MechWarrior 5: Clans.

Worked with cross-disciplinary teams — designing and implementing mission briefing content to mark the return of a narrative-focused MechWarrior title.

Visit the MechWarrrior 5: Clans website here.

Role

  • Intermediate Game Designer

Tools

  • Unreal Engine 5
  • Excel

Contributions

  • Narrative Systems
  • Content Design
  • Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration

Date

June 2024 - January 2025

Project Overview.

What is MechWarrior 5: Clans?

MechWarrior 5: Clans is a single-player, narrative-driven PVE BattleMech simulator. Players follow the story of Clan Smoke Jaguar and their endeavors to reclaim their homelands from the Inner Sphere tyrants. Players will experience this through the eyes of Jayden the protagonist, as he leads his squadron of 5 'Mechs across a multitude of planets to bring glory to the Smoke Jaguar name.

"We were made for this."

Responsibilities.

Mission Briefing Design / Documentation

Designed and implemented content for 37 mission briefing sequences. Comprehensively documented mission briefing design process/tools and reported to lead design producers to ensure that mission briefings met quality assurance standards.

Narrative Systems Implementation

Worked closely with lead narrative designers to implement and review over 3000 lines of dialogue for mission briefing sequences, cinematics, and in-game levels for over 20 playable and non-playable characters.

Audio / Quality Assurance

Aided in implementing and bug-fixing audio files for all in-game content. Ensured that audio files matched the character and dialogue line they were assigned to for quality assurance. Reported any audio anomalies to the lead audio director.

Art and Texture Generation

Cooperated with engineering and art teams to generate 74 diffuse and heightmap textures and 15 Points of Interest 3D assets to ensure that mission briefing content effectively communicated the details and objectives of a mission.

Mission Briefing Examples:

In-game screenshot of the "Touchdown" mission briefing for the Santander Arc.
In-game screenshot of the "Invasion Begins" mission briefing for the Turtle Bay Arc.
In-game screenshot of the "Redemption" mission briefing for the Courchevel Arc.
In-game screenshot of the "Dragon Slayer" mission briefing for the Turtle Bay Crusader Arc.

Design Challenges.

Problem

The main challenge that came up during the mission briefing designs process was the pacing. That is to say that a lot of briefings had large exposition, with nothing to visually aid the player through the dialogue (before the map textures and Point of Interest assets were shown). This resulted in a lot of skipping, which defeated the purpose of briefing the player of the mission objectives.

Solution

The solution was to incorporate more relevant images and assets to fill in these voids and tie them to the dialogue. Thanks to collaborations with the Technical Art and UX/UI teams, we were able to actualize this with implementing holographic images of assets such as planets, enemy NPCs, enemy factions, and adding zoom-in capabilities to map textures — resulting in more dynamic, well-paced mission briefings that bolsters the clarity of mission objectives and entices players to watch a briefing in its entirety.

A holographic image Helmar Valasek, the leader of Santander's Killers; a group that the player has to eliminate during the campaign.

Results.

Narrative-Driven Satisfaction.

Players and critics alike praised the return of a narrative-focused MechWarrior title, yielding an average of 80% reviews on various platforms such as PC Gamer and Metacritic, and a Mostly Positive review base on Steam.

I also got credited for the design on mission briefings! It's quite surreal to have your name immortalized in the credits of a video game.

TTB, one of the MechWarrior community's most prominent content creators, commenting on mission briefings. Shoutout to TTB!

"MechWarrior 5: Clans gives us an excellent storyline culled straight from the novels, combined with cutting edge graphics and gameplay."

- GamingTrend, Metacritic

Reflection & Skills Gained

Working on my first-ever release was an extremely enjoyable and humbling experience, especially within the cross-disciplinary space. Due to my brimming passion to deliver the most polished project to the table, I worked tirelessly to meet deadlines, especially during weekends, to ensure that the goal was achieved. But don't fret! This was concocted with a healthy balance of hanging out with friends, family, and working out.

Through this experience, I was able to grow intensively as a cross-disciplinary team-player, as I was constantly communicating and actualizing project goals between different teams. As such, I further honed my creative and communicative capabilities, as well as my efficiency and technical skills in working within the Unreal Engine 5 software. But the most important thing I gained was the revitalizing camaraderie between the teams. There's just something beautiful about people coming together and working industriously and fervently to achieve a common goal. This is an important lesson I will take with me in my journey along this career path.