Far Cry Primal
Ubisoft Montreal
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Level Designer
Project Overview
Shortly after shipping Far Cry 4, I began working on Far Cry Primal, a continuation of the Far Cry series with a prehistoric spin.
Unlike Far Cry 4, where I joined at alpha and took inherited content to ship, I joined Far Cry Primal during pre-production. This gave me the opportunity to contribute to early prototypes and mechanic exploration alongside my level and mission design work, including the chance to design one of the game’s outposts.
Level Designer
Ubisoft Montreal
Dunia Engine, Domino Visual Scripting Tools
Consoles: 23 February 2016
PC: 1 March 2016
PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Responsibilities
My work was focused on the side character Jayma the Hunter and her associated missions: “On the Hunt”, “The Tall Elk” and “The Great Beast”. I also contributed to the animal-taming tutorial in “Beast Master” and was responsible for the Assassin’s Creed easter egg mission, “Fly Like Bird”.
I designed these levels using a white-box/blockout approach, complemented by a base art kit to provide visual identity and intent. As with Far Cry 4, I was responsible for scripting the mission logic, which was done using Ubisoft’s in-house visual scripting tools.
- Designed and implemented main and side mission content from concept through to the end of alpha
- Designed systemic open-world encounter content
- Contributed to pre-production brainstorming, design discussions and documentation
- Iterated tutorial content in response to playtest feedback
Selected Work
My primary campaign work focused on a series of missions for Jayma the Hunter, alongside the design of the Tushwarha Outpost and contributions to additional mission and tutorial content.
Campaign: Jayma the Hunter
I developed Jayma’s missions from concept and early blockout through to alpha, designing the level spaces and scripting the mission content using Ubisoft’s in-house tools.
- “On the Hunt”
- “The Tall Elk”
- “The Great Beast”
Outpost: Tushwarha Outpost
Alongside my campaign work, I had the opportunity to design the Tushwarha Outpost, allowing me to build a Far Cry encounter away from typical narrative constraints and focus on systemic gameplay.
For me, this represented the core of the Far Cry experience: encounters that support an open approach to combat and scenarios that provide narrative through the environment.
Additional Mission Work:
“Beast Master” / “Fly Like Bird”
I worked on my assigned content from pre-production until the end of alpha, at which point I left the studio to pursue other opportunities. This was my final project at Ubisoft Montreal.
Game Trailer
Reception
Far Cry Primal performed above Ubisoft’s sales expectations, becoming the company’s biggest February game launch at the time and ranking among the five best-selling games of the first half of 2016.