Author: andyTHPS

Lead Level Designer
Twisted Pixel Games

• Designed and built main campaign levels, collaborated with environment artists, engineers, and other departments to align on goals, fun gameplay and technical performance.
• Broke down levels into key moments, set goals with production, and regularly checked in with teams to monitor progress, provide feedback, and iterate.
• Designed and collaborated with content systems engineers to integrate unique gameplay elements (like traps, hazards, key moments, dialogue, VR interactions etc), worked on progression data (XP, currency, unlocks), and created two secret levels with a more experimental, “designer playground” feel.

Senior Designer
Blizzard

• Using Blizzard’s proprietary engine, I created and developed campaign and side quests incorporating elements like NPCs, encounters, dialogue, and scripted events.
• As part of the Fractured Peaks team, I worked on Neyrelle’s storyline, designing quests, dungeons, and points of interest, while also contributing to various side quests across the world.
• Collaborated with writers, leads, production, VFX, and animators to get direction on storylines for initial implementation and continue to iterate on content through weekly reviews.

Senior Designer
Vicarious Visions

• Led the level design team in proper practices with collision and markup, ensuring consistency in skater controls, physics, and mechanics between THPS4 and THPS1+2.
• Provided regular feedback to level designers, producers, animators, and skater handling engineers, writing up bugs, progression blockers, and exploits as they came up.
• Coordinated with production and directors to determine feature requirements, provided specs, while also making media appearances and using OBS and Adobe Premiere for capturing, editing, and delivering marketable content and feedback material

Owner, Project Lead, Designer, Producer, UI/UX
Your Daily Fill

• Led the creation of Epic Skater 2 for iOS and Android, collaborating with a small (3 person) team and outsourcing (SFX, economy, animation, character) to develop a in-depth Endless mode and a new Career mode with hand-designed levels and goals.
• Introduced new skater mechanics and a more customizable “Create a Skater” system, increasing user freedom with the ability to skate backward and offering greater replay value.
• Managed documentation, progress tracking and feedback, scheduling, production, while also handling level design, UI, player mechanics specs, and promotional content for trailers and social media.

Owner, Project Lead, Designer, Producer, UI/UX
Your Daily Fill

• Started a company, recruited talent, and created a vertical slice/demo for a 2.5D skateboarding game, which led to a 3-year publishing deal with Kongregate.
• Managed post-launch goals and funding for content updates, new features (outfits, skate decks, environments), and monetization through ads to increase revenue per active user.
• Oversaw recruitment and onboarding, business development, project documentation, scheduling, designed all levels, UI, and mechanics, workied with artists for marketing materials, managed build submissions.

Lead Multiplayer Level Designer
Neversoft

• Participated in daily meetings with team leads to review progress, and set goals for environment and player iterations
• Iterated on and playtested two multiplayer maps daily, refining designs based on feedback from playtest sessions and level reviews.
• Worked closely with enemy, player, and vehicle engineers to ensure compatible integration of gameplay elements and map functionality.

Level Designer
Neversoft

• Developed two levels (Subway and Freedom Plaza) and collaborated with level designers and artists to ensure seamless transitions and efficient user flow and great looking environments in-and-between open-world areas.
• Managed level geo for events tied to player progression, while handling nav mesh implementation, collision flags, and other fine-tuning for interactive objects and player movement.
• Worked with mission designers to create engaging objectives, sat in all level review to give feedback on iterations.

Level Designer
Neversoft

• Built three levels (In School, Out School, Slums) for Project 8, adapting to continuous changes in the skater’s mechanics and behaviors, often rebuilding levels to fit new physics and changes.
• Worked with environment artists and mission designers to integrate engaging objectives, managed level geo for events in player progression, maintained markup and face flagging throughout many environment art merges, and integrated interactive elements like breakable objects, doors and teleports.
• Secondary Pass on all levels using “Collision Primitives” stay within the collision budget, while ensuring surfaces triggered proper SFX/VFX for skater interactions.

Level Designer
Neversoft

• Transitioned from Tester to Designer by learning 3dsmax and the level iteration process using Neversoft’s proprietary Engine.
• Collaborated with environment artists and other disciplines by converting classic THPS levels to fit the current engine.
• Took over the East LA level midway through development, coordinated with artists and production while managing nodeflags for progression and integrating interactive objects throughout all my levels
• Worked with systems engineers to created classic mode goals for levels like Chicago and Minneapolis, and designed story missions for East LA while providing detailed feedback to other designers throughout development.