Star Citizen & Squadron 42
Cloud Imperium Games
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Senior Designer
Project Overview
After leaving Ubisoft Montreal, I returned to the UK to join Cloud Imperium Games’ UK studio, Foundry 42. I took a senior design role within the team, contributing to the Star Citizen project.
Star Citizen is an ambitious space simulator combining starship combat, first-person shooting, trading, and social gameplay all within a seamless persistent universe.
The wider project encompasses multiple products and modules, most notably the Star Citizen Persistent Universe, its online component, and Squadron 42, the standalone single-player campaign.
Senior Designer
Cloud Imperium Games
CryEngine and Flowgraph Visual Scripting Tools
SC Alpha 2.6: 23 December 2016
Squadron 42: TBD
PC
Responsibilities
During my first year at Foundry 42, I worked primarily on the FPS portions of Squadron 42, contributing to a number of early campaign missions and taking responsibility for the first-person portion of the vertical slice.
Following the completion of the vertical slice, I moved onto the Star Marine team, the project’s competitive FPS multiplayer module. I initially collaborated with another designer on “OP Station Demien” before taking ownership of the level and becoming the sole level designer on the module. I then designed a second map, Echo 11, alongside the multiplayer game modes used across both levels.
Star Marine shipped as part of Star Citizen Alpha 2.6 on 23 December 2016. I continued to support and iterate on the module through subsequent 2.6.x point releases before moving onto the Persistent Universe team, where I contributed to procedural content for Alpha 3.0.
- Defined first-person level design for the Squadron 42 vertical slice
- Designed and scripted FPS combat encounters across the Squadron 42 campaign
- Designed multiplayer levels and objective-based game modes for Star Marine
- Worked closely with art to develop a modular kit for multiplayer level production
- Contributed to procedural mission content for the Persistent Universe
As Squadron 42 remains in development, much of my work on the campaign remains under NDA. Star Citizen also follows a staggered development and release model, with content and features delivered through public alpha releases. The bulk of my shipped work appeared between Alpha 2.6.0 and 2.6.3, with some later work released as part of Alpha 3.0 after I had left the company.
Design Work
Squadron 42: FPS & Vertical Slice
Bringing my experience from the Far Cry series, I was responsible for the first-person level design of the Squadron 42 vertical slice. My work focused on establishing level design metrics and defining how spaces should support the game’s FPS combat.
Following the vertical slice, I applied this work to a number of missions across the campaign, designing and scripting first-person combat encounters within the wider mission spaces.
The vertical slice was publicly demonstrated in 2017, with much of the first-person level layout I worked on still visible in the presentation.
Star Marine: Multiplayer Level Design
I initially collaborated with another designer on OP Station Demien before taking ownership of the level and bringing it through to release. I then designed Echo 11 as the sole level designer on Star Marine, as well as designing the multiplayer game modes used across both maps.
Both levels were built to support two styles of competitive FPS combat: traditional deathmatch in Elimination and objective-based team play in Last Stand. Following the release of Alpha 2.6, I continued to iterate on the maps across subsequent updates in response to player behaviour and feedback.