Ben Stoddard - Level Design Portfolio

Lost Boys Interactive

Senior Level Designer - 2022-2024

At Lost Boys Interactive I worked on a total of four different projects in differing capacities covering level design, encounter design, gameplay scripting, mission design, systems design, and tech design. I was also involved in the interviewing process for bringing on several designers and acted as a mentor for other designers offering feedback and guidance to resolve issues.

None of these projects are announced or showable at the moment. This page lists my contributions per project.

Unannounced First Person Tactical Shooter

I was the owner of 6 levels across the game primarily driving level design and gameplay scripting of encounters.

Responsibilities:

• Stood up initial gameplay flow in regards to checkpoints, AI spawning, encounters, objective flow and necessary cinematic scripting.

• Participated in weekly playtests and gave feedback on other designers levels.

• Roughed in scripted sequences using Unreal Sequencer.

• Regularly scrubbed through other designers backlogs to address issues as we moved into polish phases of the project.

• Took the initiative to learn new systems and tackle an assortment of random tasks such as creating audio banks for character voice over, finding solutions for AI navigation issues, and generating comparative analysis of various aspects of the project.

Unannounced First Person Shooter

I owned a boss encounter area of the one level our team was responsible for. I was also responsible for all mission design scripting for the main mission and side missions throughout the level.

Responsibilities:

• Scripted the main mission throughout the zone using the narrative script as a template.

• Scripted 5 side missions and generated all associated files necessary such as item pickups, mission NPCs and enemies.

• Designed and blocked out boss encounter mini zone.

Pitch Projects

I worked on two separate Pitch Projects; One was a cover based first person shooter the other was an open world stealth centric survival game.

Responsibilities:

• Designed level ensuring a varied gameplay experience roughly 15 minutes long.

• Scripted gameplay, including encounter design and checkpoint flow, bringing level to a polished state.

• Blocked in cinematics using Unreal Sequencer.

• Scripted narrative setups in game using Large Language Model software.

• Pitched, documented, and designed key gameplay systems in Unreal 5.

• Created weapons, equipment, interactable items, game flow states, abilities, an inventory and crafting system using resource pickups.

• Encouraged a collaborative environment mentoring other designers offering feedback, advice, or help when needed.