MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries

The Game

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is a BattleTech mecha combat/simulation game developed by Piranha Games and released on December 10, 2019 on Windows. It is the first single player MechWarrior game since 2002.

The game has received mostly positive critical response:
  • "MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries checks most of the boxes I would have asked for out of a modern revival of the series. " - IGN (8.1/10)
  • "If you're here for a mech smashing simulator, this is the best new mech smashing simulator around." - PC Gamer (80/100)
  • "Once you assemble your crew, jump into mechs you want to play as, and the story picks up, it starts to feel like old MechWarrior again." - Destructoid (8/10)
  • "It’s bloody excellent." - Rock, Paper, Shotgun

My Role

As the technical game designer on the project:

1. I own the procedural mission team backlog, and am responsible for breaking down, creating and assigning tasks for each sprint for the team.

2. I created the mission flow scripting system in UE4 for the game (or the mission editor), which is used as the backbone for level scripting/design by other level designers, and simultaneously for making the flow in every procedural mission. We needed a way to make everything work with both kinds of missions (procedural and scripted) - which this system did.

3. I designed and created 3 out of the 5 mission types in the base game, and made other mission components (gameplay elements/events) required by other mission types/scripted missions.

4. I made the difficulty balancing systems used in the procedural missions (including writing the algorithm for how units are selected using Battle Value, distribution, rarity etc.), and was heavily involved in mission balance.

5. I did part of the initial AI design. I created the Encounter system - which tracks buildings and units, and coordinates mission events and AI.

6. I designed and scripted part of the destructivity shown in the game (for smaller and non-modular heavy buildings).