EA: Breaking into the Gaming Industry: Rom Rodriguez, Level Designer

Feb 12 2010

EA: Breaking into the Gaming Industry: Rom Rodriguez, Level Designer

Published by Chris Comeau at 9:21 am under Interview

[…] Well that’s all partly thanks to a great Level Designer who help map out environments and decide where and when enemies appear. Level designers, like Visceral’s Rom Rodriguez, are essentially the ones who "help determine the experience the player [should have] in a rough form," leaving the artists and animators to make it come to life.

My interviewee Rom here also draws, so read on if you’d like to see a piece of art that helped influence the original Dead Space.

Can you tell me your name, job title, and job description?
Romulo Rodriguez, Associate Game Designer, and I set up game play in Dead Space 2.

I know there are many different types of "designers" and what each of them do is different depending on what company you’re at. What exactly does an Associate Designer do at Visceral?

I am a Level Designer but the Associate Designer determines my level. I’d say I am a low level designer at the moment. My duties involve blocking a level based on the story and desired combat for that point in the game. I then pitch the ideas to my managers, the Lead Level Designer, and the Creative Director and make changes if needed. I later block out combat with simple enemy set ups to help determine the experience we want the player to have in a rough form. […]