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Shane Nielsen
Game Designer
Specializing in Multiplayer, Systems and Quest/Level Design
Killshot Bravo Anchor
Mission Designer
Killshot Bravo
Description: Killshot Bravo is a F2P mobile FPS game where the player uses their arsenal of weaponry to defeat evil terrorist forces and zombies in a modern futuristic setting.
Notable Achievements:
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Scripted over 400 missions over 15 regions on monthly development cycles
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Achieved "like" ratings over 85% for all missions
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Designed a new mode called "Stealth Ops" which was released in September 2018
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Acquired social media recognition for fun and engaging mission content
Eyes in the Sky
Eyes in the sky
Goal: The goal of this mission was to give the player a strong sense of power as they gun down soldiers behind enemy lines from a helicopter. This is comes crashing down with sudden intensity as they are ambushed and hit by a stray rocket spinning out of control on the way down.
Inspiration: Black Hawk Down helicopter crash scene.
Tasks:
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Custom scripting of the helicopter crash sequence.
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Planning and white boxing initial layout.
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Iterative mission polish passes.
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Mission-specific prop placement.
Details:
Region 36
Primary Mission 11
Weapon Type: MG
Beats 1/2: I started the first two beats of the mission off by adding in lots of enemy soldiers mixed in with explosive barrels to start off with an easy difficulty curve. After many playthroughs on my polish pass, I added in the explosive barrels to balance the difficulty of helicopter sway.
Beat 3: The third beat was added to test the player's ability at shooting multiple targets at a further range without the help of explosive barrels and the added intensity of Anti-Tank lasers. The enemies of this beat were spaced out closer in pods to help with sporadic bullet spray.
Beat 4: The fourth beat had many iterations. Our engine has many limitations so adding in the crash scene required me to hide an additional crashed helicopter that the player passes through at the end of the mission. We cannot spawn/despawn props through triggers so I used the enemy units on the rooftop and the Drones that followed to pull the player's attention upwards to the sky as you pass over the crash scene. This was combined with the use of props to cover the lower view of the crash scene.
Beat 5 (Helicopter Crash): The fifth beat is intended to be the grand finale. My first iterations had many units surrounding the player shooting at them as you spiral down. Although it was a really cool moment I had to cut most of the units due to it being really hard to hit them as you spin. I did keep the one Anti-Tank unit though because he manages to get a shot off at the player which you get to see fly at you in slow motion. If a player is skilled enough they can kill the Anti-Tank unit before it fires a missile or hit the missile in mid-air to prevent it from damaging you.
Beat 6: The last beat was added to maintain a high intensity of being shot down and ambushed behind enemy lines. I give the player almost no time to adjust to their surroundings as they are again ambushed by another squad of enemy soldiers. The melee knifeman that attacks the player is given an energy shield to increase his durability and lead the player's eye to more enemy units below.
Leap of Faith
Leap of Faith
Goal: This mission was the third and last of its type where the player jumps across huge building gaps to rooftops below. For the finale, I wanted to create an epic gameplay moment where the player jumps a massive gap off a crane, crashing through a glass window in the opposing building as they surprise enemy soldiers inside.
Inspiration: Casino Royale intro chase scene.
Tasks:
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Collaboration between the art team and I to create the smashing window moment.
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Planning and white boxing the layout.
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Iterative mission polish passes.
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Mission-specific prop placement.
Details:
Region 30
Breach Mission 7
Weapon Type: Shotgun
Beat 1: I started the mission off by having patrolling energy drones passing by the players LOS. The challenge here is to hit multiple drones with a shot before they become alerted to the player. After the player fires the first shot they will have to use the same skill to hit multiple shields with each shot.
Beat 2: The second beat is used to pull the player's attention and surprise them before the gap. The enemy knifemen are spaced out and positioned to give the player just enough time between shots to keep them at bay as more enemy drones move in for the kill. The challenge here is to kill the knifemen rapidly enough while utilizing the slow motion they give the player to kill the drones. If a player misses a shot or misses the timing of the beat the drones damage output will kill them.
Beats 3/4 (The leap of faith!): This beat was added because we rarely get to add in helicopters in short range Breach missions. I wanted to give the player an epic kill before an epic jump. As the helicopter explodes the player jumps over it beginning the huge gap through the glass below. This scene required a lot of collaboration between the art team and I as we needed to create a custom animation of the glass breaking as the mission plays thorugh. I chose to end the mission here with easy enemies to kill so the killshot had shards of glass flying through the air.
Notable Achievement: This mission was used in our marketing video for the region release!
Cliff Jumping
Cliff Jumping
Goal: This mission was created to showcase the thrill of jumping off massive cliffs while challenging the player to shoot enemies in mid-air.
Inspiration: Cliff jumping with friends on my holidays.
Tasks:
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Planning and white boxing the layout.
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Iterative mission polish passes.
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Mission-specific prop placement.
Details:
Region 32
Primary Mission 25
Weapon Type: Dual Wield Pistols
Beat 1: The mission begins by revealing an enemy unit to the player and have him immediately run away. This mission is a blocker mission so I broke the regular gameplay loop by having the player start by chasing the enemy. This moment is a fun and engaging opportunity that offers the player a chance to test their skill. Depending on how successful the player is at killing one or both enemies that come into their view while mid-air will increase or decrease the next waves difficulty. Both enemies that jump rally up with new waves in the future beats. They also act as an indicator of where the player is going to end up and what they are about to face.
Beat 2: The second beat has more enemies crashing down into the players view that quickly engage the player. The challenge for this beat is to toggle between shooting the enemy mechs weak points and weakening the energy shields of the enemy snipers that land. The snipers add a sense of danger because the player will instantly die if their timer counts down and the mechs damage output leaves the players view in a bloody overlay adding pressure to the engagement.
Beat 3: The last beat is revealed to the player as one of the first enemies in the mission jumps over to assist them. Once the player finishes up with the second wave they know where to look and where to shoot as they leap towards the next beats location. This mission highly encourages the use of consumables as hitting weak points mid-air at long distances is quite difficult while offering the player a chance to preemptively weaken the enemies before landing and engaging.
Notable Achievement: If a player uses consumables and completes the mission mid-air they are rewarded with a cool mid-air jumping Killshot animation.
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