Chris DeChamplain - Level Designer / Game Designer

Perhaps my most ambitious gaming related project, Frackin' Universe started as a mod for Starbound with a single new plant. It soon grew to become a whole new way to play the game and contains tens of thousands of new items and miscellaneous content.

There are far too many features to list, and after 8 years of development it is by far the largest mod for the game and potentially the largest anywhere. With over 400,000 players, it has a little something for everyone. It's been reviewed in established gaming sites such as Kotaku, Twinfinite, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, heaps of videos on YouTube and and the games' developers.

I have used every single one of my skills during this project. Some examples of my contributions include:
- • As Project Manager, created and managed tickets and epochs and ensured that each team member met their required objectives via Hack'n'Plan.
- • Responsible for all core game design elements (mechanics, features, etc).
- • Enhanced original gameplay mechanics of Starbound with expansive new features to bring players further agency in gameplay.
- • Scripted in lua to create new features and gameplay mechanics.
- • Planned and implemented a complex Research system to drive progression through gameplay choices and exploration. This creates a custom-tailored play-through for every newly created character.
- • Created and implemented hundreds of Levels and Microdungeons using Tiled, and via bitmap-based image files.
- • Added numerous new species for players to engage with or play as.
- • Created a racial abilities system, allowing each of the playable races to have their own unique advantages and disadvantages.
- • Enhanced Ship system that allows players to build their starship block by block and improve its capabilities with new technology over time.
- • Created UX/UI for various menus required for crafting and interactions.
- • Enhanced the Hunger and Survival elements of the game by changing the stakes of Hardcore, and adding diet types (Carnivore, Omnivore, Herbivore, Lithovore) to further specialize each species.
- • Enhanced combat mechanics to add new elements to gameplay such as: ammunition, reloading, weapon masteries, a new weapon generation system, new weapon types and mechanics, an armor system providing set bonuses, and more.
- • Added new pilotable vehicles.
- • Added hundreds of new weapons and tested and iterated on their balance for Player verses Environment combat.
- • Enhanced the existing Mech system to add mass, improved balance, and tied mech use to main gameplay elements.
- • Added a new quest hub with hundreds of quests.
- • Created a tutorial system that provides tutelage to new players about dozens of new mechanics they would otherwise be unfamiliar with.
- • Greatly expanded on status effects and planetary compositions across more than 70 new biomes: players need to be concious of environments to be certain they are properly equipped to survive.
- • Added a complex beekeeping system involving genetics, crossbreeding and favored environments for each species.
- • Worked iteratively with programmers and the community to test and iterate new gameplay mechanics.
- • Responsible for Camera, Character and Control elements (3C) across all levels.
- • Created hundreds of new assets including animated sprite sheets, sprites, parallax images, tiles and more.
- • Created new sounds and ambience using audio tools (Audacity, FruityLoops, etc)
- • Wrote hundreds of pages of new lore and narration, including NPC speech and storyline beats.
- • Planned and implemented puzzle-based gameplay features (light-based puzzles, liquid puzzles, platforming, etc)
- • Responsible for textures and materials.
- • Interacted with and maintained a community of thousands of players via discord.
- • Created branding and identity for the project.
- • Created and maintained GDD and LDDs for the project.
A GDD of the project can be found Here

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