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Respawn Entertainment
A titan-sized adventure.
Foundations
Respawn was a heck of a wild ride. A truly talented group of people coming together, sitting in a circle on folding chairs amidst the broken glass and dead cockroaches, batting around thoughts on what game we might even consider wanting to make. Never mind also being part of a lawsuit… The Final Hours of Titanfall covered it all very well (though it doesn’t seem to be easily available anymore, unfortunately).
Designer
Titanfall (2010-2014)
Multiplayer
Fracture - Finding our way to Titanfall was kinda great, and Fracture was my first real level (once we knew mostly what that game was). It was inspired by a cool piece of concept art and the idea of massive-scale environmental fracking. It was an attempt at having a single space that worked both for the mobility of the pilot (which only kinda worked), and the scale of the titan (which worked better). Some fun cat and mouse ensued, even if it was a bit too open in the end. It was also our E3 reveal level, which was an absolutely incredible experience.
Overlook - My next level was (in some ways) a response to Fracture. Here I was trying to control the flow with more clearly defined separation for pilots and titans. It suffered from the ‘sci-fi hallways’ problem (it’s easy to lose yourself in relation to others and get turned around), but it also looked like it would be a great vacation destination…
Sandtrap - Working on DLC I continued some more exploratory design, trying to more cleanly separate the Pilot and Titan arenas in a different way from Overlook. The outside was for the Titans and very open (a bit too open), while the interior was for the Pilots and very isolated (a bit too isolated). I named a couple of the Frontier Defense waves Fulgurite and Trinitite, for the Arc and Nuke Titans, respectively (which is the kind of nerdy thing that dopamines my brains).
Swampland - This was my favorite Titanfall map to work on. The central idea of ‘wallrunning on trees’ came in later but is still something I quite delight in. It was a fun level to make and play on, if not maybe the most balanced map.
This cool video and this blog (thanks Wayback Machine!) still exist and show a bit of the process.
Senior Designer
Titanfall 2 (2014-2016)
Single Player
Into the Abyss - Titanfall 2 was a whole new beast. It was a chance to find the core of our SP (our explorations during Titanfall never quite hit), and also make more creative gameplay with Action Blocks (see below). I was directly involved in the overall design and development, building parts 1 & 2 specifically. With a bunch of talented folks we made the most inefficient combat testing environment ever.
The Pilot’s Gauntlet - I developed our training, in collaboration with a fantastic scripter I’d started my career with all those years ago, and a crazy talented artist — I mean, just look at that environment! The original gauntlet was circular to make restarts quick, but it felt too Nascar, which led to my favorite hack — making the gauntlet ‘loop’ even though it’s not a loop. There’s a duplicate of the start room at the end and a teleport on crossing the finish (with a flash to cover the subtle lighting mismatch). The best part, though, was seeing the speedruns after launch, which are brain-breakingly amazing.
Action Blocks
After Titanfall, we knew we wanted to make an SP, but we needed to figure out what that was. It helped to have many of the core mechanics in place and the universe defined, but the Action Block process was key to figuring out what the gameplay was.
Once we knew this was the direction, the team really sank their teeth in. It was a privilege to share that process and everyone’s creativity in a GDC talk about Action Blocking.
Mission Design Lead
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond (2017-2020)
Joining the MOH:AB team was a big career shift. It was my first time as a real lead, it was my first time working in VR, it was my first time as part of an almost completely new team. It felt like what I imagine making games was like in the ‘early days’ — so much still undefined, so many hats to wear, and boundless potential. Friends were made and fun was had (though I’ve found this to be true all throughout my career).
Single Player
A Bunch of Levels - The campaign was always the heart of the game, telling both stories of WWII and meeting a cast of fantastic characters along the way. Across the European theater we shot, punched, headbutted, and power-washed a lot of Nazis. A good use of time. There were 54 segments (short chunks of level) in the final game, and I both did my own design and development of many while also working with the team to deliver the rest.
Multiplayer
A Few Levels - We also got to add some classic multiplayer. This was a return to level design fundamentals and an exercise in reuse, doing some classic MP development with a new virtual sheen. It ended up being a pretty fun part of the project to both work on and play.
The Documentaries
The Medal of Honor series has always had strong historical roots. As part of this game, we partnered with Anthony Giacchino, who created a series of short documentaries, telling the stories of some incredible individuals. I had a chance to meet some of them, which was heartfelt and moving and funny and humbling; it was a highlight of my career and a privilege to be even the smallest part of. The gallery pieces are all fantastic, and one, the documentary short Collette, was released separately and won an Academy Award.
Mission Design Director
Star Wars FPS (plus) (2021-2025)
Alas, there’s not much I can say about this, other than it was an absolute pleasure to work on with some wonderfully fantastic people making some very, very cool stuff together. I learned a lot and wish I could share any of it.
