Hidden Blade

Senior Technical Designer

Ubisoft, XDefiant (2024), Snowdrop Engine

I joined the team right in the thick of development for the Season 3 release. The team had fallen behind schedule and despite being brand new, I was able to jump in immediately to lend support!

I am especially proud of my work on the ‘Hidden Blade’ feature, a defining element of the tentpole feature: ‘The Assassins Faction’.

 

A balance problem

In the final sprint of production, the Assassins Feature Team realized there was a big problem: Hidden Blade was too powerful.

By design, the Assassin’s Melee was buffed to a one-hit kill, preserving the franchise’s iconic finishing move. But playtesters were able to abuse the buff to get multiple kills back to back if they got in close proximity to a group of enemy players and spammed the melee button.

 

3 theoretical solutions — 3 rapid prototypes

We needed playable prototypes for solid validation in order to make changes during such a ‘high-risk’ development period

  • Lower damage - easiest to implement, but robs the attack of satisfaction / IP identity

  • Increase length of execution animation - ideal solution, but the Animation can’t support this so late in production

  • Change input to press hold - increases execution time without need for new animation. But no one on the team knows how to do this without engineering support. This is where I come in.

 

Results

I was able to use my in-depth systems knowledge to prop up all 3 prototypes in only a few days, presenting them to the leadership team to guide a lightning fast pivot.

My specialty is creating work-arounds - in this case allowing the team to validate a preferred solution, keeping the delicate power balance between factions and preserving both the IP identity and player satisfaction.