Lee Varley

Game Director and Lead Designer on the Award Winning Mutant Year Zero.

• Provided and set up all design related processes and pipelines for the studio, using agile methodologies built pipelines covering Level production, game design and feature development.
• Stepped up as replacement Game Director for a project that was close to being cancelled. Organized the team identifying strengths, developed a new vision and re-pitched the project. This regained publisher and investor confidence and ultimately led to the release of an award winning title.
• Secured funding for two games by working with the team to develop strong concepts, then developed the pitches which lead to successful signing.
• Created the world building and over 30 maps in unreal 4 for the Mutant Year Zero title. Developed a fast and flexible level production process that allowed a team of three to build and deliver over 15 hours of high quality gameplay.
• Acted in the role of Lead Game Designer, built balance sheets and processes for the fast and effective development of innovative game features such as ambient and combat AI, deep tactical combat, Progression etc (The highly regarded Stealth Features in Mutant Year Zero was a product of this).
  
  
  
  
  
  

Lead and Principle Level Designer responsible for the Level Design Process and Quality on HITMAN.

• Put in place with fellow discipline leads a robust level production process, this allowed proper gating of map production, ensured stakeholder sign offs at the correct points and allowed for smooth development of complex maps involving many team members.
• Setup and maintain map metrics and best practices. This resulted in smooth cooperation with other disciplines and gameplay consistency across maps.
• Developed and prototyped solutions to the “Hitman is too hardcore” problem. Prototyped with the game design team the opportunities system. This allowed less experienced players to get a tight and fun experience out of the levels without compromising the sandbox nature Hitman is known for.
• Was hands on and flexible when needed. Maintained high levels of editor tool knowledge so I could jump in if needed to help finish maps, bug fix or re-scope areas when needed.
• Mentored and led a team of 14 Level Designers covering lots of different experience and skill levels. Helped designers identify strengths, growth opportunities and provided feedback when needed. This resulted in a tight, highly collaborative team who excelled in delivering the award winning Hitman Season 1 maps.
• Worked closely with the Game Director to playtest and iterate the maps, making sure quality feedback gets into the Level designers hands resulting in fast and effective design iteration.
  

Lead Game Designer on Hitman Absolution.

• Quickly promoted into the Lead Game Design Position for Hitman Absolution I collaborated closely with the gameplay coders to build some simple but promising Hitman features. This was seen by the Game Director as showing strong initiative and got me moved into Game Design then shortly after into the Lead Game Designer position.
• Lead the design of Hitmans NPC AI. Worked closely with the Lead AI Coder to define the complex ambient AI of Hitman, identifying with the Lead Level Designer tools needed for setup and building many test cases for QA. This resulted in a complex ambient AI that served as the backbone for the “living breathing world” of the Hitman games of today.
• Lead the design of Hitmans Combat. Working closely with the Gameplay Director, I researched, designed and balanced the combat gameplay covering close combat and ranged combat AI. This resulted in the “hunted becomes the hunter” combat that blends tense stealth gameplay and fierce weapon based combat, allowing players to seamlessly dip in and out of each.
• Designed and built the vertical slice map. Was the level designer on the “Death Factory” map that was used as a feature test bed, and the vertical slice map. This resulted in a singular location that demonstrated game features and visuals for the studio, and external publishing and marketing.
• Helped out Level Design when needed. Was always happy to bug fix, and even revamp entire maps when needed. This resulted in being a reliable go to guy for the production team been able to help when an extra pair of hands when needed.

Level designer on Hitman Absolution.

• Initial 2D layout, 3D block out and setup of a number of levels within a very early engine and tool environment, allowing the team to better understand tool and engine requirements.
  Worked closely with the level design team to define metrics and best practices.
  
  

Provided Game and Level design for the following titles.
• Lemmings PSN
• Lemmings PSP / PS2
• Worms 4 Mayhem
• Worms Forts

• Delivered both single player and multiplayer maps using custom 2D and 3D engines making use of LUA scripting.
• Designed new cartoon style weapons and features for the Worms series of games.