Dishonored 2
About the game
Play your way in a world where mysticism and industry collide.Will you choose to play as Empress Emily Kaldwin or the royal protector, Corvo Attano?
Will you make your way through the game unseen, make full use of its brutal combat system, or use a blend of both?
How will you combine your character's unique set of powers, weapons and gadgets to eliminate your enemies?
The story responds to your choices, leading to intriguing outcomes, as you play through each of the game's hand-crafted missions.
Release date: 11 November 2016
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Developer: Arkane Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Engine: Void Engine
My role
I arrived on the project when most levels were already started, so I didn't work on a mission from beginning to end.Instead, I was taking over parts of missions when a problematic topic needed some design work, or when another designer didn't have the time to keep iterating on it.
An exception was the Dunwall streets for which I did the first prototypes, used for the first mission of the game: A Long Day in Dunwall.
Overall, my main tasks were to work on Lower and Upper Aventa Districts, the street section before reaching Jindosh mansion, and Ravina Boulevard, the street section leading to the Duke Grand Palace.
I also helped quite a lot on Dust District, reworking heavily some of its areas.
More info about my work
For the first mission of the game, A Long Day in Dunwall, I initially prototyped the streets which were supposed to be traversed three times in different contexts with different objectives.I worked on the first blockout and did some scripting to make these prototypes work, making the streets slightly evolve over time and managing consequences to justify the different experiences players had for these three visits.
Anoter designer took over Dunwall streets later in the production, and the beginning of the game got some heavy changes too, so only some of the layout survived.
Community wiki about the level: https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Tower_District
Here is a player going through the street sections: https://youtu.be/AKZ4ZQKWFbs?t=1789
.For Lower and Upper Aventa Districts, a layout and the base intentions were already layed down by another designer, and I took over these streets for further iteration on the design until the end of the production.
This sometimes meant reworking small portions in collaboration with a Level Artist, or fleshing out some vignettes like an ambush or meeting a key character you will have to eliminate in a future mission. It also meant maintaining the level, managing the script and bringing this to final quality for the release of the game.
Community wiki about the level: https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Aventa_Quarter
The first half of this playthrough covers these streets: https://youtu.be/hmWOYwj-vM4?t=520
My work on Ravina Boulevard, the street section leading to the Grand Palace, was similar, taking over the level after some initial blockout and base intentions and being in charge of this until the end of the production.
This again included an ambush, the black market heist, setting up the AI encounters, setting up the security devices, implementing the narrative scenes, etc...
Community wiki about the level: https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Palace_District
The first half of this video covers this section: https://youtu.be/_iIDA65VESQ?t=622
Dust District was a bit different, as I helped periodically to rework or design a few small locations, but I was never fully in charge ot the level.
Part of my work included the short street section at the beginning of the level before the Wall of Light, the fully infested condemned building, the black market shop heist sequence, etc...
Community wiki about the level: https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Dust_District
And a playthrough of the mission: https://youtu.be/sB0bZOyuZb0?t=405
Screenshots
