Game
Design
Work
Draft
Drafting & Brainstorming Phase
Each project starts with the draft/brainstorm phase. This is where concepts are born and tossed out.
Concept
Leads assign the zone and give the necessary objectives for the player. Including, theme, boss fight, what the player needs to know by the end.
Encounter Design Doc
Create a document that holds the intended monsters, narrative, player objectives and any scripting mechanics needed.
Research
Playing through old related content, understanding the narrative side, meeting with other designers to brainstorm.
Pitching The Idea
Build a concrete pitch and go in front of the leads and present my concept and how to execute it. Including the fail safes and edge cases.
Design
Three Parts of Encounter Design
Being an encounter designer requires you to where multiple hats. It combines user experience design, data management and world design. As a designer you are not only creating the most challenging areas and fights, but also supporting and aiding quest and narrative design to align to main pipeline.
GRID Engine
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Proprietary design engine
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Data management
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Global database
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Live service implementation
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Scripting logic
Basepop
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Drafting environment plan
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Posing monsters through script
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Quest & narrative support
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Vignette trigger & script logic
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populating in game areas
Boss Fight
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Ability design
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Enemy ai design
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Trigger logic
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User experience
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Visual Storytelling
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Playtesting
Process
Def Creation
Create all monster defs listed in draft.
Basepop
Create and pose spawners around area to look inhabited.
Vignette Creation
Build scenes of interaction to support narrative.
Boss Battle Setup
Design skeleton of boss fight that can give play testers accurate idea of final mechanics.
Iteration
Design Review
Every project goes through multiple iteration processes. The first being the design review. This is where another designer from the team runs through the project, with the only goal to compare it to guidelines. Does the area have enough hostiles, are each of the spawners the right distance apart, or rules based on the leads feedback. All designers will do this for each other's projects giving them both sides of the process.
Team Playtest
Once a design review is signed off, the encounter team will hop in a call and will play through the area and boss fight. The team will be encouraged to use the think-aloud method and callout any suggestions or issues they find. The designer will observe from afar how the playthrough feels and how it compares to the intended experience. This is often where the most iteration happens and playtest will be run multiple times before being passed on.
Leads & Team Review
Depending on the size of the content, there will be lead reviews conducted, which involves playing through your own content with producers and leaders watching. This is the final step of review and will be the sign off for implementation. The idea is to combine the narrative, quest, and encounter experience to the expected game play for the content.