Grad School Team Project
Auxilium - 1st Person Shooter - Multiplayer (PC)
Team Size: 50
Genre: Capture the Flag
Auxilium is a class-based, capture the flag first-person shooter. Auxilium is a magic-driven high tech world where citizens take on mercenaries trying to overtake the city. The player can choose 1 of 4 classes designed to take on an essential role in defending the power core of your base. The classes consist of a flag runner, healing sniper, standard assault, and a tank.
Development Time: 4 months
My Responsibilities
Level Design Lead (Alpha - RTM)
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Ensured the map was up to quality for final milestones
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Communicated changes to Level Design Director
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Communicated art needs to team Art Lead
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Multiple Lighting Passes to help direct players
Level Design
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Designed and Built 1 of the 4 maps
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Helped build cover to balance Railways (map)
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Decorated 2 of the 4 maps
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Gave design advice for all 4 levels
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Created the Vertical Slice level
Misc
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Worked with Game Designer to balance player movement and combat mechanics
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Aided artist to create UI for Sniper Scope
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Member of original concept team (faculty appointed)
Magic Academy
Vertical Slice
I was tasked with creating our vertical slice level to show stakeholders what could be built with the mod kit that the artists created. I created the layout, detailed the level, and added lighting to fit the scene with very little time.
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My role for this map was constructing the level, iterating on the design, texturing, and lighting. The map is designed to have a central combat area where players can use the central statue as cover or they can use the stairs to go below the statue and play around pillars and health packs. There are jump pads on the outer lanes for quick escapes or to jump back into the action. The giant ring in the middle constantly spins counterclockwise, players can either use this to their advantage with a boosted run or they can force their enemies to go in a direction they were not expecting.
Railways
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I was asked to help decorate and iterate on the design for Railways. My major contribution was the placement of the giant display in the middle of the map to help block unwanted sightlines. I also placed the cover on the ground floor just before the train tracks.
Here is an example of how I balanced the mid for Railways. Two players using the cover to create a fun and dynamic interaction. In this scenario, the player on the train tracks is trying to stay alive as long as possible but with the train closing in they are forced out of hiding.
Magic Academy: Development Process
The idea behind the original upper level was to create a space where players could frequently have gunfights around centralized cover.
After multiple iterations, we stuck with the same concept but had some pretty impactful changes. I added the 2nd floor to the space. This allows for players to change elevation quickly and create more dynamic interactions.
Game Trailer
Here is an example of a tank player attempting to use the stairs to his advantage only to have an assault player using the emp grenade to push a player off into deadly waters.
An assault player using the stairs to consistently peak then lures a tank player into the bottom floor of the mid where they play around some cover and the health packs.