
LEAD GAME DESIGNER
SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER
2016 – 2018
After the privilege of working with the team at Crystal Dynamics on ‘Rise’, I was given the honor of leading a team of up to 6 designers with two main goals – close out a trilogy of beloved games and surpass players’ expectations.
Bringing the jungle to stealth game-play was a unique challenge. Tomb Raider has always encouraged players to keep moving in combat. I directed the team to focus on jungle stealth ingredients that enabled this – seamless vine wall camouflage and contiguous canopy traversal.
I also lead the team to bring the concept of fear into combat. After some early attempts at systemic fear causing enemies to shout off-screen, the answer lay in their fear being seen, not just heard. Tools that allowed players to witness enemies’ fear became the focus, leading to Fear Arrows and Chained Take-downs.
I worked with the team to bring more puzzle and social experiences to the game, balancing the mix of combat, traversal and exploration. As Lara had grown, so too had fans’ expectations, and we received many ‘thank yous’ for this.
The most valuable lessons I learned from Shadow were the values of mentor-ship – taking the time to teach and guide the team – and interdepartmental management skills – in order to see features not only get approved, but flourish as all departments championed them as their own.


REVIEWS
(CLICK TO VIEW)
INTERVIEWS
- Apr 27, 2018 – Attack Of The Fanboy
- May 1, 2018 – Gamercrate
- May 14, 2018 – (Video) GotGame
- Jul 20, 2018 – SyFy Wire
- Jul 21, 2018 – (Video) Bleeding Cool
- Jul 21, 2018 – (Video) ShackNews
- Jul 23, 2018 – Gaming Trend
- July 24, 2018 – The Geekly Grind
- July 26, 2018 – Segment Next
- Jul 27, 2018 – (Video) NTF Gaming
- Aug 5, 2018 – Gamasutra
- Aug 5, 2018 – Mxdwn.com
- Aug 6, 2018 – Nerd Reactor
- Aug 9, 2018 – News.com.au
- Aug 10, 2018 – Engadget
- Aug 10, 2018 – (Video) GAME
- Aug 10, 2018 – (Video) GameReactor
- Aug 10, 2018 – Red Bull Games
- Aug 10, 2018 – Stevivor
- Aug 10, 2018 – The Sixth Axis
- Aug 10, 2018 – True Achievements
- Aug 11, 2018 – GQ Magazine
- Aug 11, 2018 – PCGames N
- Aug 12, 2018 – (Video) TR Univers
- Aug 15, 2018 – Fandom
- Sep 1, 2018 – Stack Magazine (JB Hi-Fi)
- Sep 3, 2018 – When Nerds Attack
- Sep 10, 2018 – Express.co.uk
- Oct 23, 2018 – (Audio) The 1099
ARTICLES
- Sep 12, 2018 – The Escapist
PANELS
- Jul 21, 2018 – San Diego Comic Con Panel

SENIOR DESIGNER (LEVEL DESIGN)
RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER
2013 – 2015
On Rise Of The Tomb Raider, I was in charge of ‘putting the tombs back into Tomb Raider’ – a mandate I enjoyed immensely because of my passion for narrative, historical research and puzzles. Together with the Creative Director I defined the vision for Rise’s challenge tombs:
- Ancient, undiscovered spaces (vs inhabited caves in Tomb Raider 2013)
- Unique stories and mechanisms based on historical fact
- Knowledge as Lara’s greatest reward (skills as rewards instead of XP).
In leading the tomb team, I applied my empower with clear goals learning from Square-Enix Montreal to ensure we could remain creative while still delivering on time and quality, earning the trust of the directorship at Eidos and Crystal. We produced seven challenge tombs, two of which were so well received that they were inserted into the storyline to bring more classic Tomb Raider to the game. I was also blessed with the honor of going to Crystal to share our best practices with their team!
None of this would have been possible without the incredible knowledge of the Crystal Dynamics team. I learned so much about level, narrative and puzzle design working with their industry veterans, as well as those in Montreal. I also learned about the different working cultures of Montreal and the Bay Area, how they complimented and contrasted with each other. And as my first true remote collaboration, I saw the value of constant clear and honest communication in achieving success.
The challenge tombs were consistently called out in reviews as one of the highlights of the game, which I believe was due to the values of creative freedom and honest communication we ran the team by.

