Responsibility:
Battlefield 2042 Live Service.
-
Collaboratively shaped the narrative direction for Battlefield Season 2 & 3.
-
Voice-over narrative design for Hazard Zone and an unannounced gamemode.
-
Directed the narrative wrapper for Dark Market Vault weapons expansion.
-
Worked closely with level design, art, and gamemodes.
Role: Narrative Designer
Start: January 17th, 2022
Duration: 8 Months
Engine: Frostbite
Tools: Jira, Miro, and Confluence
Learn more about what I am allowed to disclose, below:
The largest task at hand was integrating pre-established lore: The Dark Market into features, new and old. Leading up to Season 2, information on the organization who specialize in moving illicit goods and services across the globe to shift the tides of battle wasn't widely available. At least not until now.
"Dark Market Vault"
With plans of releasing old vintage weapons into the base game, DICE needed a neat narrative wrapper to connect the new content with the Season 2 lore. I spearheaded the tiny task. One youtuber perfectly summarizes the feeling of working behind the scenes as a narrative designer on a live service game.
A gamemode where the player inserts as four-member squads to infiltrate a map protected by occupying forces to locate and retrieve critical Data Drives scattered throughout the battlefield - all to earn Dark Market Credits. My first colossal task was to revamp the Voice Over in Hazard Zone due to confusing friction between previous lore assets and narrative presented in-game. The three biggest points of dissonance were: who am I working for and against? What are "Data Drives"? And why am I getting paid in Dark Market Credits?
To complete the assignment, it was important I follow the proper procedure. Begin with researching, presenting the findings, brainstorming solutions, creating video examples, collaborating with a writer, and so forth. However, to my dismay, Hazard Zone's development was announced to be "winding down" for the foreseeable future. Something about what I learned.
The Future
Hazard Zone wasn't my last Voice Over assignment. In content yet to come you may see my narrative design on full display!
Additional Responsibilities
In-between the grander tasks, my duties varied between:
Unofficial Lore Master - Equipped with a mind for memorizing stories and obscure details and dates. I managed what I dubbed the "Sacred BF2042 Timeline", a mind map filled with the significant dates of the characters, events, and seasonal journey of the narrative. This role shackled me with the power to either recall or know the necessary information.
Narrative Design Representative - Serving as the voice for half the game's characters, levels, gamemodes, and features. Sending and fielding messages between countless other developers in and out of DICE.
Content Creator - Armed with Paint3D, Audacity, and Adobe Premiere, I created mockups for UI, Voice Over examples, lore loading pages, weapon descriptions, and more!
Namer - I led a committee to name the Season 2 map. In addition, I named eight map sectors, two helicopters, one weapon manufacturing company, ten Polish people, and one weapon. In addition, I compiled all the names for everything Battlefield 2042 into an excel sheet to ensure originality.
