Call of Duty: MWZ

Intern Game Designer

Company

Treyarch

Tenure

May 2023 - Aug 2023

Tools Used

Proprietary C-Based Scripting Language
- GSC, GDT
Radiant Game Engine
Perforce
Photoshop
Jira and Confluence

Overview

During my internship in 2023, I had the incredible opportunity to collaborate with the Zombies team on MWZ. While some of my contributions remain under NDA, I can share insights into my experience and the skills I developed during this time.

I began the internship by familiarizing myself with the team's proprietary tools, dedicating the first month to mastering their functionality and understanding the workflows. Once acclimated, I transitioned to working on AI behavior systems. This included conducting A/B testing on ragdoll physics and designing a test map specifically for evaluating AI performance in larger map scenarios. These initiatives played a role in refining and expanding AI capabilities within MWZ

My Role

This internship solidified my understanding of game design pipelines, deepened my technical skills, and emphasized the value of collaboration and organization in creating cohesive player experiences.

Was A part of the Intern Chronicles

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Prototyping & Scripting:
Scripted in-engine using a proprietary C-based scripting language to develop and showcase design prototypes.
Documented the created prototypes, ensuring clarity and ease of understanding for future iterations.

Combat Systems Testing:
Conducted A/B testing of combat loops in large map applications, comparing implementations from Cold War to the in-development MWZ.
Collaborated on refining AI behavior systems, helping to communicate and expand existing functionalities.

Example of a Screenshot used to A/B test

Example of Vision Cones Used to Visualize some of the existing behavior systems

Key Takeaways:

Emphasis on Documentation:"Documentation, documentation, documentation" thorough record-keeping is vital for effective communication and development continuity. QA also uses documentation for testing so out of date documentation can lead to a lot of non-bugs being documented..Celebrate Progress:Recognize small victories ("Find your wins") to maintain motivation and momentum. Tool Mastery:Gained a deep understanding of APE, the proprietary toolset used to develop gameplay systems.Collaboration Best Practices:Take a breath and sync often: Syncing to the Source Control can take time so setting time to sync up properly is very importantDebugging and asking questions: Proactively seeking help leads to faster problem resolution and skill growth.Use the correct medium to present findings: Tailoring communication to the audience ensures impact.Studio-Specific Design Sensibilities:Developed insights into how gameplay values and philosophies differ between studios at Call of Duty, there's a lot of moving parts and also a lot of big ideas.Organization Skills:Applied effective naming conventions for better project management.Focused on framing and delivering actionable feedback.Designing EconomicallyLearned to consider the broader impact of small design changes on gameplay and systems.