FOR HONOR (2018 - 2021)
Role - Game designer
ZHANHU
I designed one of the playable character in For Honor, the Zhanhu.
I was in charge of the moveset of the character, as well as its unique feats (activatable powers you can select and use during a game).
I was also the product owner which means I was in charge of making sure everyone knew what to do as well as making sure the overall quality of the feature was on par with our expectations.
At the start of the creation process, I spent a lot of time doing research on how the Chang Dao (weapon) was used. After discussing with experts Martial Artists from China and Montreal, I landed on the design for the character you can play today in For Honor. This research helped outline the types of movement we needed for the motion capture sessions of the Zhanhu. During those, I assisted the Animation Director in directing the mocap actor to get what we needed, providing information about the gameplay intentions of the moves as well as insight on historical uses of the weapon/moves.
Lastly I integrated and iterated upon the frame data and fight logic of the character’s moveset and created the state machines for their feats. This work includes heavy work on 3Cs as gameplay designers on For Honor are very much hands on with data edition and work on defining movement, rotation, camera, etc.
I was, lucky enough to have an awesome team working with me on the Zhanhu that elevated my initial ideas and brought them to new heights.
The character has been received positively by the community and a couple patches later became one of the top picks in our competitive esport event, the Dominion Series.
Videos
GAME MODE EVENTS
After designing the Zhanhu, I worked on Game Mode Events, which are temporary game modes that usually last a couple of weeks and come out every season.
On all the gamemode events I was feature owner and the only game designer. I had to design, the integrate and create the logic of the gamemode, its exotic interactive objetcs (sometimes acting as a new weapon which would change your whole moveset) as well as coordinating the different departments (arts, animation, sound, programming).
THE ZHANHU'S GAMBIT
The first PvE gamemode event of For Honor.
In this mode, you have to protect your “King” while securing the way forward to escape a castle under siege. Players are under the constant threat of enemies that become progressively harder as they make their way out of the castle.
We had such a short timeframe to make this gamemode, which was quite challenging. I needed to learn how the systems worked as well as scope down the existing gamemode proposal that I inherited.
BLADES OF PERSIA
The first crossbrand event of For Honor.
The Event was split in 2 parts:
The first week made players fight the prince himself and showcased his new powers.
The second week, the dark prince reigned instead of the prince and would drop the dagger of time when killed. Any player lucky enough to grab the dagger would have access to the prince's powers for a short duration.
To this day, Blades of Persia is among the top game mode events of For Honor in terms of activity.
TALES OF REBELLION
This evolving event had multiple parts that would take the players on a journey to tell the story of a mysterious new faction, the Horkos.
Each week a new chapter unlocks in the story with a new gamemode to play. As the player progressed through the weeks, so did the weapon they where forging to fight against the Horkos.
I was in charge of 2 out of the 3 game modes (Rescue and Overthrow) and every chapter had a new variation and a new map for the gamemode.
We really tried to create something different and new, with those evolving events telling a story over multiple weeks.
BATTLE OF THE ECLIPSE
The finale of the story laid out by the previous events.
The tales of the resistance culminated in the "Battle of the Eclipse" game mode where players, split in two teams, would fight to kill or protect the boss of their respective team.
To hurt the other team’s boss, the players needed a special weapon, forged by the hands of the blacksmith in her forge.
CROSSPLAY
My last direct contribution to For Honor.
I was in charge of the initial design and approval by first parties of our crossplay features.
Putting crossplay on a live game with a deterministic simulation was no meager effort, as the team was hard at work making this technically feasible, I was preparing the first parties crossplay design documents as well as detailling the required changes we needed to do in the game to be pass 1st party certifications. The success of this feature was not only based in the technical make up of the game but also on handling the requirements for crossplay (different for each 1st party).