My Role on Galactic Civilizations IV
I worked on Galactic Civilizations IV (GalCiv IV), on and off, as a Senior Game Designer at Stardock. I was often brought on for major updates and DLC. My initial stint on the project was for the Supernova edition release on Steam. At a glance, I:
-
Converted the Creative Director's vision into actionable design
-
Designed and implemented new Civilizations with unique gameplay
-
Coordinated with developers and producers to meet deadlines
-
Wrote with specific tones between dialogue, UI, and Event narratives
-
Oversaw, guided, and gave constructive feedback to other designers
-
Updated, created, and maintained documentation (old and new)
Supernova
My primary responsibility for Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova was to help concept and implement new playable races. This involved coming up with unique lore, working with engineering to support new gameplay, implementing content, and extensive playtesting.
Phalenoid Advance
I decided early on to have the Phalenoids Advance lean into Influence systems and enforce a more purposeful rhythm. This goal became realized with their unique ability, Nocturnal, which cycles between two buffs that would encourage cycles of setup and payoff. Because Moths inspired their aesthetic, I leaned into the theming, giving them lore about living near a bright star and giving their dialogue a benevolent, hopeful tone.
Cosmic Contaminant
I strove to make the Cosmic Contaminant distinctive while remaining based in established systems. They grew into a race whose citizens go through multiple phases of development, eat pollution, and can plague players by sabotaging their planets rather than through outright warfare. I took a risk by deciding they wouldn't communicate verbally, but I think it worked and gives them a stronger personality.
Korath Clan
I initially worked on the Korath Clan with a goal of making them dependent on violence and warfare. I ended up making one of my favorite abilities, Raiders. The ability greatly reduced default Manufacturing and Income, but rewarded bursts of it for winning fleet battles and conquering planets. It's still one of my favorite abilities to use on custom Civilizations. Later in development, the Creative Director wanted to take them in a different direction, so we worked together to better align with his goals. I still owned their writing, ensuring their tone was consistent, and their interactions matched their existing lore.
Tutorial & Scenarios
I am responsible for the Tutorial and initial slate of scenarios included in the Supernova update. I worked with Engineers to get the tools needed to set up tailored maps and implement complex objectives. I broke down the core elements of the gameplay and created a guided experience that helped players learn the game and more easily pick up on advanced synergies and concepts.
Warlords DLC
I was brought back onto GalCiv IV early in the development of Warlords with some overarching goals for the DLC from leadership. I was ultimately responsible for designing the UX and gameplay associated with the larger changes and working with Engineering to make the necessary updates so I could implement and iterate the design. I created new weapons, worked on the War Aims, updated Planet Sieges, led the sweeping Ship Class changes, and worked on related content.
War Aims & War Weariness
Going into the Warlords DLC, the challenge was to rework warfare so that forever wars were less common and players were encouraged to plan and execute specific goals. Players should never be forcefully removed from war, though. Through iterative design, I landed on and pitched a version of warfare that introduced War Aims to shape the scale of the war and apply diplomatic penalties up front for larger-scale goals. To avoid simply forcing a war to end, I introduced war weariness events that, over time, imposed steeper and steeper costs and penalties on players who waged war past their goals, incentivizing them to end wars in a timely manner.
Planet Sieges
Another update for the Warlords DLC reworked how Planet Sieges functioned. This involved a fundamental redesign of the UI and UX, as well as a rework of Siege logic. I designed the various types of Sieges and their pros and cons to give players interesting choices and strategies. We also ensured that sieges required more deliberate fleet formations.
Ship Class Updates
Updating the Ship Classes was a fundamental rework of the ships in GalCiv IV. A lot of this work was surfaced in the updated Ship Class Designer, where I worked extensively with UI artists and devs to create the new flow and surface the intended player options. We wanted to empower players to create complex ships with unique bonuses, weaknesses, and combat logic, giving them more ways to impact battles through careful preparation.
Species Pack
My role on the Species Pack DLC was helping add gameplay and data to the species listed out by leadership and completed by art. While the species were all detailed, I was responsible for completing the Phenotype and Biological Type options, along with designing and implementing changes to their stats and gameplay. I also helped test how the changes would affect existing Civilizations.
