Vanguard: Normandy 1944
Multiplayer Level Designer (April 2014 – November 2018 // part-time)
Collaborated with international volunteers to form Pathfinder Games and co-develop a historically accurate multiplayer shooter set during D-Day, culminating in the commercial release of Vanguard: Normandy 1944 on Steam.
Prototyped map layouts and level designs using CryEngine.
Contributed to overall game design by working on weapon setup, balancing, and player/UX enhancements.
Led content creation for the successful 2018 Kickstarter campaign by producing media assets – including blog posts, updates, press kits, fact sheets, and Steam store visuals.
Pegasus Bridge
Pegasus Bridge was one of our most popular levels, distinguished by its fast-paced action and an iconic landmark at its center. I inherited the level from another Level Designer and iterated on it based on player feedback.
My main responsibilities were:
Gameplay implementation and balancing
Environment art, set dressing, level detail
Optimisation
Blockout of Benouville town
Iterative design based on player feedback and critique
A major design challenge was the bridge, which doubled as a prominent landmark and a central choke point. Based on player feedback, this area underwent numerous layout revisions and experiments with different engagement distances. Many players hesitated to cross the bridge’s long sight-lines, so I introduced additional cover to encourage faster, close-quarters combat while providing cover from the enemy overwatch positions.
I also leveraged verticality to enable long-range combat between the café, bridge control tower, and catwalk. To ensure fair sightlines on the bridge, I repositioned the café further to the left and added window shutters as visual blockers, effectively separating roles for riflemen and close-quarters players.
Vanguard - Pegasus Bridge Walkthrough.mp4
Merville Battery
Upon joining the team, I took over the development of Merville and rebuilt the level from the ground up. The original design was overly focused on long-range combat, resulted in poor sight-lines, and offered little variation in combat hubs and capture points. With the game’s core value being historical accuracy, we prioritised frequent playtesting to strike the right balance between visual aesthetics and engaging gameplay. Our goal was to craft a fun, immersive experience that honoured both history and dynamic gameplay.
The key issues I identified from early playtests and iterated on were:
The British spawn location was too far from initial PvP engagements.
There were too few access points to the Battery, limiting flanking opportunities.
The town needed enhancements to deliver more exciting close-quarters combat.
There was a lack of effective flanking routes into the Chateau and gardens.
The Battery area suffered from minimal terrain variation.
Players needed clearer guidance toward combat with well-defined boundaries.
Vanguard - Merville Battery Walkthrough.mp4
Lion
Lion contains a mixture of tight urban combat, large open fields with long sightlines, and everything in between. I took over the level from another Level Designer where I was then responsible for:
Iterative design based on player feedback and critique
Further expansion of the town
Gameplay implementation and balancing
Environment art, level detailing and set dressing
Optimization
The biggest challenge with this map was a combination of balancing the sightlines and guiding PvP combat routes. Our principle game mode, Raid, has a heavy emphasis on attack/defence with limited spawns, and with its varied combat areas this was a challenging aspect to iterate on. I opened up flanks leading towards objectives, carefully placed long sightlines for sniping, and closed off certain parts of the map to help with player direction and focusing PvP combat.