NFL Blitz

LEAD GAME DESIGNER - XBLA / PSN

Easily the game that I'm most proud of and recall most fondly. For most of the project, I oversaw the design and creation of the entire online ecosystem, which included four major online modes, a storefront and an economy.

When both our Creative Director and Lead Designer left the project, I took over to lead the team during the last few months of development as well as represented the game in our PR efforts post launch.

"NFL Blitz is one of the best, if not the best arcade sports experiences on the market." - Team Xbox

"...the addition of online play is lots of fun, as you can compare yourself to other players and winning earns you Blitz Bucks." - PSX Extreme

"If you feel like snagging valuable cards from online opponents, you can put your own collection on the line in Risk vs. Reward games. It’s a great way to improve your line-up if you win, but it’s crushing to watch your opponent leaf through your cards after a loss." - Game Informer

Design Challenges

DESIGN CHALLENGES

Taking Blitz Online

One of the main goals we had when creating this updated version of NFL Blitz, was to take advantage of all the online capabilities that new consoles have. Blitz has always been a highly competitive game that's more fun to play with friends, so adapting it for online was only natural. When designing our online features, there were three things I wanted to make sure were represented: a variety of ways to play/compete (head-to-head, team games, etc.), a sense of progression and a way to personalize your online experience. In the end, we ended up with eight different ways to compete, a "ladderboard" system that allowed users to progress based on their location and an entire suite of logos, banners and cheat codes that users could apply to customize their games.

Risk and Reward

Another new concept I wanted to make sure was represented in one of our online modes, was the addition of a light wagering system. Although we weren't able to get a version of it using our in-game currency, we did manage to implement it as part of our "Elite League" feature through a "Risk and Reward" game type. These games allowed users to play against each other with the understanding that the loser would be forced to watch the winner browse through their collection and take one of their cards. The feature was popular and met the specific goals of engaging our competitive users, stoking tension and creating a new feedback loop to suppliment our already existing collection and progression loops.

Creating an Economy

Part of the challenge of creating an online ecosystem included the need to provide a currency which we could use to award users for playing and performing well in online games, as well as compelling items to spend that currency on. Once we'd identified the types of items we'd be selling, I prioritized their perceived value to the user and then determined a reasonable value for each item using "real time" as the currency. Once the value of the items was established I could work backwards to determine how much in-game currency to award users for each rewardable category based on the average length of an online game.

Lead Design Role

Towards the latter part of the project, both our Creative Director and Lead Designer left to pursue other opportunities, which left me in the position to lead the team through the last few months of development and into our post launch PR efforts. Although the role was new for me, the transition was a relatively seamless one due to the amount of responsibilities I'd been shouldering up to that point. During this time however was when we received word from the NFL that post-play hits wouldn't be allowed, which was a major blow to team morale and one I had to address with the team upfront, reminding them that despite this setback, we'd still created an amazing game. Post launch PR went smoothly and I also had a lot of fun creating additional video content to help people more clearly understand our features.

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