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Payday 3

Starbreeze Entertainment
Level Designer - Scripting

Overview

Payday 3 is a cooperative first-person shooter game, where players execute elaborate heists across several locations.

Disclosure

The work I completed is yet to be released. Therefore, specific details and visual aids are not yet available.

Responsibilities

  • Puzzle Configuration

    • Replace puzzles with improved versions

    • Remove legacy objectives and verify updated objective flow
       

  • Bugfixing
    • ​Identify gameplay bugs through group playtests
    • Investigate level script to isolate and fix bugs

  • Implement Objective Elements

    • Add and randomize gameplay actors, such as hackable routers, medkit stations, and security rooms

    • Placement of preplanning assets which have a chance to spawn in the level if players have purchased a favor before the heist
       

  • Pitch Heist Improvements​

    • Extensive playtests and analysis of preexisting heists

    • Identity and compile core issues, and offer design solutions

The bulk of my puzzle rework took place in Gold and Sharke. 

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Hacking Routers

Summary
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Router

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Router

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Control Panel

Vault Lobby Door

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Router

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Router

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Router

Why hack routers? In order to bypass the security lock on the vault lobby door, Shade, your outside help, needs to hack the control panel by the door. By doing so, you gain access to the vault area. 

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Each successful hack decreases the amount of time it takes Shade to disable the lock.

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​When hack routers? When the heist goes "loud", meaning: players have disturbed the peace enough to alert guards and frighten civilians, the keypad used to gain access is disabled. Therefore, you only need to hack routers if you have failed to maintain stealth at this point in the heist. 

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How hack routers?

  1. Before entering the vault room, go loud

  2. Interact with the control panel near the vault lobby door

  3. Follow the waypoints to each of the routers and disable them(on higher difficulties, you don't get a waypoint)

  4. The vault lobby door will be unlocked once all five routers have been hacked, or the total hack duration on the control panel has depleted. 

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Workflow

Daily workflow heavily depends on a few things, mainly which stage of development a heist is in. I joined the the Payday team when the new heist was already blocked out and arted. 

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Therefore, my main focus was scripting level functionality for the upcoming heist, updating objectives and puzzles in legacy heists, and bugfixing.  

Reflection

After the cancellation of Project Baxter, I was moved to the Payday team. It came with several new challenges, primarily the amount of scripting required by level designers. 

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I was able to develop my technical skills throughout development, and directly contribute to a new heist​.

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