Finishing CoD3 proved that I could keep up with the design process and lost me the junior from my title. With this new level of responsibility a different franchise came in to the studio, James Bond. I requested to work on it and was selected to be one of the designers for the game. Now I was given a level to design and script without any senior designer making sure I was on task. The entire design of the game was very different from Call of Duty: the enemies thought differently, the player had a cover system and no friendlies to draw fire. By the end of the project I had managed two levels to completion and designed and implemented the achievements/trophies.
Miami Airport: The first level I was on was Miami Airport where Bond had to stop the terrorists from taking over the airport servers and destroying the airline’s files. I found the biggest lesson from this level came from learning how to balance stealth and combat gameplay in the same play space. The office area had to play well for both those who snuck through and those who blasted their way through while the luggage area fell back on standard line engagements. Brian Glines built and detailed the map.
Montenegro Train: The second level I was on was the only level in the game that wasn’t directly based from a movie moment. Montenegro train connected Bond to Le Chiffre’s poker game by explaining where Bond found access to the exclusive event. The hurdle for this level was the play space was consistently tight, like a hallway. Consisting of distances fit for close-to-medium combat only, the pace was set quicker allowing the player to breeze through engagements. Donald Sielke and Ross Kaylor were the builders on the map.
