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Daniel Brennan
Designer/Scripter
13145 N. US Hwy 183 Apt 127 Austin, TX 78750
dandaman@locustsoftware.com
203.313.7782
Skills
- Level Editors: HeroBlade (Star Wars: The Old Republic) UnrealEd 3 (Unreal Tournament 3, Gears of War), Hammer (Half Life 2: Episode 2), Elder Scrolls Construction Set (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), Torque X Builder
- Level Design: Scripting (entity-based input/output and code based), trigger systems, BSP construction, texturing, lighting, entity placement, AI pathing, multiplayer and single-player level-flow design, visual and gameplay polish
- Languages: C#, Lua 5.1, Kismet (Unreal Tournament 3, Gears of War), Hammer (Half Life 2: Episode 2), TESScript (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)
- Writing: Have written over six Level Design Documents and critically contributed to three Game Design Documents and various other documentation; have also written numerous short stories and a novella
- Art: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Google SketchUp 7, Autodesk 3D Studio Max 2009
- General: ExtraView, DevTrack, Perforce, TortoiseSVN (1.6.5), Microsoft Office 2007 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project)
- Operating Systems: Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac OS X
Work Experience
Live Designer / World Designer August 2011 – Present
BioWare — Star Wars: The Old Republic, Austin, TX
- Initially served on live team as a designer, acting as a liaison between customer service and world design
- Prescribed and authorized tailored solutions for design-related, tester-character blockers
- Tracked down root design issues and pushed fixes through for incremental patches on live environment
- Since transitioned to block-out/spawn team as a world designer, resuming previous duties in addition to those below
- Directly involved in world/quest flow design planning for several planets
- Responsible for gray-boxing several world hubs on multiple planets
- Constructing and iterating on actual blockout for multiple world hubs on two different planets
- Creating and maintaining extensive spawning-related documentation for planet
Level Scripter / Single Player Game Designer February 2011 – June 2011
UTV Ignition Entertainment — Unannounced Shooter, Austin, TX
- Served as sole scripter on small team developing first person shooter using the Unreal Engine
- Scripted natural-disaster events and single player missions utilizing Unreal Kismet
- Collaborated with programmers and artists to ensure desired functionality of required assets
- Designed and documented multiple iterations of single-player campaign, including challenge, reward and narrative structures
- Documented and critically assisted in design of player classes and abilities
- Made significant contributions to map, gameplay and narrative-related design meetings
- Wrote situational dialogue quips for 8 player-character personality types
World Designer January 2010 – January 2011
BioWare — Star Wars: The Old Republic, Austin, TX
- Served on world design team responsible for mob creation/placement, idle animations, patrols, AI pathing, cover system, combat abilities, vendors, crafting stations, harvesting nodes, player respawn system, bind point system, taxi networks, elevators, and map roads
- Personally responsible for spawning-related polish, updates and documentation for 3 planets
- Contributed to project’s story-driven gameplay focus through thoughtful mob/NPC composition, arrangement and animations — as well as placement of support props and cover objects — designed to sell the narrative for each given locale
- Worked closely with art, writing, and quest-design teams to ensure cohesion of implemented systems
- Developed with wide range of in-house tools and contributed to tool refinement via user-feedback
- Maintained standards for and trained team members on player respawn system
- Monitored performance dips resulting from added content and adjusted accordingly to maintain smooth framerates
- Assisted bug cleanup through spawning-related bug fixes and general playtesting/bug reporting
- Created and maintained extensive spawning-related documentation for numerous planets
Game Experience at The Guildhall at SMU
(abbreviated listing)
Level Designer / Lead Level Designer June – December 2009
Primae Noctis — Unreal Tournament 3, stealth/action
- Directly contributed to BSP, texturing, lighting, entity placement and scripting work for tutorial and courtyard levels
- Created/updated Level Design Document for tutorial; created level walkthrough section of Game Design Document
- Designed world map and coordinated combination of all levels into composite level with streaming
- Oversaw consistent implementation of core gameplay across all levels
- Responsible for working closely with game designer and department leads, and managing level designers on team
Level Designer / Scripter June – July 2009
Dogball — Original Half Life 2 sporting event
- Created unique level in which scripted opponent Dog engages player in several rounds of a modified game of soccer
- Designed and constructed playspace including BSP work, texturing, lighting, entity placement and scripting
- Implemented entirely scripted experience, with timed rounds of play, activated/deactivated goals, ball-retrieval system and complex system of behavior for Dog including offensive and defensive modes and reactions based on player actions
- Created and maintained extensive level design documentation
- Project completed from documentation to final product in under four weeks, under extreme schedule pressure
Level Designer / Scripter March – May 2009
Prison Break — Original Gears of War stealth-action level
- Created unique level in which player must rescue Dom from secure Locust facility while trying to avoid alarm system
- Designed and constructed level including BSP work, texturing, lighting, entity placement, AI pathing, and scripting
- Implemented complex system of scripted events including alarms triggered by moving searchlights and noise from treading on broken glass, and dramatic Berserker-chase finale
- Created and maintained extensive level design documentation
Level Designer / Team Lead October – December 2008
EscarGo! — Torque X, side-scrolling platformer
- Created and updated core level and boss fight, including collision, entity placement, scripting, HUD, and menu system
- Oversaw all testing sessions, Scrum meetings and project presentations
- Created or contributed to all project documentation, including Asset and Development Plan and Game Design Document
- Responsible for maintaining vision and directly managing all personnel on team
Other Game Experience
Game Designer September 2001 – May 2007
Locust Software — Independent Work
- Designed and completed an unpublished casual/puzzle game, “Spectral”
- Developed design documents for several other small games
- Determined what changes should be made when given design showed flaws
- Made decisions on structure of game-play, layout of user interface, and nature of visual feedback
- Collaborated with talented programmer in creation and implementation
Education
Masters of Interactive Technology in Digital Game Development December 2009
The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University, Plano, TX
Masters Thesis: “Manifestations of Conflict in Games: Stealth vs. Action”
Cumulative GPA: 3.7
Bachelors of Arts in English – Professional Writing May 2006
Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT
Completed 26 credits in Computer Science & Math coursework
Senior Thesis: “Contrapasso,” a novella
Cumulative GPA: 3.5
Merit Scholar, four years; Dean’s List in Spring 2003, Fall 2004, Fall 2005, Spring 2006
High School Valedictorian June 2002
New Hope Christian Academy, Danbury, CT