SNOUK DESIGN NOTES BLOG
An open space where I could keep on experimenting on game design.
I also consider this to be my unprofessional space where I could just be my weird and silly self.
Be sure to check it out to get to know about my side projects & ventures!
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
MY RESPONSIBILITIES
SUMMARY
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Core designer driving all parkour, ingredients, critters, and Farah features to implementation in a full production cycle.
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Analyze and plan for all dependency design changes required as per the new game direction.
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Worked on Anvil to enhance and deliver qualitative prototypes to shippable quality.
PARKOUR
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Responsible for all the parkour exclusive systems.
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Designed around 20+ player states focused on parkour.
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Designed and implemented core navigation nodes and values to account for updated 3C.
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Designed and implemented a targeted jump system to adapt different variations of metrics available in LD.
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Planned for parkour metrics according to old game, and current animation requirements.
INGREDIENTS
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Designed all parkour ingredients (6) while accounting for improvements to be made as per the new game direction.
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Designed all interactable ingredients (5) modernized to enable unique puzzle and parkour interactions.
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Followed up with all trap ingredients (9) to be implemented as per design.
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Tweak ingredient values in-editor to derive ideal gameplay experiences.
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Guided and handled a few LD ingredient implementations while accounting for ingredient metrics specified.
ENEMY
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Designed all critter enemies (3) while accounting for improvements to be made as per new combat design direction.
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Following up with level-specific solutions for a few critters to improve metrics experience.
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Tweak all critter behaviors to improve the player-to-enemy dynamics envisioned.
FARAH
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Followed up with all Farah AI states to be implemented as per design.
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Designed and improved Farah's combat design in comparison to the old game, and as per game direction.
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Designed level-specific Farah combat behavior to account for metrics, and dynamic gameplay experiences.
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Tweak all Farah combat & non-combat behaviors to derive ideal gameplay experiences.
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Designed and implemented voice states for AI reaction, dynamic conversations, and gameplay feedback.
UI / UX
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Planned for accessibility features adhering to Ubisoft's accessibility first approach.
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Designed FTUE focusing on accessibilty.
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Designed all options (controls, UI, video, audio, and graphics).
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Designed UI flow and wireframes accounting for desired user experience.
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Designed a save system while following modern standards.
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Designed console-specific gameplay controls and ergonomics.
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Followed and improved control system accounting for input priorities, input types, and input frequency.
MISC.
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Was actively following up with level designers to adhere to parkour and ingredient metrics specified.
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Analyzing test data obtained, performed focused tests to iterate on implementations.
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Active participant in parkour and navigation camera state implementations to provide feedback.
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Handled robust documentation to allow the team to stay up to date while in production.
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Planned and facilitated feature presentations to encourage discussions and iterations.
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Kept constant communication between all managers and the game director to finalize implementations.
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Actively collaborated with a multi-disciplinary team containing animators, technical artists, programmers, VFX & SFX Artists.
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Was actively involved in bug fixing and following up with JIRA to look for action points to be implemented per timeline.
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Was actively managing 3+ interns at once to plan for design work and implementations.
WHAT MAKES THE PROJECT UNIQUE?
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Classic experience modernized.
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Rebuilt all gameplay systems from scratch.
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Biggest AAA project completely made in India.
WHAT MAKES MY EXPERIENCE UNIQUE:
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Core designer owning multiple features to production.
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Working on Anvil to deliver qualitative prototypes to implementation.
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Training and managing multiple interns at once in my discipline.
GAME SCREENSHOTS
TEAM
ROLE
TAGS
VIEW
PLAYERS
ENGINE
PLATFORM
DURATION
CALENDER
Ubisoft India
Game Design, AI, UI / UX, Voice Design, and LD Support
Action-Adventure
3D, Third Person
Singleplayer
Anvil
PC and Consoles
2 Years
2019 January - 2021 March
Embark on a journey as the Prince to save your kingdom from the treacherous Vizier in this fully remade classic.
Originally released in 2003, experience a classic action-adventure remake featuring parkour, combat, and puzzles - while following one of the most compelling narratives ever told with charismatic characters.
The project currently has been delayed until further notice.
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MY EXPERIENCE
DEPENDENCIES
Traversal Systems
Ingredients Design
Enemy AI
Farah AI
UI / UX
LD Setups
Control System
QA
TOOLS
Anvil
PowerPoint
Confluence
Excel
Visio
Photoshop
Outlook
JIRA
While managing few remaining edge-cases on Starlink before release, I was transferred to work on a new unannounced action-adventure title in pre-production, on Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake.
Due to the lack of a senior designer on the project, with the support of Ubisoft HQ, it became my responsibility to research and concept for new design pillars while collaborating with other supporting designers in the team.
Most of my initial days went into iterating on existing systems according to the new design pillars set up, while also creating detailed design documents for new features to be made.
And also to accommodate the project timeline, we've set up full feature planning lists for smooth transition into production.
process of parkour, documentation,
Glimpse UI pic, work on nav blog, work on accessibility blog, work on combat boss blog, create AI state chart,
After each feature implementation in code, I go and check the implementation, set-up / tweak data conditions as per the design document prepared.
By the following process mentioned, I was closely involved in all the traversal systems, ingredients, companion AI, game features, and UI / UX elements of the game.
During production, I was closely guiding multiple interns while maintaining communication with 3+ squads on their sprint deliverables.
The game is still in production, and we are in-progress of achieving further milestones before scheduled release!
NDA
PERSONAL COMMENTS
WHAT WENT RIGHT?
- Experienced the role of a lead game designer while handling feature planning and implementations.
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Part of all major milestones to make the project shippable.
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Handled and oversaw multiple interns to support production.
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Followed and built robust documentation practices to maintain information flow.
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Good communication was maintained between all squad members to clear out dependencies.
WHAT TO IMPROVE?
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Had difficulties juggling between different design and tech dependencies at once.
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Need to better handle pressure and crunch to avoid burnout.