NFL Pro Era
Summary of Contributions
I designed and created the career mode for each title.
I used my dad’s real voice and our original “coach” voice to create over 1200 audio lines using AI via Eleven Labs
I helped plan and design the locker room in each years title.
I designed and created a progression system that used what the player was doing right and wrong within the game and give them audio feedback based their actions.
I lead the design team each year, guiding the designers on their process and how to be better designers. I also mentored QA analysts into becoming Associate Designers on the team.
Learning what works in VR
NFL Pro Era was a great way to learn what works and what doesn't work for sports games in VR. As a former college football player, I brought a lot of anecdotal design experience as the Lead Designer of the game, but VR really made you re-think how to bring out the fun in football.
Instead of focusing on multiple positions, the "holy grail" of our game was how the quarterback position fits perfectly into accessible VR game design. Since the QB starts looking forward and throws the ball forward, the user would easily be able to understand how the game works in VR and not have to worry about massive body movements and head turning. Sticking to this as a design tenet helped us focus on how to make design decisions that never contracted that the VR accessibility gift we were given.
NFL Pro Era
The first game, NFL Pro Era, was our first title and we wanted to make sure we had everything the user expected from a sports title: a Season mode where the user could play the real 2022 NFL season, a locker room that grounded the user in the world of a real NFL player, and Online Mini-Games where the users could be social and play some fun quick games. The reception was extremely good so we wanted to expand on what worked in the first year and do it even bigger in the next year.
NFL Pro Era 2
The second game, NFL Pro Era 2, was a perfect time to create another layer around our existing game loops and make the game more immersive. I designed and created Coach Confidence which is an event-based progression system where the user would be graded on their performance on the field. The better you do, the more confidence the coach will have in you which will result in unlocking new game mechanics like being able to run a no-huddle offense. But if you start playing bad, your coach confidence will start to drop and the coach will take those game mechanics away from you.
NFL Pro Era 3
In the latest game NFL Pro Era game, I decided to try something that had never been done before in a sports video game. I designed and created an Audio feedback system that worked seamlessly in the Coach Confidence event system so the players would get live feedback in the hudddle from teammates and coaches on how they were doing. For example, if you were having a good drive, but had not passed the ball to your star receiver yet, that star receiver might speak out in the huddle and ask for the ball to passed to him. The entire system was built with a tool called DRIFT, which was tied to animation, audio and game mechanics.
What I did: Was the Lead designer for all of the single player features. Led the design of all core features for the third title. Wrote, edited and tuned all of the game design documentation for each game. Mentored QA developers into being designers on the team.
Studio: Status Pro
Platforms: Meta Quest, PSVR, Steam
Critical Reception: 4.0+/5 on each title. First game sold over 1 million copies
Project Length: Each title was 12 months.
Engine and tools: Unity, Adobe Suite, Confluence and Google Docs