Dungeons & Dragons Online: Shadowfell Conspiracy

My Role: Lead Designer

Skills Used:

  • Team Leadership & Management
  • Free-to-play Design
  • Content Design
  • Systems Design
  • Scripting
  • Writing

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(Images taken from tentonhammer.com and engadget.com)

Tools:

  • Proprietary Turbine level editor
  • Hansoft
  • TestTrack Pro

Genre:  Free-to-Play MMORPG Expansion Pack

Platforms:

  • PC
  • Mac

Game Download Website: https://www.ddo.com/en

In 2013, the second expansion pack to the free-to-play MMO Dungeons & Dragons Online was released.

I was the Lead Designer for this project, managing both the content design and the systems design teams. I gave design direction and iteration feedback for designs on new dungeons, new RPG progression trees & character abilities, and the expansion pack’s new story.

As Lead, my scheduling/production responsibilities included creating schedules, pipelines, and processes for both the content team and the design team.

Here are some of the features that I directly implemented:

  • Free-to-Play Design: I designed & implemented a new saga system that gave rewards for completing arcs of dozens of missions. The saga design contained free-to-play monetization systems as well as retention mechanics. They proved to be very successful, and more sagas are still widely requested by players today.
  • Systems Design: I revamped the character skills for finding secret doors and disarming traps. I also created the monster list, and prototyped many of their AI & attack behaviors. I also contributed work to new iconic character builds.
  • Content Design: I created a series of new trap types that were much quicker for content designers to place.
  • Scripting: I contributed complex mission scripting to the “Lines of Supply” quest. I also scripted a toolset to be able to quickly set the logic & dialogue of quest NPCs, drastically cutting their setup time.
  • Writing: I wrote half of the questgiver dialogue and their overarching story arc. I also wrote interesting saga meta-storylines that spanned dozens of regular quests.