Since March, 2019, I started working at EA on Need For Speed: Heat. Here I will describe what I did.
Content Editor/Level Designer
On Need for Speed: Heat I worked on the following:
* Road Network AI/GPS/Off Road = I've built the pathing/GPS system for Off Road roads for the player to follow and make routes giving a better usage of the big and mini map. For the AI to follow correctly and I fixed all the bugs that appeared on the Road Networks On or Off Road regarding AI traffic and UX. I also modified the traffic population to make smaller and isolated streets less populated and bigger highways and boulevards more populated.
*Navmesh = I painted and built Navmesh to enhance or restrict the pathing of AI traffic cars and specially AI cop cars. Also placing OutOfBounds volumes throughout the world to reset the player when entering a restricted area or when getting in a place that the player could get stuck.
*Activities = I scouted locations and placed activities in the game, respectively Speed Traps, Drift Zones and Jump Activities. I've tested the activities created documentation to hold the metrics and created the rating system of 3 stars, each based on cars from 3 different tiers of performance. The I kept balancing the rating system and polished the UI. For the Jump Activities I placed and modified ramps in the world.
*Billboards = I scouted locations and placed destructible Billboards. (Collectible)
*Parked Cars = I placed parked cars throughout the world to give a feeling of being populated, I took into consideration the Day/Night cycle and memory cost which was tied directly to the AI traffic number of that area.
*Flamingos = Placed and tested the Flamingos collectible items, taking in consideration spots less frequented and more challenging to get to.
*Street Art = Placed and tested the Street Art collectible items, Decals, Stickers, Graffiti. I also edited textures in Photoshop so they are supported by the engine and are easily put on buildings and on cars. Imported them in the engine and assigned to each collectible as a reward.
*Collision Walls = placed all around the world.
And in the end, lots of bug solving and intense polishing: from navmesh, activities (Jumps, SpeedTraps, DriftZones), collectibles, decals, assets, collisions, and police roadblocks. Practically polishing the whole game world. And I don't want to brag but I solved over 600 bugs until the last moment.
* Road Network AI/GPS/Off Road = I've built the pathing/GPS system for Off Road roads for the player to follow and make routes giving a better usage of the big and mini map. For the AI to follow correctly and I fixed all the bugs that appeared on the Road Networks On or Off Road regarding AI traffic and UX. I also modified the traffic population to make smaller and isolated streets less populated and bigger highways and boulevards more populated.
*Navmesh = I painted and built Navmesh to enhance or restrict the pathing of AI traffic cars and specially AI cop cars. Also placing OutOfBounds volumes throughout the world to reset the player when entering a restricted area or when getting in a place that the player could get stuck.
*Activities = I scouted locations and placed activities in the game, respectively Speed Traps, Drift Zones and Jump Activities. I've tested the activities created documentation to hold the metrics and created the rating system of 3 stars, each based on cars from 3 different tiers of performance. The I kept balancing the rating system and polished the UI. For the Jump Activities I placed and modified ramps in the world.
*Billboards = I scouted locations and placed destructible Billboards. (Collectible)
*Parked Cars = I placed parked cars throughout the world to give a feeling of being populated, I took into consideration the Day/Night cycle and memory cost which was tied directly to the AI traffic number of that area.
*Flamingos = Placed and tested the Flamingos collectible items, taking in consideration spots less frequented and more challenging to get to.
*Street Art = Placed and tested the Street Art collectible items, Decals, Stickers, Graffiti. I also edited textures in Photoshop so they are supported by the engine and are easily put on buildings and on cars. Imported them in the engine and assigned to each collectible as a reward.
*Collision Walls = placed all around the world.
And in the end, lots of bug solving and intense polishing: from navmesh, activities (Jumps, SpeedTraps, DriftZones), collectibles, decals, assets, collisions, and police roadblocks. Practically polishing the whole game world. And I don't want to brag but I solved over 600 bugs until the last moment.
Game Designer/Level Designer
On Need For Speed: Heat and Live Updates:
*World = Modified 3D assets in game to solve navmesh and physics issues.
*Day/Night Events = Designed and polished Day and Night Circuit Races, Drift Trials and Sprint Races. Dressing the events with race walls for day and light streaks for night, AI crowds, confetti FX, decals, background assets like: cars, towers, panels, screens, flags, road barriers and corner panels. Polished AI racers on different events.
And in the end, lots of bug fixing and intense polishing: navmesh, activities, collectibles, decals, assets, collisions, police roadblocks and many other.
*After launch I started working on Live Updates(still not able to divulge some info). prototypes for new Game Mods and event ideas for next title, and started to work on Cinematic Tools.
*Cinematic Tools = Learned and worked the pipeline between the Frostbite Editor and Maya. And working on creating sequences and animations in the Frostbite engine. (some of which can be seen here) Animation is jerky as I didn't had enough time to work on it, because Gost Studio was closed.
*World = Modified 3D assets in game to solve navmesh and physics issues.
*Day/Night Events = Designed and polished Day and Night Circuit Races, Drift Trials and Sprint Races. Dressing the events with race walls for day and light streaks for night, AI crowds, confetti FX, decals, background assets like: cars, towers, panels, screens, flags, road barriers and corner panels. Polished AI racers on different events.
And in the end, lots of bug fixing and intense polishing: navmesh, activities, collectibles, decals, assets, collisions, police roadblocks and many other.
*After launch I started working on Live Updates(still not able to divulge some info). prototypes for new Game Mods and event ideas for next title, and started to work on Cinematic Tools.
*Cinematic Tools = Learned and worked the pipeline between the Frostbite Editor and Maya. And working on creating sequences and animations in the Frostbite engine. (some of which can be seen here) Animation is jerky as I didn't had enough time to work on it, because Gost Studio was closed.