players complete multiple challenges at once. Using this approach, I was able to create challenges that let players feel clever for optimizing, but also space them out so they lasted over the event timeline. I also wanted to find a way to add some skill challenges into the game, as I feel recognition of these skills isnt something we should ignore. Since all the challenges allowed you to unlock the seal, I was able to make gilding challenges that tested players skills in relation to event activities.

As mentioned above as well, since these challenges were a part of the event pass, I spent a lot of time collaborating with various members on the commerce team. This ranged from helping support their QA for proper testing, to getting support from their engineers for unique bugs, to aligning on their specific design philosophies.

I also did a lot of playtesting to help vet the content for quality and better understand how my challenges impacted the event. In addition to that, I also fixed bugs related to Solstice content as they came in.