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Modern Warfare 3 
      - Zombies Level Design

As part of Sledgehammer Toronto I had the opportunity to work on the Open World Zombies of Modern Warfare 3 alongside Treyarch. The Toronto Studio mandate was to assist with the Mercenary Faction Activities in the Open World. As the Live seasons progressed Toronto Studio held ownership over two Live seasons including the Story Mission, Rifts and Easter Eggs.

Launch

Season 3

Season 5

01

Rainmaker
- Mercenary Warlord Fortress

     Fortresses are the final stage in the mercenary faction chain of activities. Each Warlord showcases a different fighting style & ability and therefore have a unique location designed to support them. 

     Rainmaker's Fortress is a secluded island found in the corner of the map. Even though a keycard is required to gain entry into the fortress the challenge begins the moment they start to draw near the island. Dealing with heavy mortar attacks, and RPG fire from enemies. Explosives surround the perimeter just waiting to be triggered by player movement. Inside the fortress is another round of challenges- Sentry guns welcome the player and both floors are booby trapped with Laser tripwires. Rainmaker himself will navigate defensely around the location letting his bodyguards and reinforcements take most the gunfire while leaving a trail of mines behind him.

  • Responsibilities

    • Planned and Pitched initial idea and gameplay concepts for Warlord Fortress and island gameplay.

    • Worked with Tech Design retrofit mortars from a previous title and supported use by the AI. 

    • Iterated heavily on mortar placement and coverage based on playsession feedback.

    • Worked with Tech Design to implement modern C4 Laser Traps to replace old school trip wires.

    • Worked with Tech Design and Engineering to establish and build out Rainmaker's unique AI behaviours and smart pathfinding.​

    • AI Spawns, navigation volumes, idle animations and patrol paths. Including reinforcement wave builds and timing. 

    • Added a heavy amount of cover assets and set dressing to the outer island to support exterior combat on approach.

    • Ensured cover node placement and traversal nodes would support smart AI behaviour.

    • Implemented placement of gameplay ingredients such as mortars, laser traps, and claymores.  

01 - Rainmaker

02

Season 3 Reloaded
- Spatial Puzzles 

Season 3 update included the first set of spatial puzzle  activities. A set of decals placed on various assets and buildings, that look random, but when viewed from a specific location form a shape and trigger an event to begin. 

  • Activity Flow

    • Each puzzle has 3 Runes that need to be shot. the Puzzle locations can be found by noticing the runic design that is imprinted into the walls, ground and sometimes other assets.

    • There is a triangle on the ground that marks a location where all 3 runes can be seen from. ​​

    • Shooting all 3 runes will cause the Runic design to light up a bright purple colour. When the Runes are coloured the player needs to navigate to a location where they can align the pieces to form a triangle.

    • Once the player has lined up the purple triangle it will turn yellow and it will activate a soul box. 

    • The player needs to kill a set amount of enemies within the area in a short amount of time.

  • Responsibilities

    • Scouted locations in the big map to meet activity requirements and within the Tier 3 zone. 

    • Prototyped puzzle alignment and gameplay locations.

    • Worked with Engineering to script the gameplay triggers and flow throughout the activity.

    • Iterated on AI wave pacing and difficulty.​

      • Scaling difficulty based on number of players and progress​

    • Scripted triggers for the audio lines throughout the activity.

02 - S3.5 Spatial Puzzles

03

Season 5 Reloaded
- Spatial Puzzles

Season 5 update included a brand new set of spatial puzzle  activities. Building off of the same base flow from the previous season but learning from experience and including new improvements and features.

  • Changes New to the Seasons Puzzles

    • More focus on the final fight location.

    • Puzzle locations having Earth/Air/Water theme

    • More theme with the enemies that spawn

    • Random Rune Spawning (based on preset locations)

    • No marked location to view all runes from

    • Detached combat from the alignment area

    • Orb detached from soul box logic to be in central area of combat NOT center of triangle.

    • Removed the vfx circle and expanding the "kill count radius"

  • Responsibilities

    • Scouted locations in the big map to meet activity requirements and theme ( In the air, underwater, and underground) while still being spaced out and within the Tier 2 zone.

    • Prototyped placement and aligned placeholder decals

    • Updated the script to include the new puzzle set and updated the old puzzles to use the new logic where applicable.

