Introduction and Intentions

I'm a soon-to-be graduating student from Centre NAD (December 2013), specializing in Narrative Level Design.

Narrative has always held an importance in any form of art and culture. We often forget that everything has a story to share. Everything has a past, a present and a future. Every piece, every path, every space must have a reason for its existence, its raison d'être.

Through my experiences in gaming and creating, I have realised that, levels are one of the most important characters in a game. Levels are heroes and villains, allies and enemies. They can aid you through your journey, or try to block your progression. They force you to think, plan and react. They allow you to feel safe or to always be guarded, filled with this uneasy tension. In some cases, the very environment the protagonist finds himself in, can shape him into who he is to become.

Whether it is a place we call home, the lair where the antagonist lies in wait, or any of the small paths in between, every space has its story. Every path has been walked upon, every building has been built by someone and for a reason.

That is my direction, when it comes to appreciating and creating levels. Allowing the space to tell its story, no matter how small or how epic, but each area deserves its voice.

Master List

Here is the MasterList of my projects. This is, of course, a work in progress, and shall be updated as I continue to learn, practice and further develop my skills.

• Centre NAD

This blog was set-up for my Simulation de Production de Jeux Vidéos class, for the Winter2013 semester.

It outlines one of my first forays into the world of Design, along with my LD Partner, Hélène Raguin.

This blog leans a little more on the technical side, as I consider it more of a reference-based blog; while still learning UDK and UnrealEditor, I thought it would be pertinent to log my progress, especially solutions found to any problems that may have arisen during the course of the semester.

• A-Tom (GameLab Competition)

This blog shows snippets of my 3-month progress to create a playable prototype for Ubisoft's GameLab Competition.

I, along with six amazing programmers and one very talented artist, built A-Tom into a playable demo, in three short months.

This was a wonderful experience where I got to explore many different specializations including Game Design, Level Design, Concept Art, Basic Modeling and Narrative Script Writing.

• Academia : Shine

Though my team's prototype did not win, I, along with four of my team mates, were still selected to participate in Academia 2013 Ecole d'été.

I was chosen as a Game/Level Designer for our four-level playable game. The level I created was the second level: the mines.

This experience really cemented my desire to further learn and explore the world of Level Design and I feel really thankful to have been able to experience the wonderful working environment set up by all participating students. Knowledge and experience was shared and a helping hand was never far away. We all had the one same goal: to make a game that we were proud of. And I do believe we achieved that.