Christopher James

Founded a studio to develop a multiplayer game that has ambitious goals for a community that I love.

As I’ve been working with various freelance game design contracts the past few years, I’ve created a company through which I can promote my game / level / world design skills for short-term opportunities. We are happy to connect with anyone looking for a burst of cinematic/level/narrative/system/world design assistance for their game, or doing presentations about the design and development of video games.

Lead Level Designer on Hirogami Unreal 5, PC / PS5 (Release Date: Sept 3rd, 2025) - Create 4 Levels (+ 1 Bonus Level) from Map Conseptulatization -> Map Design and Production -> Final Delivery - Planning & Pacing Documentation, Blockout & Layout Placement, Authored Camera Creation and Placement, Enemy Combat Placement and Balance, Initial Art Placement, Technical Art Additional, Initial Lighting, Dynamic Material Interface Creation + Scripting - Utility Blueprint Scripting + Bespoke Event Scripts Per-Level Review all levels of the game and provide detialed feedback to the team. Review the ratoinal progression of the game with the design team and provide suggetions for changes. + Manged to make an extra Bonus Level on my own time :) *Note: This was a short-term contract, which is why it was so short. Completed all above within the 4 month time frame.

Lead Game Designer on an unannounced (canceled) AAA FPS game with RPG elements. Unreal 4/5. Project was 'shelved'. - Manage a team of designers, organize department priorities, write best practices, pipelines, and workflows. - Prototype multiple: new gameplay modes, random encounter objective systems, fast combat arena levels. - Design a backend gameplay tech reorganization, manage and write design specification documentation, - Organize and mediate game design brainstorming sessions.

Senior World Designer on Horizon: Forbidden West Decima Editor, Maya - Product owner of a major activity / quest line from pre-production to design lock. - Pitch, design, layout, script, and art kit placement for over 30 open world gameplay experiences.

World Building Supervisor on ReBoot (TV Series, Season 1) - Unreal 4 - Supervise environment asset creation and shot render finalizing for each episode produced in the animation pipeline during the Unreal development phases. Approximate shot count: 3,300 - Hire, on-board, and manage artists and delivery schedules for a new department within the studio, assist in writing various job descriptions. - Part of team that developed a new pipeline for producing and rendering an animation tv series for broadcast with Unreal 4. - Design environments and complimentary visual elements for production sets in Unreal 4. - Develop and implement environment animation and FX content in Unreal 4 for worlds and shots. - Create and produce numerous sequences and shots in Unreal 4 completely through layout, animation, world building, fx, AI / Crowds, and final lighting passes. - Create and supervise AI Crowd system for background characters extras. - Script Blueprint tools for artists to assist in creating procedural content and event driven real-time visuals. - Create and write wiki pages for department and project-wide practices for organization of folder structures, file naming + world outliner nomenclature, and technical documentation. - Assist in managing, setting up, and troubleshooting P4 clients for Unreal users on the project.

CG Generalist on ReBoot (TV Series, Season 1) A member on the preproduction development team for the new Reboot TV animated series. Previs/Layout Artist on Barbie: Video Game Hero Approximate shot count: 275.

Lead Level Designer on Dungeon Defenders 2 Unreal 4 - Design tower-defense style maps for new tilesets with strong aesthetic and gameplay themes. - Mentor level designers, create guidelines for map creation, and redefine the map production pipeline.

Senior Level Designer on Quantum Break Senior Level Designer / Team Member on Agents of Storm

Lead Level Designer on Hitman (2016) - Special Thanks credits given. Part of a massive redundancy layoff in June '13.

Level Designer during preproduction on Dragon Age: Inquisition