Shawn Lucas – Level Designer

AAA, story-driven, single-player. 17 years experience and 12 shipped games.

Contact

slucas3816@gmail.com

What I Do

I’m a Level Designer who gets things done and has a passion for story-driven, single-player, action games.

My experience includes 4.5 years as a Lead Level Designer and 12.5 years of hands-on Level Design work. I’ve shipped 3 AAA action games (1 as Lead LD) and 3 handheld action games – all from start to finish.

I design, build, and script combat, puzzles, narrative sequences, spectacle events, exotic gameplay, and layouts. I have 11 years of experience with Unreal and 6 years of experience with proprietary editors.

Qualifications

Lead:

  • Shipped a AAA, original-IP, action game for Unreal 5 (Immortals of Aveum).
  • Managed the output of medium and large level design teams (7 and 14 LDs, respectively).
  • Provided leadership on 18 story-driven levels, 3 hub levels, & 30 challenge levels for a shipped title.
  • Did extensive hands-on level design work on 2 story-driven levels, 3 hub levels, & 1 challenge level.
  • Identified ambiguities in creative and narrative direction, disambiguated them, and unified direction.
  • Advised direct reports on how to deal with creative, technical, and professional issues.
  • Worked with production to schedule and scope content, set goals, assign tasks, and manage requests.
  • Created detailed level design pipelines with goals and success criteria for each development phase.
  • Established and documented standards and conventions for a variety of content and tools.
  • Coordinated with the engineering teams to design level-related systems and tools.
  • Led the interviewing and hiring process for level design candidates.

Individual Contributor:

  • Shipped 2 AAA action games and 3 handheld action games.
  • Drove 22 story-driven, single-player, action-game levels from concept to completion.
  • Provided design, layout, and scripting support to 25 other levels across various development phases.
  • Scripted combat and narrative gameplay, events, and support logic (checkpoints, objectives, etc.).
  • Planned the level flows, designed the 2D level layouts, and built and maintained the 3D level layouts.
  • Optimized content to meet performance targets and fixed bugs.
  • Skilled with a variety of 3D level editors and scripting languages, including Unreal 5 and Blueprint.

Professional Experience

Lead Level Designer                                   Crystal Dynamics (Embracer) – San Mateo, CA                             6/2024 – Present

Lead Level Designer                                   Ascendant Studios (Independent) – San Rafael, CA                        5/2021 – 6/2024

Senior Level Designer                                Ascendant Studios (Independent) – San Rafael, CA                          3/2020 – 5/2021

Senior Level Designer                                Impulse Gear (Independent) – San Francisco, CA                           10/2018 – 3/2020

Level Designer                                               Cloud Chamber (2K) – Novato, CA                                                             7/2017 – 9/2018

Level Designer                                               Hangar 13 (2K)­ – Novato, CA                                                                        8/2014 – 7/2017

Game Designer                                               Jam City (Netmarble) – San Francisco, CA                                           2/2014 – 8/2014

Level Designer                                                2K Marin (2K) – Novato, CA                                                                        7/2011 – 10/2013

Game Designer                                               Vicarious Visions (Activision) – Menands, NY                                 3/2010 – 10/2010

Junior Game Designer                                 Vicarious Visions (Activision) – Menands, NY                                  4/2008 – 3/2010

Shipped Games

  • Immortals of Aveum (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S)
  • Mafia III (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
  • The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (PS3 and Xbox 360)
  • Transformers: War for Cybertron (Nintendo DS)
  • Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Nintendo DS)
  • 007: Quantum of Solace (Nintendo DS)
  • Guitar Hero 5 (Wii)
  • Band Hero (Wii)
  • Cookie Jam (iOS, Android, FB)
  • Paint Monsters (iOS, Android, FB)
  • Panda Pop (iOS, Android, FB)

Education

B.A. in English: Creative Writing                                                        State University of New York at Oswego – Oswego, NY