Halo 4  (Certain Affinity)

Multiplayer Level Designer

I started designing maps for Halo 4 in mid-2011 just after finishing up design on Halo Anniversary. During the games development, Halo 4 was an ever changing beast. This meant we had to constantly iterate on our designs as the game evolved. One of the first maps to take shape was one I called Warhouse, because during it's block out it resembled a warehouse full of crates. As we continued to playtest, I continued to iterate, until the final product was a finely polished level that takes place on a commissioned gas harvester, caught in low orbit of a gas giant. That maps name is Adrift and released on disk with Halo 4.

My next map, I was tasked with making something larger. One that had both interior and exterior environments. A map that catered to both infantry and vehicle combat. I focused on making rivaling Forerunner bases build within the walls of a canyon, so during it's development I named it Canyon. The vision for the level was very strong from the start and the theme and layout had only minor changes during it's development. Eventually the map differed visually as one of the bases reactors were in meltdown, which melted away the ice and snow on one side of the level. And Meltdown was born. It too shipped with Halo 4.

After completing Meltdown, and before Halo 4 was finished, I helped ramp up the DLC team where I started designing new maps for the upcoming map packs. This is where I chose to do something different and asymmetrical compared to the previous maps. The first map pack (technically 2nd map pack to release, as another studio worked on the first map pack while we worked on the release maps) would consist of no vehicle, infantry only levels that were smaller in scale. I took point on the largest of the three. My goal was to design a layout that was balanced while not being symmetrical, the theme I originally came up with was a city port under siege that did not change through out the maps development, and this is where Port was born. As always I continued to iterate on the map until its release. That map was renamed to Landfall and released with the Majestic map pack.

Finally, I took over design duties on the map everyone knows as Monolith. The original layout was started by another designer but early in its block out phases the designer shifted to working on the next map pack, so I became the designer to iterate and finish the map for release. Over time of its development, I made big changes to add outer flanking paths and add more centralized cover so the map wouldn't be as open in the center. I also resized several of the platforms and added man cannons and gravlifts to help with player flow through the space. Once finished, Monolith also released with the Majestic map pack.

Not only was I level designer and owner on these levels, but I also helped polish and bug crunch all the multiplayer levels in Halo 4, including the Majestic and Castle map packs, which consisted of daily playtesting and iteration of all the multiplayer maps except those of the first map pack. I also animated all level and skybox objects in the Majestic and Castle map packs (flying ships, radars, asteroids).

These levels were also included in The Master Chief Collection.