I was able to learn and experience an even wider array of game design while on 1001 Threads of Mizan. Working together with more experienced designers I got to really be put through the paces. I initially started out as a mission designer. I was tasked with creating missions and quests for a Co-op timeloop experience so these missions needed to be interesting on repeate playthroughs, not too long, and ultimately fun! My first step into this process was picking up a copy of 1001 Arabian Nights and immersing myself into that world and its' stories.

For my first Mission, I worked on a Quest Chain that dealt with Hatim and his Tombs. The player would try to get Hatim's help on the Mizan's quest to defeat the Big Bad. It was a joy to try and think of branching paths for the quest as the expectation was players could and would miss out on elements of this quest (and others!). 

One of the core elements for this quest were the Tombs themselves. They would be little mini areas where players had to solve Hatim's Riddles to gain a new power up. I got to create fun puzzles that utilized both the player's mobility to traverse around and the unique abilities of each of the 3 main characters. The greatest lesson here was trying to figure out interesting and fun permutations of our various mechanics to maintain a sense of cohesion thorughout the entire game. Players need to know that the tools in their kit all have a purpose and are worth learning and using.

I got to work directly with the Creative Director on designing for our specific Strike Mode. These missions would span between 20-30minutes and would always culminate in a huge boss fight. Ours was set in the grand city of Al'Ula and would finish with an epic battle with Nazjush. Our Strikes up to this point have been fairly simple with mini combat sections of varying difficulty that climaxed in the boss fight. However, with the adventurous-ness of the setting and game itself we needed some varied mechanics to add  a bit of flavor to the minute to minute gameplay loop. I helped to push the idea of using the theme of Nazjush spilling corruption throughout Al'Ula. This corruption would slow and damage the player requiring them to really utilize their movement kit to get around. I also suggested a mechanic where players would need an orb that could shoot a light beam that would clear the corruption. Only one player could have an orb at a time, so this gave roles to each player and promoted cooperation. This gave players something to focus on that thematically tied the Strike together, offered a confounding element and ultimately a key element to work together.