SENIOR GAME DESIGNER
HITMAN 6, TABLET PROTOTYPES
2013
In 2013 I moved to Montreal and joined one of the best studios I have worked at – Square-Enix Montreal.
The studio was formed to reimagine the Hitman franchise. I took ownership of the vision for combat (based on the high-level vision of the Creative Director), leading small cross-discipline teams to produce rapid prototypes.
During this time I learned the values of:
- Transparency and openness in running a studio and project
- Empowering talented, senior individuals by giving them clear goals and deadlines but allowing them to be creative within those parameters.
- Live wall displays and constant communication of the vision
After a few months, the game was cancelled and SEM transitioned to a mobile-focused studio. It was a testament to the studio culture that almost everyone stayed to see what could be done on the new platform.
I was involved in multiple rapid Unity prototypes via the Incubation team. Here I learned the value of looking beyond Wikipedia for inspiration, and failing fast to find the fun.
An incredible experience with invaluable lessons that I carry forward throughout my career.




SENIOR GAME DESIGNER
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
2011 – 2012
In early 2011, I made the jump from +30 degrees Melbourne summer to -30 degrees Quebec City winter – not something I’d soon forget! All in the name of chasing a dream – working on a 3rd-person action adventure.
At Beenox I found myself surrounded by some of the most talented, experienced industry veterans. I learned so much on The Amazing Spider-Man – what it meant to aspire for AAA quality and iterating on something until it was not just done, but right.
I led a cross-discipline team to deliver melee combat inspired by the Arkham series, but with the agility of Spider-Man. In addition, we ambitiously added a full stealth loop… from the walls and ceiling… with the player able to pause time at any moment! After much iteration I settled on a height-based stealth solution with clear enemy search feedback (flashlights).
I designed multiple enemy archetypes to challenge players’ abilities, working with level designers on their rational pacing. I also took charge of the game’s economy and upgrades.
My biggest takeaway was the same lesson Spidey learns… with great power should come great responsibility. While we provided a great power fantasy, we could have required the player to manage that power better for a more satisfying experience.


LEAD GAME DESIGNER
INTERNATIONAL CRICKET 2010
2009 – 2010
After the success of Ashes Cricket 2009, Codemasters were keen for a sequel.
With International Cricket 2010, I saw an opportunity to bring some of the excitement I remembered playing cricket when I was a kid.
At the time, Wii Sports had just hit with it’s you are there design philosophy, as had the Codemasters racing games that highlighted the in-car view. I thought, if Cricket is fun to play, why not offer a view that feels like you are there?
I designed, prototyped and iterated on new behind-batsman and behind-bowler 3rd-person game-play views. The response in reviews was universal praise with calls of “long overdue”. One of my early proud moments. The acceptance of this potentially disruptive new feature was helped by making it the default view, but making it easily toggle-able.
This was the first project where I learned to work in an Agile way, which was crucial to its success as we only had a short development cycle. Scoped well, it had a good balance of ambitious back-of-box features and solid improvements (e.g. AI) that excited players while still allowing us to hit our deadlines.




LEAD GAME DESIGNER
ASHES CRICKET 2009
2008 – 2009
In 2008, I was given my first Lead Game Design opportunity – help get Ashes Cricket 2009 (originally slated for 2008) back in-shape and delivered on time.
The team was a little demotivated when told the game wouldn’t ship that year, so I took them on an excursion to learn how to play cricket. I thought this would help re-motivate and bond them, plus benefit the game if the team better understood the sport! I received great feedback about this day which gave me an early confidence boost in my new role.
Analysing the game in 2008, it was clear that while it had potential, there wasn’t enough UI or feedback to help players ‘pick up and play’ the game and know when they were succeeding. My primary focus became getting casual players (our primary audience) to understand the game in just a few minutes. To this end, I championed and ran a series of playtets which were very successful.
When the game was finally released in 2009, it was a sales hit and reviewed well. I had found my calling – Lead Game Design – and was determined to grow and succeed.



GAME/LEVEL DESIGNER
VARIOUS PROJECTS
2006 – 2007
After completing my studies at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment in Melbourne, I landed my first job at one of the best studios in the city – Transmission Games.
During my first two years, I was lucky to experience a few different projects, soaking up as much knowledge as I could each time.
I started with mission and cut-scene scripting on a PSP port of Heroes Of The Pacific (unreleased).
I also spent a little time as an engineer (I had a C++ background) on a PSP port of Heatseeker (a ‘Top Gun’ version of Heroes Of The Pacific). I learned how to work remotely with a team in New Zealand (Halfbrick), as well as the challenges of memory management on handheld devices.
My most memorable role was as a level designer on Frank Miller’s Sin City (unreleased) – a 3rd-person Action Adventure, which was always my dream. I wrote level design documents and researched Sin City lore in order to get the characters’ voices right. However, sometimes it’s better that your dreams don’t come true…
Finally, I worked on pitching a new IP with some very talented Unreal experts. I learned a lot about working with concept artists as well as Unreal visual scripting and cinematics.


