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 A quick tutorial to run it if you need it ...     

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Winner of the Guildhall's Fall '09 Exhibition Outstanding Achievement in Level Design Award.

The Game Master's Lair is a Half-Life 2 Mini-Level inspired by the Marvel supervillain Arcade. Inside the Game Master's Lair, the player must solve classic puzzle inspired games, including Simon, Brick-Breaker, and "Let's Make a Deal."

I wanted to see what I could do with Hammer's scripting in the relatively short period of time we were given. From empty map to Beta, this was about 40 hours of work. I wanted to create an emersive experience for the player unique, but loyal to the half-life universe fan base.

View Design Doc 

A Mini-Portfolio showcasing "The Game Master's Lair" design process

Seventeen in D-Major is a multi-player UT3 map inspired by Quake 3's classic DM17 map.

The interstellar god of Rock n' Roll smashes his guitar and hurls it into outer space. As a further display of his Rockitude, he spawns tiny little soldiers to battle to their death on top of the busted ax. 

I created several custom static meshes in 3Ds Max with wraps for the map. The guitar's base, Tuning dials (which go all the way to 11) as well as the leather straps and par can light fixtures are all modeled in Max.

All of the jump pads play varied screeches and squeals of a heavily distorted guitar. The par can light cones rock, roll, and shimmy and shake as the whole arena tumbles through space.

The rock n' roll theme carries over well into this level. the Lights and sounds echoing through the isolation of space (Yes, I know sound does not echo in a vacuum, but sacrifices must be made balancing realism with an immersive gameplay experience)

This is Rock and Roll.

View Design Doc

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A Gears of War level that takes the player into an escalating battle against a Seeder Beast.  

My focus here was to present a very clear objective along a dynamically changing linear path. The crumbling section of city redirects the player giving the illusion of choice, while maintaining control of the level's flow along the critical path. 

I started by giving the player an obvious final objective, then leading him through a changing environment to find a line of sight to attack the Seeder Beast before the environment changes again. The level uses verticality and matinee sequences to “shift” the layout of the level to accommodate forward advancement. The environment comes to life in this war-torn cityscape keeping the player engaged while advancing towards a final goal.

Each step towards the objective takes the player two steps forward and one step back.  In this war-torn city environment, each attack on the beast causes the crumbling city environment to change, leading the player through the entire play space to find a new vantage point in which to attack the beast. By giving the player a constant obvious objective and creating a series of detours the player is constantly on the critical path.

The linear path through the level feels non-linear and makes optimal use of a relatively small playspace by presenting it in different ways. When the Seeder beast emerges directly in front of the player at the beginning of gameplay, the player acquires the game’s most powerful weapon, the Hammer of Dawn, to attack the beast. Just as the player begins to get the impression that the path leads one way, the environment shifts to show a new path. By keeping the flow of the level in a simulated state of flux, the player must move forward through the city taking advantage of verticality elements and the changing environment to solve line of sight puzzles while battling enemies through a fun cinematic gameplay experience.

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Built an expansion level to fit in the Elder Scrolls Universe.

A level created for Elder Scroll's IV: Oblivion.  

The Level includes a complete quest with multiple outcomes based on choices the player makes and side quest for the six new characters I designed using the Construction Kit.

I wrote extensive dialog for each character and the scripting to trigger quest details and events that takes the player to a dangerous island to rescue a traveler's family, and uncover the mystery of their fates. It includes different outcomes depending on the choices the player makes, new items (including a diary of one of the characters), and fully interactive branching conversations, as the player uncovers the island's mysteries. 

Building tension in this Gears of War level as the player makes his way through a prison environment. Armed initially with only a pistol, the player must follow in the destructive wake of a rampaging Berserker. Tension build as the Berserker opens the only path forward.

 An exercise in creating a visually impressive outdoor scene using Gears of War assets. 

 A scene created inspired by the Moonpool from James Cameron's The Abyss.

 A quick environment construction of a small section of a prison. In the first level of Gears of War there are rows of cells seen at the far extensions of the play space.  I wanted to reconstruct an additional section of the prison focusing on a high level of detail.