Concord Gameplay Reel - 2024
Project Summary
Concord was a 2024 multiplayer first-person hero shooter game developed by Firewalk Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows on August 23, 2024. Set in a retro-futuristic sci-fi world inhabited by coexisting humans and humanoid aliens, the game revolved around battles between teams of competing mercenaries.
What I Did
I facilitated cross-functional development of game characters through management of schedules and project backlog for Concept Art, Character Modeling, Hard Surface Modeling, and Design teams.
Challenges & Solutions
Unreal Engine updates - I offset all creative team schedules to focus on low engineering friction tasks to enable the engineering team the time to complete a significant engine upgrade.
Weapon and character skin shader technology - collaborated with team leads to gather requirements, rapid prototype a solve, and then fully implement.
Character proportions - documented approval process, aligned team leads, then facilitated cross-discipline review schedule with clear approval gates.
Dependency mapping - interviewed cross-discipline stakeholders to verify output dependencies, documented dependencies in Excel then bulk ingested tasks to Jira.
My Impact
Successfully aligned cross-functional teams to drastically improve communication and overall information sharing.
Championed a safe and empathetic environment to improve team morale despite significant challenges and project scope creep.
Documented 18 comprehensive character kits including technical data, lore, weapons, ammo, animations, DLC content, variants, legal approvals, and review signoff.
Contributions
Maintained the character backlog and facilitated the creation of all level of Jira entries for the project, along with project management artifact creation, ceremonies, and character documentation.
Creating custom Jira dashboards and reports for producers and all team stakeholders.
Dependency mapped all DLC content for first two seasons post release.
Facilitated cross-team collaboration and communication to unblock and encourage workflow of all teams and stakeholders.
Coordinated collaboration between product, engineering, art, design, QA, marketing, live ops, community, and external teams to meet deadlines and release adherence.
When I joined Firewalk Studios, part of Sony Interactive Entertainment, I was immediately drawn to the challenge of helping bring the studio’s ambitious creative vision across the finish line. As the Senior Character Producer, my focus was on shaping the characters that would serve as the backbone of the game’s narrative driven multiplayer experience. While the 16 characters that shipped with the game already had their character “kits” well established before I joined the studio (demographics, abilities, etc.), every character I worked on was developed to feel unique, contributing to the overall sense of immersion and the strategic depth of team-based play. From December 2022 through November 2023 I lead the production schedule in producing the character art, character models, weapon art, weapon models, and overall facilitation for all tasks associated with the characters.
Bringing Characters to Life
My primary responsibility at Firewalk was ensuring that our characters were being delivered on time, both in terms of their design and their integration into the game world. Working closely with artists, animators, and sound designers, I helped guide the process of making each character not only visually distinct but also narratively meaningful within the larger context of the game.
Early Vale Character Model Exploration - ©Firewalk Studios
We wanted players to form a connection with these characters, whether it was through their backstories, personalities, or unique flair. Each character needed to serve a role in team-based combat, yet still feel distinct in terms of how they moved, interacted with others, and responded to the environment. This required careful coordination across teams to ensure the game director’s vision was met.
The Price Tag Challenge
While I left the project almost a year before the game shipped, I knew then that the game we were building was incredibly ambitious and faced some world class competition in the open market… I know from shipping multiple Halo games that even with an amazing IP and established fan base there is no silver bullet when it comes to market dynamics and timing for release. Launching a game is never without its challenges, but one of the significant obstacles we faced with Concord was the game's $40 price tag at launch. In today’s hyper competitive gaming market, where amazing free-to-play games are prevalent, convincing players to pay upfront for a brand new IP was a tall order. We were incredibly proud of the work we put into the game, and some of the community was genuinely excited to play more, but I think we all understood that the price point may have been a significant barrier for many potential players to ever give it a chance.
Despite this, the feedback from those who did play the game at launch was encouraging, especially in regards to the characters I helped produce. Even though I had already moved on to my next adventure before launch, it was rewarding to see players connect with characters in the way we had hoped; and I still believe that more people deserve the chance to experience the creativity and hard work that went into this project.
Early Low-Poly Render of Lennox - ©Firewalk Studios
Hopes for the Future
While the game's launch didn’t reach the success we initially envisioned, I remain hopeful that it will be released again at a later time, or at least some of the core work done will be repurposed into a new creative expression. I believe that with adjustments—perhaps in pricing or distribution model—many more players could have the opportunity to enjoy the characters and appreciate the efforts that went into creating them. With a bounty of career and life lessons learned during my time with Firewalk, I will no doubt be able to share my experiences and support future projects with more of a nuanced perspective, all while continuing to carry forward the belief that creativity and collaboration as a team is critical to a memorable gaming experience.
Looking Ahead
My time at Firewalk reinforced my passion for telling stories that connect with people on multiple levels. As I move forward in my career, I’m excited to continue supporting creative efforts and pushing the boundaries of storytelling, while always keeping the player experience at the forefront of my thoughts.
Kyps in the Character Select Screen of Concord - ©Firewalk Studios