Kevin Chandler
Game Designer and Programmer
Level Design
I have a masters degree in level design from the Guildhall at SMU. This got me my first job as world designer at BioWare working on Star Wars the Old Republic. I have since branched out into game design and programming but I love making fun and engaging levels on the games I work on and often serve in the lead level designer role.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
As a world builder on SWTOR I was in charge of implementing quests. They used a proprietary scripting system which I used to take implement the game's story quests. The quests I made had to function 100 percent of the time for millions of people thousands of times a day. I also designed the combat encounters involved with each of the quests I worked on. Below are all the planets I worked on and some videos of some of the content I worked on.
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Gears of War: Brink
Brink is a level built using the UE3/Gears of War editor. Here is a little description of How this level flowd and some of the thoughts behind it. You can see some footage of this level in the demo reel below.
“Brink” is a single player level created for Gears of War. This was my second time using the UT3 Engine for a major level. All the Gears of War assets were available but the game’s code. This meant that to get the desired gameplay I wanted, a heavy amount of scripting was required.
My goal for “Brink” was to change the gameplay of Gears of War by creating a “wall of fire” mechanic to encourage the player to move forward quickly. Ravenous Kryll hide in the darkness and if the player happens to step into an unlit area it means instant death. The player has constant pressure to move forward to the end of the train. Most of the cover is destructible to encourage the player to not stay in one place and fire at the enemy like in other Gears of War levels.
In order to communicate clearly when the player is safe in the light or when the player is in danger by standing in darkness, there had to be sharp contrast between the lighted areas and dark areas. Each light is wired in kismet to begin flickering after a certain amount of time, then explode into a shower of sparks.
Gameplay on a train level is very narrow and consists of navigating around objects that block line of sight and long range attacks. In Brink I included lots of cover, each linked with swat turns so the player could fly from cover to cover to outmaneuver enemies instead of trying to snipe them from a distance.
Destructible cover is a major feature in “Brink.” Players cannot afford to stay behind cover while it soaks up bullet fire because at some point it breaks. On the flip side, players can take out Locust cover, forcing them to stand up and find new cover. The three types of cover are weak wooden crates, medium strength pipe stacks, and a strong cylindrical tank. The pipes and the tank each have a health indicator going from green to yellow to red before becoming useless as cover.
The first major combat sequence in the level requires the player to use cover to keep out of the line of sight of two turrets guarding the player’s path. This might traditionally be a slow and methodical sequence where the player has to plan every move in advance and use careful control to get to the next piece of cover, but the addition of flanking dark wretches forces the player to take action. This gives the player a feeling of relief when he finally makes it into the relative safety of the train car.
It is at this point that the roles reverse and the player mans the guns to take out a swarm of exploding dark wretches. After 10 are destroyed, a scripted sequence activates plunging the two cars into the abyss along with any remaining wretches. This again reinforces the haste gameplay because the player can see the lights go out one by one, encouraging him to shoot faster.
In the final sequence, the player faces a mini boss, a boomer wielding a new weapon, the gun from a turret. The player has to duck and dive out of the way of the bullets and try to out maneuver the titan to get a clear shot.
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Boom Goes the Dynamite: How Destructible Objects Affect Gameplay
Masters of Interactive Technology: Level Design Thesis
This thesis tested the best ways to communicate whether an object is destructible by the player.
Masters Thesis
This thesis shows strong evidence that if you have a destructible object block the primary path forward, you must spell it out clearly with a tooltip, cutscene or clear visual cue or it will create a great amount of frustration. The other object is to make the majority of your environment destructible so the player will be more eager to try blowing stuff up and frustration turns into fun puzzle situation.