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Sam Hooser

AAA Encounter, Combat and Level Designer

Projects

Unannounced MMORPG | Encounter Designer
400+ Team Members | 3 Years 2022-2025 | Cancelled

  • Provided detailed feedback on proprietary tools to tools engineers to improve workflows and deliver needed features for Encounter work.

  • Designed and championed Encounter, Activity, and Combatant features through documentation and early prototype iterations.

  • Designed and maintained several combatant designs that included combatant loadouts, abilities, traversals, and intended play and counterplay dynamics.

  • Designed, iterated on, and prototyped world activities complete with objectives and encounter beats.

  • Oversaw all encounter work for a large milestone deliverable that included collaborating across all involved disciplines and responding to incoming feedback to improve the overall gameplay experience.

Fortnite | Gameplay Designer
100+ Team Members | 10 Months 2021-2022 | PC/Xbox/PS/Switch/OS
  • Designed, prototyped, implemented and maintained prototypes from their early stage to final launch for an upcoming unannounced season of Fortnite
  • Collaborated across disciplines to integrate updated assets and fix bugs
  • Created and updated design documents to inform the team of design intentions as well as asset hookups
  • Provided and accepted critical feedback surrounding new seasonal items and their impact on the game as a whole
Space Smack! | Gameplay Designer
10 Team Members | 4 Months, 2020 | PC/Steam
  • Designed, Prototyped, and Iterated on 5 different minigames
  • Collaborated with a cross-discipline intercultural team to solve problems
  • Collected, Organized, and Responded to various sources of feedback
  • Defined milestone deliverables and planned out tasks for myself and team
  • Maintained detailed documentation for each minigame from creation to final launch
Haberdashers | System Designer/Programmer
60 Team Members | 4 Months, 2020 | PC/Steam
  • Designed, prototyped and balanced 5 unique pickups
  • Prototyped and iterated on coin boost system and boost pads
  • Collaborated across discipline to integrate finalized assets, vfx, and animations
  • Created and maintained detailed docs describing how to use my systems

Skills

Design

  • Level Design
  • Systems Design
  • Game Design
  • Encounter Design
  • Gameplay Design
  • Combat Design

Scripting

  • UE4/5 Blueprinting
  • Level Scripting
  • Encounter Scripting
  • Mechanical Prototyping

Software

  • Houdini
  • UE4/5
  • Unity
  • Photoshop
  • 3DS Max

Soft Skills

  • Collaboration
  • Public Speaking
  • Technical Documentation
  • Problem Solving
  • Adaptive

Thesis

Best Practices for Using Common Fears to Increase Tension
  • Custom 2 level campaign in Left 4 Dead 2 Source SDK
  • Uses principles from Dead Space, Metro: Last Exodus, Dying Light and Mirror's Edge
  • Designing Level Layouts to incorporate techniques from existing game series to control tension

Education

SMU Guildhall

Plano, TX

Texas A&M University

College Station, TX
  • Master of Interactive Technology in Level Design
  • May 2021
  • BS in Visualization
  • Minor in Game Design & Development
  • December 2018
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