Nathan K Johnson Design Portfolio

Nathan K Johnson Southern Utah, August 2011.

Nathan K Johnson

Video Game Designer

Why Game Design?

I became a game designer to fulfill a lifelong dream to build fun and engaging experiences using a combination of passion for games and innate creativity. Every game contains special moments that impact players with new situations or ideas—and a well-crafted design delivers that experience to make those moments in a player’s life memorable and enjoyable. I enjoy creating those experiences and delight when watching others go through them. In a more ancient time, I would have devoted myself to crafting things to improve people’s everyday lives.

History

During early childhood I created scenarios, stories, and games to play with siblings and friends. Eventually, the creative skills utilized while young developed further and allowed experience design through UI/UX design—now cultivated for nearly twenty years. As graduate school’s final year approached, I accepted a post teaching UI/UX design at a local college.

While a mentor and a guide to hundreds of young minds, I expanded my abilities in leading groups and effective communication. However, the greatest career success story to date arrived immediately after graduating, when a AAA game company hired me as a game designer to start right away.

Expertise

When completing both BS and MFA degrees, the opportunity to explore areas of design and the liberal arts allowed the expansion of knowledge and love of learning. As well as while professionally practicing UX, visual, and game design (as an instructor of design and a design team collaborator), I’ve gained insight on the components of what makes design great and what it takes to create a successful product. Utilizing strong visual communication skills and creative thinking allowed work with cross-disciplinary teams to proceed smoothly.

As a game designer and a UX designer, my commanding perspective on the components of experience design has maintained the passion in creating those moments for others.

Featured Personal Project Temple of the Crystal Sands – Guild Wars 2 Dungeon Prototype

(September 2013 – April 2014)

Trailer

~~2:05~~

Synopsis

500 years ago, human settlers built a temple in the Crystal Desert in an attempt to unlock the secrets of ascension, but it was lost to the ages. Now recently rediscovered, the Temple of the Crystal Sands reveals the secrets of a fallen civilization and the weapons they created to protect their temple to the human gods. With the support of the major orders, a party of players will face the first nonlinear dungeon in Guild Wars 2. This layering experience delves deep into the history and mysteries of a people lost to the crystal sands of time.

Project Overview

I created Temple of the Crystal Sands as the capstone project for my graduate degree. I challenged myself to create content for an existing IP while taking a new twist on an already established content type in the game. My goal was to create a dungeon environment that evolved as the players completed the challenges so they could experience the impact they make on the play space.

Game Engine: Unity
Scripting Language: C#
Tools: NGUI, 3DS Max, Adobe CC Suite

Roles: Project Lead; Level, Mission, and UI/UX Designer

Awards: Placed 2^nd in Level Design AAU Spring Show 2014

Project Highlights

Design Doc Excerpt

Lyssa’s Chamber Excerpt

1F Layout Tools View

Balthazar Boss Room

Light Path Maze

Unlocking Final Chamber ~~1:07~~

Click to open the
Design Doc PDFClick to view the
Video Breakdown

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Projects

Selections from projects through game development career.

▼ Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™

(June 2015 – May 2016)

Synopsis: Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is the first expansion pack for Guild Wars 2, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSOFT. It was released for Microsoft Windows on October 23, 2015. [Wikipedia]

Roles: Game Designer, Independent Project Lead, UX Designer, Level Designer

Notable Contributions:

Designed, implemented, balanced, and bug-fixed the 23 epic “Legendary Journey” quests exclusive to Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™ and Guild Wars 2.
Designed, implemented, and shipped the “Eldvin Monastery Brew of the Month Club” content as an independent project lead.
Collaborated on designing and implementing the narrative, content flow, player progression, creature design, level design, and UX design for upcoming releases.

