WATCH_DOGS

World Level Designer
March 2012 / September 2013

Scroll down for a list of tasks.

Developer
Ubisoft Montreal Studio (Canada)

Publisher
Ubisoft

Release date
2014/05/27.

Platforms
PC
Xbox 360
Playstation 3
Xbox One
Playstation 4

Engine
Disrupt (CryEngine based)

Genre
Third person action-adventure set in an open-world.

Metacritic
77%

Official website
http://watchdogs.ubi.com/

Official description
In Watch Dogs, players will experience the realities of living in our fully connected society, where individuals and corporations are at risk of exposure by our ever-increasing reliance on networks and technology.

Players will assume the role of Aiden Pearce, a new type of vigilante who, with the help of his smartphone, will use his ability to hack into Chicago’s central operating system (ctOS) and control almost every element of the city. Aiden will be able to tap into the city’s omnipresent security cameras, download personal information to locate a target, control systems such as traffic lights or public transportation to stop a chase, and more. The city of Chicago is now the ultimate weapon.

TASKS

World Design
  • Full level design of the modern district, Mad Mile, from scratch: roads, geography, buildings, plazas, water...
  • Completion of the poor district, the Wards.
  • Completion of the central district, the Loop.
  • First pass on the rural district, Pawnee, before sent to Ubisoft Paris for full development.
  • First pass on the middle-class district, Parker Square.
  • Maintenance on the industrial district, Brandon Docks.
  • Creation and/or maintenance of most connections between districts separated by water.
  • Support to the Mission Team for integration of main and side missions among the game world.

Level Design
  • Design, building and scripting of gameplay setups called Combat Lairs emphasizing stealth and combat.
  • Building of multi-story parking lots in the modern district.
  • Placement of hackable elements (on foot and on car) in some districts.
  • Placement of foot accesses in some districts.
  • Placement of water accesses everywhere.
  • Placement of car activities (jumps, shortcuts...) in some districts.
  • Placement of collectibles in all districts.
  • Placement of player hideouts in all districts.
  • Placement of hackable cameras in two full districts (middle-class and modern).
  • Placement of interactive ATMs almost everywhere.
  • Prototyping of water gameplays.

Puzzle Design
  • Prototyping, design and creation of all VR Puzzles in-game. Around 60 (almost one hundred have been designed).
  • Creation of half of the Intrusion Puzzles for the Invasion of Privacy side missions. Around 20. Maintenance on all the others.
  • Prototyping of the anamorphosis puzzles known as QR Codes.

Other
  • Training of the World Level Designer and World Level Artist teams in urbanism (over 2 days).
  • Writing of documents of references for the World and Mission teams.
  • Maintenance on multiple features related to the game world.

DEMONSTRATION

Here is a video (not taken by me) that shows the following tasks:
  • Level Design of Mad Mile
  • VR Puzzles
  • Invasions of Privacy