MechWarrior Online™ Legends.

Helped optimize monthly patches with innovative content alongside the MechWarrior community to generate a surge in player engagement.

Role

  • Junior Game Designer

Tools

  • PGI MechBuilder
  • XML

Contributions

  • Game Design
  • Game Balance
  • Player Feedback

Date

September 2022 - September 2023

Project Overview.

What is MechWarrior Online™ Legends?

MechWarrior Online™ Legends is a multiplayer 'Mech shooter where players can choose from a vast array of 'Mechs from the BattleTech universe and battle against one another in a 12v12 metagame. Players can engage in Quickplay, Faction Play, and Event Queue gamemodes to earn currency and 'Mech EXP to unlock more weapons, equipment, skills. and 'Mechs to craft their perfect loadout.

"All Systems Nominal."

Responsibilities.

'Mech Design and Implementation

Aided in designing and implementing loadouts, mobility stats, and quirks (unique stat boosts) for Legendary 'Mechs on a monthly basis. Contributed to the ideation sessions with other designers to procure aesthetic concepts, loadouts, and unique quirks for Legendary 'Mechs. Implemented loadouts and quirks for Special Variants with unique skins such as Platinum 'Mechs for each patch.

Monthly Balance Patches / Playerbase Communication

Communicated with The Cauldron — a community of seasoned MechWarrior veterans to implement 'Mech, weapon, and equipment patches on a monthly basis to balance and diversify the metagame.

QA Collaboration / Design Documentation

Collaborated with the QA team and lead to ensure the veracity of the loadouts, mobility stats, and quirks for Legendary 'Mechs and Special Variants through writing comprehensive documentation. Debugged monthly balance patches.

A Bit of Voice Acting!

Lent my voice to some of the Legendary 'Mechs such as the AS7-W 'Warlord' and the QKD-D 'Despedara' (my personal favourite, an anime-themed 'Mech!).

Legendary 'Mech Examples:

In-game screenshot of the Desperada. By the power of anime!
In-game screenshot of the Warlord. Fatality.
In-game screenshot of the Moonwalker, one of the first Legends I implemented.
In-game screenshot of the Gorewing. Custom painted my personal one with green!
And...the infamous UwU voiceline for the Desperada. Still don't know how I did that...

Design Challenges.

Problem

The main issue I encountered while collaborating in the ideation sessions was choosing from the hundreds of 'Mech chassis and procuring a Legendary concept/theme for its aesthetics and loadout. The team also had to take into consideration whether adding a Legend to a chassis' arsenal would create some sort of power-creep. As such, the proposed solution was to ensure that the Legendary 'Mechs had their own unique combat niches apart from its other chassis via unique quirks, mobility stats, and weaponry, and to choose the chassis that were highly requested from the playerbase or needed a buff.

Solution

To hone in on a main Legend concept, the team mainly garnered inspiration from media or folklore. For instance, The VGL-GW Gorewing, one of the 'Mechs I helped design, was a concept inspired by the Manananggal — a monster from Filipino folklore that is able to detach their upper body to fly and hunt prey with its long tongue. To narrow down the chassis for this concept, the team gathered the ones that were adept at aerial combat. Thus, the Vapor Eagle was selected, as it was a medium-tonnage 'Mech known for its capacity to house multiple jump jets and laser weapons to enable "poptart" playstyle (flying up in the air and poking enemies with laser weapons from afar, then returning down to cover). The main quirks given were a full 360 degree torso rotation and reduced fall damage to emulate the Manananggal's detaching upper body, along with jump jets and long-range weaponry (ballistics and lasers) to emulate its hunting capabilities.

Results.

A Fresh and Exciting Metagame.

Players reported renewed excitement with the new Legends rebranding, monthly 'Mech content, and metagame shake-ups — yielding increased sales, engagement, and very positive reviews on Steam. This facilitated lots of discourse and videos amongst the community as well regarding these new 'Mechs. Some of them are hilarious.

The community's reaction to the Desperada. Valid.

"UwU."

- QKD-D Desperada / Mark Robles

Reflection & Skills Gained

MechWarrior Online was the first industry game I've worked on. Having essentially zero knowledge of the BattleTech universe, it was a daunting task to hop into the cockpit. Despite being a noob in the industry and to this fandom, I strived to work hard and sharpen my design skills in every aspect to the best of my ability. I met so many amazing people through this project, and I believe that these experiences will be the stepping stones to building a future in this career path.

Through this experience, I was able to bolster my design skills in many facets; mainly the autonomy to create, document, and efficiently implement content before deadlines. My collaborative skills between cross-disciplinary teams and the playerbase was also a skill I gained through working on MechWarrior Online. I also really enjoyed interacting with the community and voice-acting for 'Mechs!