    • Worked with Engineering to make changes to the gameplay triggers and flow.

    • Iterated on AI wave pacing and difficulty.

      • Each puzzle focuses on a specific type of AI enemy. Manglers (ranged), Mimics (melee and grab the player), Disciples (float in air and control and spawn nearby zombies)​

      • Scaling difficulty based on number of players and progress

    • ​Edited traversal nodes in combat locations to support AI movement.

    • Scripted triggers for the Audio lines throughout the activity based on level of completion.

03 - S5.5 Spatial Puzzles

04

Mercenary Faction 
- Camps & Strongholds

Working with Treyarch, the Toronto Studio was responsible the Mercenary Faction content including Merc Camps & Strongholds​

​Merc Camps and Stronghold Flow

  • Each match a certain number of Merc Camps and Stronghold will spawn from the available locations. 

  • Merc Camps are open locations where Mercenary Soldiers have set up a temporary location. Players will face a handful of AI including Snipers and RPGs, Counter Uav Drones and Turrets defending these locations.

  • The main reward at these locations is a STRONGHOLD KEYCARD.

  • Strongholds are deadlier versions of Merc Camps contained within a building, Strongholds are active once the player uses a Stronghold Keycard to unlock one of the doors

  • Inside the building is a safe, which the player can interact with to begin to drill into it. This will call more reinforcements to come via helicopter and the player must stand guard until the safe is unlocked. 

  • The Strongholds will have lots of loot chests within them but most important it the FORTRESS KEYCARD that is found within the safe.

Responsibilities:

  • Working with Level Design team to design the framework for the Mercenary faction activities.

  • Identified building prefabs that had would be suitable for Stronghold needs and also reused enough throughout the big map.

  • Added AI spawns, patrols and idle animations.

  • Adjusted reinforcement paths, waves and timing.

  • Added window and door blockers, thematic items like flags and gameplay items on specific zombies layer within the prefab.

  • Assured there were appropriate amounts of cover assets and cover nodes were properly aligned.

  • Set up Counter UAV spawn and drone patrols

  • Added volumes for audio triggers and objective markers.

04 - Merc camp and Strongholds
05 - s3 quest - union

05

Season 3 Zombies Quest 
- Union

Season 3 included the Zombies Quest Union. I worked alongside another Level Designer on multiple parts of this quest. Mostly focusing on scripting and balancing the enemy waves.

Beat 1

  • Scripted AI pathing for enemy companion

  • Determined where enemy zombies encounters should spawn and what AI they should include

  • Scripted the objective updates and marker movement

  • Scripted Audio lines triggers.

Beat 3

  • Designed the enemy wave encounters and their spawning rate at the obelisks while players 'break the seal' 

    • Each seal increases in difficulty and spawns a different set of waves.

    • Scaling difficulty based on the number of players also.

  • Passes on geometry changes to fit the flow and assist player leading.

  • Passes on AI pathfinding adding navigation assistants where needed to support AI movement.

Beat 3

  • Set up pathing for multiple AI, ensuring their pacing is appropriate and they stop to wait at appropriate checkpoints

  • Blocked out the indirect pathway back using the same bridge and roadway as the first beat but adding detour turns for story telling.

  • Designed enemy spawns and waves to direct gameplay flow

  • Scripted objective updates and marker movement

  • Triggered the spawn for the exit portal.

  • Scripted Audio line triggers.

06 - S5 quest - ascension

06

Season 5 Zombies Quest 
- Ascension

Season 5 released the final Act in the MW3 Zombies Questline. I was responsible for a portion of the quest that was predominately platforming gameplay. A light moment of fun for the player before reaching the final boss.​

Beat 4

  • Blocking of vertical platforming path with light combat throughout.

  • Working with System Designer to develop and tweak the new Jump Pad Mechanic for new use cases.

  • Working with System Designer to develop new type of teleport portal that could work as a checkpoint to unlock incase players fell.

  • Prototyping ways to use jump pads, floating vehicles and moving platforms for gameplay. 

  • Set dressing the floating platforms and boat.

  • Adding cover and traversal nodes to the combat platforms. 

  • Scripting in enemy spawns, objectives and audio cues.

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