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Daniel Brennan
Designer/Scripter
13145 N. US Hwy 183 Apt 127 Austin, TX 78750
[email protected]
203.313.7782
Skills
- > Level Editors: Unity 2017, 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)
- > 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 more than 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 CS5.1, Google SketchUp 7, Autodesk 3D Studio Max 2009
- > General: GameSparks, Jira, DoneDone, ExtraView, DevTrack, SourceTree, P4V, TortoiseSVN, TeamCity, Microsoft Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Google Docs, Windows 7, Mac OS X
Work Experience
Level Designer November 2015 – June 2018
Portalarium — Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues, Austin, TX
- > Worked on wide range of content in Unity including puzzle and trap scripting, interaction setup and animations, NPC and resource spawning, player-owned town customization, world building, navmesh maintenance, and much more
- > Set up dynamic, patrolling, and wave-based mob encounters; schedules, behaviors, and animations for city dwellers
- > Created Lost Vale’s Grand Artificer encounter, in which players fight waves of mobs while keeping NPC from drowning
- > Designed and constructed puzzle-driven Kiln Cistern dungeon, in which players manipulate water depth to advance
- > Consistently participated in studio live streams, presenting latest work to player community
- > Collaborated closely with world builders, artists, programmers, and customer service on a regular basis
- > Delivered work within a tight, monthly build cycle with a content lockdown week devoted to bug fixes, for 30+ releases
Mission Scripter / Level Designer June 2013 – August 2017
Mission One — Robo Collection/Run for Money/Koropoyo Knight, Tokyo, Japan
- > Created content in Unity for several mobile games, including level layouts, missions, weapons/armor, and more
- > Created assets/bundles in Unity and data in GameSparks for equipment, items, and stages for flick-based action game
- > Scripted missions for 3D stealth-action game, with variable NPC dialog and multi-step mission objectives
- > Handled navmesh generation and lighting for day/night level variants, and design/creation of one level for above game
- > Constructed levels for 2D platformer, utilizing gameplay elements in unique ways within tight spatial constraints
- > Developed improved self-management skills by working remotely from Austin, Texas
Live Designer / World Designer August 2011 – July 2012
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
- > Later 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
- > Constructed and iterated on actual blockout for multiple world hubs on two different planets
- > Created and maintained 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
Quest / Level Designer November – December 2008
Lost Treasure of Boethia — Original The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion quest-driven level
- > Created plugin level and questline in which player learns the surprising truth behind a lost daedric relic
- > Designed and constructed Layette village, cave, lake, and surrounding forest playspaces
- > Wrote and implemented main questline as well as two sidequests
- > Responsible for all lighting, entity placement, NPC conversations, AI pathing, and scripting
- > Created and maintained extensive level design documentation
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 Dec. 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
