High on Life: High on Knife

High on Knife's launch trailer.

Description

High on Knife is a DLC adventure/mini-sequel for the comedy FPS High on Life, set two years after the events of the first game. In this adventure, you track down a mysterious package meant for one of your companions that has gone missing, and uncover the mystery and its source.

I worked on this project as an Associate Content Designer, and High on Knife was released in Oct 2023.

My Role as Associate Content Designer

Worked on the Australia II level, designing its blockout, narrative setup and NPC scripting, documentation, and feature specs.
Tuned, polished, and bugfixed roaming NPCs and traversal paths in the Peroxis level.

Worked with department leads on designing the Squash Court minigame, iterating and balancing based on mission requirements and playtest feedback data.
Worked on combat, level design, and puzzle experimentation for use across game levels

Gameplay video of Australia II from High on Knife.

Australia II Level

I was primarily responsible for the design, grayboxing, and scripting on the Australia II level from the player's arrival to right before the flying minigame section. Additionally, I was responsible for NPC scripting, documentation, and creating specs for some present and unused features.

The goal of the Australia II level was to provide a narrative conclusion to Knifey's backstory and the player's adventure as a whole. I designed the level to take the shape of a small cliff face on a desolate world in accordance with the directors' vision of Australia II being a barren world at the far reaches of the cosmos. I also worked with environment artists and the art director to best capture that desolate uninhabitable aesthetic, with towering mountain peaks that look like knives piercing throughout the whole skyline.

I was also responsible for mission and NPC scripting, with earlier versions of the level having more complex NPC interactions and the potential to return to the world upon completion of the mission.

Gameplay video of the "Peroxosquash" minigame and sub-objective mission.

Squash Court Minigame

I was tasked with creating a minigame that would tutorialize the player's newly-acquired gun-companion, "B.A.L.L.". The directors' vision was for the player to learn the weapon's mechanics through playing the minigame, before progressing forward in the level and applying the mechanics in combat and puzzles.

I worked on the its design, implementation, and mission scripting, working collaboratively with fellow designers and the narrative team to bring the minigame from conception to polish. From the start of the sub-objective where the player has to talk to the instructor slug, to the completion of the minigame and forward progress of the level, I worked on its the mission scripting and implementation.

Video starting at 24:47 demonstrating some traversal and combat in a traversable space. Fear not the thumbnail!

Area Traversal Polish

Across the main levels of High on Knife, I was responsible for conducting traversal walkability passes and polish. An example of this was conducting mantle markup passes for geometry that looked mantle-able, such as the edges of cliffs or rocks, and testing to make sure that mantling such surfaces felt smooth and natural.

Another example of the responsibilities included in traversal polish work was adding visual indicators to tetherable surfaces. Through the Peroxis level, there are certain tetherable surfaces which I lined with reflective material to help indicate to the player that they are tetherable. This practice was an extension of my previous work in High on Life where I similarly conducted traversal polish work across all levels.