Jaguar

I will not be able to share a lot regarding my work on this project due to NDA but I would still like to call it out as I feel it is one of the more significant achievements in my career thus far.

A canceled next-gen, asymmetrical multiplayer title for PC and Console. I was involved with Jaguar from its inception, working on initial designs for factional character, camera, and controls as well as the overall combat design.

Post-concept I was then entrusted to lead a multidisciplinary team and create a First Playable build representative of our core multiplayer experience.

 
 
 
 

First Playable Build

“I’ve been around a while and I know when a team is onto something special. Trust me when I say that you’re onto something special.”

- SD Creative Director after Jaguar’s company-wide playtest

The First Playable was the culmination of my personal design work and guiding a larger, multidisciplinary strike team (20+ devs) with little oversight from Project Leadership.

I applied intent-driven leadership and an agile-inspired work process coupled with rapid iteration and the results spoke for themselves. The team was highly engaged. Everyone wanted to give their all because they could see the game improve through daily playtests that never got tiresome.

When the company-wide playtest was run, it overran by more than an hour because people didn’t want to stop playing.

It was a shame that we weren’t able to carry it forward for reasons unassociated with its quality.

Combat Design

The spark behind what made the first playable so engaging was our experiential game loop.

Given how iconic it is, I put significant time into deconstructing the key elements of what defined the IP’s combat. What was the pacing? Intensity? How did combatants engage/avoid one another? How did they use the environment?

This formed key phases (names abstracted for NDA):

  • Searching.

  • Enemy Found.

  • Enemy Engaged.

It was in understanding how each faction uniquely engaged with this loop that we were able to carve out memorable identities and playstyles for them. It also helped us balance them by knowing how effective they should be in each phase.

 
 

Character Design

Again, I cannot share much outside of the high level here but for the faction I was design owner for, I was involved in concept and implementation for:

  • Standard and Advanced 3rd person locomotion schemes.

  • Exotic 3rd-person ranged weaponry.

  • 3rd-person melee combat.

  • Unconventional round scoring systems.