Game design · 2020

Crucible Characters

Character and combat design for Bugg and Lady Rensa, two heroes in Amazon Games’ Crucible.

3D render of Bugg, a robot character, from the front and side. Model by Tyler Stott

Bugg model. Credit: Tyler Stott

My role

Concept, design, implementation, icons and UI

Team

Jon Peters, senior game designer; Anthony Ordon, game designer; Eric Flannum, creative director; and many others

Year

2020

Engine

Lumberyard

At a glance

Problem

Crucible needed heroes with distinct play styles, including ones that work for players without fast hand-eye coordination.

My role

Character and combat designer. I created Bugg’s core gameplay concept and first implementation, and designed Lady Rensa’s abilities, reticle, icons, and UI.

Key decision

Rocket jumping is a powerful move that players rarely discover on their own, so I built Lady Rensa’s core abilities to teach it.

Result

Bugg launched with Crucible, and Lady Rensa was nearly done when production stopped. The characters resonated with players, but the game was cancelled soon after launch.

At a glance

Problem

Crucible needed heroes with distinct play styles, including ones that work for players without fast hand-eye coordination.

My role

Character and combat designer. I created Bugg’s core gameplay concept and first implementation, and designed Lady Rensa’s abilities, reticle, icons, and UI.

Key decision

Rocket jumping is a powerful move that players rarely discover on their own, so I built Lady Rensa’s core abilities to teach it.

Result

Bugg launched with Crucible, and Lady Rensa was nearly done when production stopped. The characters resonated with players, but the game was cancelled soon after launch.

01 — Overview

Two heroes, two goals

This section is a highlight of my character/combat design working on Crucible at Amazon Games.

Two characters are being highlighted: "Bugg", a character that was launched with Crucible and "Lady Rensa" a character that was nearing completion at the time production for the game was halted.

02 — Bugg

A gardener who fights from a distance

"Bugg" was a character that centered around the fantasy of being a gardener. His main gameplay loop revolved around seeding and "watering" his plants, as well as flying around and "crop dusting" enemies. Bugg's design goal was to allow players who did not have fast hand-eye coordination to participate in defensive "turret" style gameplay.

My contribution was the character core gameplay concept and initial implementation. Full credit goes to Anthony Ordon for bringing Bugg through to completion in the final Crucible engine.

Early prototype of Bugg in an old version of the Lumberyard engine

Final design for Bugg

Official character overview for Bugg

03 — Lady Rensa

Abilities that teach rocket jumping

"Lady Rensa" was designed with the classic "rocket jump" gameplay fantasy. "Rocket jumping" is a mechanic often used in games, where the player purposefully uses an explosion (like from a rocket) to propel their character further. This mechanic is not obvious to players, so the twist with Rensa was that her core abilities teach players how to rocket jump.

I wanted the feel of Rensa's abilities to embody her "high and mighty" attitude by literally being above the other characters. Rensa could contribute to team gameplay by creating large detonations on the ground, and from above

Prototype gameplay for Lady Rensa

04 — Reticle UI

Reticles and icons for Lady Rensa

In addition to creating the character design for Rensa, I had the opportunity to create the iconography and UI for Rensa.

Reticle design sheet for Lady Rensa, with fuel gauge and mini rocket states

05 — Outcome

What happened next

Unfortunately, Crucible was cancelled shortly after the initial launch. While these characters resonated strongly with our players, they did not have much time to shine. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work on character designs for Amazon Games

Visual effect concept art for Lady Rensa by Kekai Kotaki

Visual effect concept art for Lady Rensa. Credit: Kekai Kotaki

Next project

DBT Drop: reinforcing therapy skills

Contact

Let’s make something together.

Have a role or a project in mind? I’d love to hear about it.

Email me

Contact

Let’s make something together.

Have a role or a project in mind? I’d love to hear about it.

Email me