XCOM (2k Marin)
Core Details
- Completion: May 2012
- Span: 4 months
- Project Type: Internship
- Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PS3 (Unreal)
- Role: Game Designer
Overview
As my first real foray into using the Unreal toolset and console development, as well as my
first experience working with a large team of designers, interning
at 2k Marin has provided me with invaluable experience toward my passion:
working as a designer on high-quality AAA games. With a focus on both
level design and system design, I spent the first half of the internship
gaining professional experience in developing play spaces that provide effective means
for spatial navigation as well as entertaining combat. The final "product"
of the level design portion of my internship was a polished tutorial level intended to teach playtesters
all of the game's (numerous and complex) mechanics. Even though this level will most likely not ship with the
completed game, it has already been invaluable to the team for playtests and received very positive feedback.
During the second half of my internship, I became the primary system designer working on player mechanics, such as
movement, aiming, weapons, cover systems, and more. Furthermore, I simultaneously became the primary system designer
working on statistics tracking, thus enabling XCOM to capture valuable metrics data from playtests. Overall,
I gained excellent experience working with complex, data-driven systems while simultaneously collaborating with team
members across all disciplines in order to complete new features and update existing ones.