New World (2021)
Amazon Game Studios — Level Designer (World Experience & Zone Design)
Contributed to New World’s launch-era open-world endgame content: 26 elite group POIs, server-synchronized spectacle, and pipeline patterns that scaled to future content like time-of-day events and large world moments.
New World (2021)
Shipped world content focused on repeatable endgame group play and high-visibility open-world moments built in close collaboration with environment art, creatures, audio/VFX, and server tech.
Overview
At launch, New World needed repeatable, readable endgame loops that could live in the open world and create social gravity: players forming groups, routing through dangerous spaces, and learning a shared “language” of threats, rewards, and traversal.
My work centered on authored elite Points of Interest tuned for group encounter flow and emergent routing, plus foundational patterns for server-synchronized spectacle and time-based spawning that later informed larger-scale events.
Contributions
- Authored 26 elite open-world POIs with an emphasis on encounter flow, readable group combat spaces, and reward routing, in collaboration with environment art, creatures, and server.
- Wrote encounter design guidelines for elite POIs, covering routing clarity, escalation patterns, “hold vs. push” spaces, and how to reuse systems to create variety without breaking readability.
- Created the Ghost Ship world event: a server-synchronized spectacle integrating VFX, audio, and world scripting for a shared “moment” players could rally around.
- Produced a repeatable documentation template for server-synchronized spectacle moments, later reused as a starting point for future large-scale world beats.
- Co-developed new spawn tech that enabled spawning schedules based on random chance or time-of-day with tech and server to support time-based encounters and world beats.
- Established documentation patterns for world content pipelines to reduce ambiguity between design intent, implementation steps, and live sustainment.
- Contributed lore notes, including authored writing such as The Cannonomicon.
“… he took over all elite POIs in the game. He added unique gameplay elements in them and creatively used existing mechanics to engage players with emergent gameplay.”
Ghost Ship World Event
Co-developed a server-synchronized open-world spectacle designed to create a shared, time-bound spectacle: a clear callout, strong audio/visual presence, and a rare random chance.
The goal was less about a one-off set piece and more about a repeatable pattern: a lightweight template for shared server spectacles that could scale to future high-visibility world moments, such as the Sandwurm.
The Ghost Ship made its debut in 2021 as an easter egg with a 1% chance to spawn at Night in specific areas of First Light.
The Ghost Ship returned in an evolved format for the 2024 Console Launch as part of the Cutlass Keys Free-For-All zone, where I added cannonballs.
Elite POIs Authored
A curated list of 26 elite POIs I implemented during the launch era, organized by zone. Each entry links to its NWDB page and includes a brief summary of the design/implementation work.
Expand: Elite POIs by Zone (26 total)
Monarch’s Bluff 1 POI
- Deadman’s Cove — Implemented secret bosses and reward beats, and built the first open-world mounted turret interaction (an early “spectacle mechanic” players could discover and rally around).
Brightwood 1 POI
- Brightwood Isle — Implemented secret nighttime boss spawns with tuned rewards, creating a time-based loop that encouraged revisits and social callouts.
Weaver’s Fen 1 POI
- Periville — Implemented bespoke “jump scare” encounter beats where ghosts ambush players from unexpected angles, adding pressure spikes to an otherwise steady elite routing loop.
Cutlass Keys 1 POI
- Stone Skull Fort — Implemented an open-world player-mounted turret repurposed from War Mode, plus narrative lore beats and boss mechanics tuned for repeatable group pushes.
Restless Shore 1 POI
- Eridanus — Implemented Wyrdwood barrier gates that required high Logging skill to break, creating a soft “skill-locked” entry and a memorable perimeter read for the POI.
Great Cleave 6 POIs
- Svikin’s Stand — Implemented secret bosses, unique encounter beats, and reward routing designed to support “route culture” while keeping escalation readable.
- Gorikbouri Road — Implemented secret boss beats and reward placements built around quick, high-pressure pulls that punished sloppy spacing.
- Lodestone Grom — Implemented unique encounter compositions and routing gates to create a clear “push line” through a hostile interior.
- Pilgrim’s Passage — Implemented elite encounter pacing and rewards, using space compression to create deliberate threat spikes.
- Ascension Rime — Implemented encounter flow and “reset” pockets to stabilize group movement and reduce accidental chain-pulls.
- Severed Visage — Implemented elite encounter beats and reward routing with a focus on readability (clear holds, clear pushes, minimal ambiguity).
Mourningdale 1 POI
- Scorpius — Implemented unique encounter setups designed to keep repetition from flattening difficulty while preserving “learnable” group routing.
Shattered Mountain 8 POIs
- Carious Pich — Refactored encounter setups to support higher-intensity, late-game combat and cleaner “frontline” reads.
- Nox Aeterna — Refactored encounter spacing and compositions to reduce degenerate pulls and improve sustain clarity.
- Tenebris Aeterna — Refactored encounter routing and “recovery pockets” to stabilize group pushes.
- Lower Harrows — Refactored elite encounter beats to increase pressure while keeping line-of-play readable.
- Upper Harrows — Refactored encounter setups for late-game pacing and more consistent “hold / push” rhythm.
- Blood Cenacle — Refactored encounters to reduce ambiguity in threat sources and improve reward clarity.
- Cerberus Rampant — Refactored encounter layouts for late-game combat density and cleaner reset behavior.
- Myrkgard Cathedral — Refactored elite encounter pacing to support repeatable, high-pressure group routing.
Ebonscale Reach 2 POIs
- North Palace Shrine — Implemented new bosses and environmental storytelling beats to reinforce the POI’s identity while keeping elite routing legible.
- Imperial Palace — Implemented new bosses and environmental storytelling; tuned encounter pacing so groups could sustain a long push without losing readability.
Edengrove 1 POI
- Tor Mallacht — Implemented new stealth sections and refined encounter pacing to create a stronger “approach → infiltration → escalation” curve.
Reekwater 3 POIs
- Eternal Pool — Implemented new elite encounter beats and lore notes with an emphasis on clear group routing and escalation.
- Forecastle Drift — Implemented new encounters and narrative cues to strengthen place identity and reward comprehension.
- Spire of Melpomene — Implemented new encounters and lore notes, tuned for repeatable group loops and stable reset behavior.
Outcomes
- Shipped a large volume of elite open-world POIs that supported repeatable group routing and became a foundation for community-driven endgame patterns.
- Proved out a practical approach for “spectacle moments” in a shared world: clear triggers, synchronized presentation, and cross-discipline integration with the Ghost Ship.
- Enabled future time-based world beats through spawner constraints and repeatable documentation templates that reduced iteration cost and production risk.
- New World achieved a Steam record for most concurrent players at 913,027 all-time peak.
Official Marketing Trailers
- Elite POI encounter flow and routing
- World spectacle patterns (Ghost Ship)
- New spawn constraints (co-dev)
- Documentation templates for world pipelines