Guild Wars 2: HoT Trailer ~~2:20~~

Brew of the Month Club ~~3:39~~

Brew of the Month Beers

Living World Season 3

Astralaria Quest

H.O.P.E. Quest

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▼ Guild Wars 2

(July 2014 – June 2015)

Synopsis: Guild Wars 2 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSOFT. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild dedicated to fighting the Elder Dragons, a Lovecraftian species that has seized control of Tyria in the time since the original Guild Wars. [Wikipedia]

Roles: Game Designer, Project Lead, Commerce Designer, UX Designer, Level Designer

Notable Contributions:

Designed and implemented the Halloween 2015 in-game event including updating the narrative, modernising old events, rewards, writing for VO, and establishing new lore.
Led the design initiative in planning, implementing, and shipping a massive pre-expansion open-world event spanning 3 maps and including over 90 instantiations of 3 event formats.
Created, stocked, and managed items in the microtransaction store while participating in several key systems reworks, prototypes, and brainstorms.

What is Guild Wars 2? ~~4:27~~

Halloween 2015 Event

Halloween 2015 Lore

Pre-Expansion Event

Commerce Design

The Black Lion Vaults Level

Open-world Map Design

Open-world Space Test

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▼ Into the Dark Nebula (Mobile)

(August 2013 – July 2014)

Synopsis: Mobile players explore the Dark Nebula while embarking on a mission to collect supplies gathered from Molecular Gates. The nebula is dark, and the only method of seeing is through a probe that gathers energy to guide the way. Players control the probe by dragging it up and down on their screen while the ship follows at a safe distance. The probe is indestructible, but the ship is not. Do you have what it takes to brave the dangers and complete your mission?

Roles: Mobile Systems Designer, Level Designer, Project Lead, Programming, UI/UX Designer

Notable Contributions:

Created the design, documentation, prototypes, and vertical slice in Unity.
Planned levels, created UI prototype, and scripted content using C# and popular Unity plugins including Playmaker and NGUI.
Led a small art, programming, and design team in expanding the the mobile game from prototype to alpha.
Honorable Mention and Award Winner for Mobile Game Design at the AAU Spring Show 2013 and 2014.

Into the Dark Nebula Trailer ~~2:14~~

ItDN: Course Select

ItDN: Text UI

ItDN: Power Select

Into the Dark Nebula

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▼ Midnight Sea Web Studios Mobile

(June 2011 – August 2013)

Synopsis: Midnight Sea Web Studios created several prototype mobile games over 2 years geared toward casual gamers. A small team of up to 10 developers created a variety of types of indie games to explore and study the art of game development. Games ranged from 3D Metroidvania-style games to 2D retro pixel games.

Roles: Game Designer, Project Lead, UI/UX Designer

Notable Contributions:

While under one- to two-week deadlines as the sole implementer: designed, documented, and prototyped for Lava be Risn’, I Just Want to Sleep, First Snow, Pixel Particle, and Into the Dark Nebula in Unity.
As lead designer, led a small team of artists, programmers, and designers in creating the metroidvania-style game prototype for Elusia: The Fallen Utopia in UDK.

Lava be Risin' ~~1:19~~

Lava be Risin'

Elusia: Fallen Utopia

Elusia Level

I Just Want to Sleep

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▼ Plight of the Water Deity (Prototype)

(January 2012 – May 2013)

Synopsis: Plight of the Water Deity is a 3D action game, in the style of God of War, focused on the journey of a female swordsman named Mina. With the intent of following a pilgrimage for her mother, Mina became conscripted into the water goddess’s service to defeat a new threat. This prototype focused on the level and content experience.

Roles: Level Designer, Content Designer, Solo Implementer

Notable Contributions:

Designed and documented the introduction area of Plight of the Water Deity.
Created traditional level-design layouts with pencil and paper, and executed the design using BSP in UDK3—inspiring team members and directors for the art direction.
Scripted level events through use of UDK3 Kismet state machine and coding in C++.
Awarded an Honorable Mention for Level Design in AAU Spring Show 2012.

PotWD Overview ~~6:26~~

Plight of the Water Deity

Paper Map: PotWD

Timeline: PotWD

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▼ Additional Skills

(June 2006 – May 2016)

Summary: Through my education and personal interest I’ve developed skills and fortified talents in several areas across the arts. During both of my degrees I also spent a great deal of time studying the liberal arts including anthropology and philosophy. With nearly two decades of experience in visual design and over a year of teaching college courses, I’ve developed strong techniques utilizing visual communication to clearly deliver ideas and discussions with a cross-disciplinary team.

Areas of Practice: