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Daniel Brennan
Designer/Scripter
13145 N. US Hwy 183 Apt 127 Austin, TX 78750
dandaman@locustsoftware.com
203.313.7782
Skills
- Level Editors: HeroBlade (Star Wars: The Old Republic) UnrealEd 3 (Unreal Tournament 3, Gears of War), Hammer (Half Life 2: Episode 2), Elder Scrolls Construction Set (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), Torque X Builder.
- Level Design: Scripting (entity-based input/output and code based), trigger systems, BSP construction, texturing, lighting, entity placement, AI pathing, multiplayer and single-player level-flow design, visual and gameplay polish
- Languages: C#, Lua 5.1, Kismet (Unreal Tournament 3, Gears of War), Hammer (Half Life 2: Episode 2), TESScript (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)
- Writing: Have written over six Level Design Documents and critically contributed to three Game Design Documents and various other documentation; have also written numerous short stories and a novella
- Art: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Google SketchUp 7, Autodesk 3D Studio Max 2009
- General: ExtraView, DevTrack, Perforce, TortoiseSVN (1.6.5), Microsoft Office 2007 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project)
- Operating Systems: Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac OS X
Work Experience
Live Designer / World Designer | August 2011 – Present
BioWare — Star Wars: The Old Republic, Austin, TX
- Initially served on live team as a designer, acting as a liason between customer service and world design
- Prescribed and authorized tailored solutions for design-related, tester-character blockers
- Tracked down root design issues and pushed fixes through for incremental patches on live environment
- Later transitioned to block-out/spawn team as a world designer, after live design was disbanded
- Directly involved in world/quest flow design planning for several expansion planets
- Responsible for gray-boxing a world hub of an expansion planet
- Creating and maintaining extensive spawning-related documentation for an expansion planet
Level Scripter / Single Player Game Designer | February 2011 – June 2011
UTV Ignition Entertainment — Unannounced Shooter, Austin, TX
- Served as sole scripter on small team developing first person shooter using the Unreal Engine
- Scripted natural-disaster events and single player missions utilizing Unreal Kismet
- Collaborated with programmers and artists to ensure desired functionality of required assets
- Designed and documented multiple iterations of single-player campaign, including challenge, reward and narrative structures
- Documented and critically assisted in design of player classes and abilities
- Made significant contributions to map, gameplay and narrative-related design meetings
- Wrote situational dialogue quips for 8 player-character personality types
World Designer | January 2010 – January 2011
BioWare — Star Wars: The Old Republic, Austin, TX
- Served on world design team responsible for mob creation/placement, idle animations, patrols, AI pathing, cover system, combat abilities, vendors, crafting stations, harvesting nodes, player respawn system, bind point system, taxi networks, elevators, and map roads
- Personally responsible for spawning-related polish, updates and documentation for 3 planets
- Contributed to project's story-driven gameplay focus through thoughtful mob/NPC composition, arrangement and animations — as well as placement of support props and cover objects — designed to sell the narrative for each given locale
- Worked closely with art, writing, and quest-design teams to ensure cohesion of implemented systems
- Developed with wide range of in-house tools and contributed to tool refinement via user-feedback
- Maintained standards for and trained team members on player respawn system
- Monitored performance dips resulting from added content and adjusted accordingly to maintain smooth framerates
- Assistied bug cleanup through spawning-related bug fixes and general playtesting/bug reporting
- Created and maintained extensive spawning-related documentation for numerous planets
Game Experience at The Guildhall at SMU (abbreviated listing)
Primae Noctis — Unreal Tournament 3, stealth/action
June – December 2009
Level Designer / Lead Level Designer
- Directly contributing to BSP, texturing, lighting, entity placement and scripting work for tutorial and “hub” levels
- Creating/updating Level Design Document for tutorial and level walkthrough section of Game Design Document
- Designing world map and coordinating combination of all levels into composite level with streaming
- Overseeing consistent implementation of core gameplay across all levels
- Responsible for working closely with game designer and department leads, and managing level designers on team
Dogball — Original Half Life 2 sporting event
June – July 2009
Level Designer / Scripter
- Created unique level in which scripted opponent Dog engages player in several rounds of a modified game of soccer
- Designed and constructed playspace including BSP work, texturing, lighting, entity placement and scripting
- Implemented entirely scripted experience, with timed rounds of play, activated/deactivated goals, ball-retrieval system and complex system of behavior for Dog including offensive and defensive modes and reactions based on player actions
- Created and maintained extensive level design documentation
- Project completed from documentation to final product in under four weeks, under extreme schedule pressure
Prison Break — Original Gears of War stealth-action level
March – May 2009
Level Designer / Scripter
- Created unique level in which player must rescue Dom from secure Locust facility while trying to avoid alarm system
- Designed and constructed level including BSP work, texturing, lighting, entity placement, AI pathing and scripting
- Implemented complex system of scripted events including alarms triggered by moving searchlights and noise from treading on broken glass, and dramatic Berserker-chase finale
- Created and maintained extensive level design documentation
EscarGo! — Torque X, side-scrolling platformer
October – December 2008
Level Designer / Team Lead
- Created and updated core level and boss fight, including collision, entity placement, scripting, HUD and menu system
- Oversaw all testing sessions, Scrum meetings and project presentations
- Created or contributed to all project documentation, including Asset and Development Plan and Game Design Document
- Responsible for maintaining vision and directly managing all personnel on team
Other Game Experience
Locust Software — Independent Work
September 2001 – May 2007
Game Designer
- Designed and completed an unpublished casual/puzzle game, “Spectral”
- Developed design documents for several other small games
- Determined what changes should be made when given design showed flaws
- Made decisions on structure of game-play, layout of user interface, and nature of visual feedback
- Collaborated with talented programmer in creation and implementation
Education
The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University, Plano, TX
December 2009
Masters of Interactive Technology in Digital Game Development, specialization in Level Design
Masters Thesis: “Manifestations of Conflict in Games: Stealth vs. Action”
Cumulative GPA: 3.7
Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT
May 2006
Bachelors of Arts in English - Professional Writing: General Writing Option
Completed 26 credits in Computer Science & Math coursework
Senior Thesis: “Contrapasso”, a novella
Cumulative GPA: 3.5
Merit Scholar, four years; Dean’s List in Spring ‘03, Fall ‘04, Fall ‘05, Spring ‘06
New Hope Christian Academy, Danbury, CT
June 2002
Valedictorian