About the game: Take on the role of one of the notorious Slaughter family, or their victims, in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, a third-person asymmetrical horror experience based on the groundbreaking and iconic 1974 horror film.
As a victim you must use your wits and stealth to stay out of the Family's reach and find the tools you need to lead to your eventual freedom. Slaughter Family players must seek out, track down, and stop their victims from escaping. Players of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre can finally find out if they have what it takes to survive.
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To find out more about the game, please visit:
My Involvement:
I have been part of the development team since preproduction and worked on various parts of its design, with my main focus being Level Design. I owned the design of the “Slaughterhouse” and “The Abandoned Mill” maps from concept to final, along with designing and implementing perks, ability trees, interaction objects and character mechanics prototypes, etc. inside Unreal Engine Blueprints and Gameplay Ability System (GAS).
Main Responsibilities:
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Ownership of levels from pre-production to release quality.
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Iterating levels based on feedback received from peers, other departments, and playtests.
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Collaborating with cross-discipline teams, especially art, to create exciting, innovative, and engaging levels and features.
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Creating level and game design documents and presenting new features to leads of various departments.
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Worked as a technical designer where I designed and implemented perks, ability trees, interaction objects and character mechanics prototypes, etc. inside Unreal Engine Blueprints and Gameplay Ability System (GAS).
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Setting up and managing project wide playtests and analyzing feedback received.
Slaughterhouse:
Slaughterhouse was an interesting level to design as it was the only level that was released with the game at launch that was not featured in the movie. This meant we had creative freedom to design the level as we want it to be.
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The aim of this level was to have larger interior spaces that showcase the gruesome architecture of the slaughterhouse. We studied architecture that would’ve been used in old slaughterhouses and used that as a base to build the level. As a result, the level uses cattle tunnels, slaughter areas and other areas that would be used in old slaughterhouses in an interesting way not only in terms of gameplay but also in terms of art.
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Additionally, we wanted to change the environments the players go through in the flow of a level. In other levels, you escape the basement, go into an interior/enclosed section, and then go towards the exit. Whereas in the slaughterhouse level, you leave the basement go into an exterior section, only to get funnelled into a large interior space which then leads to escape areas. This was done so that
the victims feel like they are safe when they leave the basement only to enter large, gruesome interior spaces again where they would feel the horror.
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I had full ownership of the level right from the ideation phase till release, working on planning, blocking out, iterating, working with other departments and bug fixing the level.
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Image Gallery:
Credits for Slaughterhouse work showcased in the above images:
Environment Art Team:
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Martin Kirkley
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Dave Rose
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Alec Tse
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Daniel Beresford
Lighting:
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Freddie Pitcher
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Jack Purdy
The Abandoned Mill:
The Abandoned Mill map is the 2nd post launch map released for Texas Chain Saw Massacre set in a cotton mill. We wanted to add design elements to this map that helped it stand out from the rest of the maps and add a different challenge/gameplay style to this map to make it feel unique. As a result, this map has a heavy focus on verticality, vantage points and a big dominating structure in the middle of that map. I was tasked with designing the level right from the ideation phase till release, working on planning, blocking out, iterating, working with other departments, setting up playtests and bug fixing the level.
Trailer for The Mill:
Image Gallery:
Credits for The Abandoned Mill work showcased in the above images:
Environment Art Team:
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Alan O'Brien
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Jordan Ashton
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Nathan Ashton
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Jordan Snee
Lighting:
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Jack Purdy
Perk Design and Implementation:
I was part of the team that started designing and implementing perks in the game inside Unreal Engine Blueprints and Gameplay Ability System (GAS). As a team we, designed and implemented
more than 100 perks and maintained the perks as the game design evolved during production and as new mechanics were added or were removed. The perks touch almost every part of the game, so it was important to understand how each mechanic was implemented. I was given greater ownership for design and implementation of perks for the first DLC characters Nancy and Danny.