I was the Technical Owner of most major activities that the player could perform in the open world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDzw1EKnaIA
A first-person, action-adventure game set in the open world of the Western Frontier of Pandora.
Ubisoft Massive Entertainment | Snowdrop Engine | 2023
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Open World Activities
My responsibilities included:
- Technical implementation of the design using visual script (includes script creation, polishing & bugfixing)
- Supporting other teams by implementing complex player inputs, audio hooks, VFX hooks, art assets, U.I. systems, quest logic & SID (name of in-game tool) logic
A selection of Open World Activities I was responsible of
Sarentu Totem
Sarentu Totems are puzzles where the player needs to follow a series of clues to be guided to a final location where they are rewarded with a beautiful vista and crafting recipes.
Aoelian Wind Flutes
Aoelian Wind Flutes are both used a side-activities and as part of the main quest. They require the player to perform precise controller or keyboard & mouse inputs to tune the flutes and make them play a harmonious tune.
Recon Retrieval
In the Recon Retrieval activity the player uses the RDA tool “SID” to find data collectors in their surroundings. After all of them in a given area are activated the player will receive a reward.
Bladewing Moth Trails
In this activity you need to follow a fast-moving swarm of Bladewing Moths. If you manage to stick with them till end you’ll be rewarded with a rare harvestable.
“Finding Home” Sidequest Chain
This activity was presented as a chain of sidequests. The player was presented with 10 images of landmarks in the Open World without a location marker on the map. The players need to use their spacial awareness to find each location at which they would discover one page of a comic book. Upon finding all 10 location a unique 11th location would be revealed.
Mycelium Network
Also called “Budding Watcher”, this activity has the player follow a network of shrooms. At certain points in the network mushrooms can be activated and once all of them have been interacted with a central shroom will give a reward to the player.
Resistance Field Lab Activation
The resistance field lab provide the player with a small hub where they can engage in various activities, including crafting, cooking & accepting side-quests. But to enable these activities the player has to power on a field lab, which is linked to a small puzzle.
Level Design & Gameplay Assets
I took part in scripting assets and ensured that their functionality would be maintained.
My responsibilities included:
- Technical implementation of various assets using visual script
- Technical Owner of ammunition pick-ups
- Technical Owner of Tarsyu skill flowers
- Supporting other teams by implementing complex player inputs, audio hooks, VFX hooks, art assets & U.I. systems
Types of Assets scripted
- Aerial (things the player interacts with while on their flying mount)
- Controll & Access (e.g. levers, valves etc.)
- World Effects (e.g. exploding barrels)
- Path Blockers (e.g. destructible vent grate)
- Containers (e.g. ammo pick-ups)
- Traversal (e.g. lift tool that moves the player upwards)
- Bespoke (anything only used once in the game)
The image shows a player shooting an “Electric Transformer” asset which electrocutes surrounding enemies
Animation Scripts & Cutscenes
Avatar features a schedule system for NPCs. Based on the time of day, weather and story events NPCs will be performing different actions which are represented as animations.
My responsibilities included:
- Created animation templates that would randomize the animations that would play in a given activity for variety. Various templates were needed for different use cases.
- Implementing animations into aforementioned templates
- Implemented the starting cutscene of the game which required a bespoke setup.
- Analyzed and optimized the worflow, tools, pipelines & documentation for animation scripts & cutscenes
- Created tools & gym levels for testing animations
- Implemented cutscenes & created tools for trailer creation
- Onboarded supporting studios into the animation script systems
All the NPC animations performed in this screenshot have been scripted by me (either partially or fully)
NPC is placed outside of the navmesh area and any NPC behavior, outside of playing animations, has been removed to save performance.
NPC interacts with an asset placed in the world, which requires the animation to be bound to the asset.
NPC is in the process of transitioning from their idle animation into their walking behavior.
NPC plays animations while walking to their destination and talking to the player.
This NPC has been forced to be here by a story event. Otherwise they would perform various actions based on the time of day & weather.
Systematic Lighting Network
I scripted a dynamic light system that switches the state of specific lights based on the conditions present in the location they are placed in
Example use cases:
- Turning off all artificial light sources in a combat outpost after the player has defeated it. This is used to simulate a power outage.
- Turning on all lights and several gameplay assets with a randomized delay after a Resistance Field Lab has been powered on by the player.
The screenshot shows the lighting of a combat landmark before & after it has been defeated
Technical Support
As a Technical Level Designer it was part of my responsibilities to support other teams with anything that required advanced visual scripting capabitilies
Responsibilities
- Provided general visual scripting support to various disciplines with extended support for the ikran bonding sequence in the “Take Flight” quest
- Created numerous testing gyms that required technical expertise to set up
- Had full ownership over editor icons, ensuring consistency and usability
- Conducted technical validations for levels, scripts and quests
- Created prototypes to test the feasibility and desirability of features
- Assisting other teams to fix bugs in case they were overallocated
The image shows one of the ikran bonding sequences in the “Take Flight” quest, which I gave extensive support on
Show & Tell Presentations
We regularly held Show & Tell presentations that showed the entire Avatar team the progress of each inidividual team.
Since I know how to use the Adobe Premiere I volunteered to create highlight reel videos for various teams in Massive Entertainment and other Ubisoft studios across the globe.
Responsibilities
- Managed the process of collecting consistent footage from various teams & sources
- Edited the footage into one short & comprehensive highlight reel video
- Presented the Show & Tells in-front of the whole Avatar team
