The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

August 20, 2013 | PS3, Xbox 360, PC

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a third-person, cover-based tactical shooter. The game’s unique selling point is the Battle Focus feature. This allows the player to slow down the action, issue a series of movement and attack commands, and watch their squad mates execute those orders in real time combat. I contributed to three levels of The Bureau, details of which can be found below.

The Day The Sky Fell

I worked on “The Day The Sky Fell” for approximately seven months and brought it from initial alpha version to final shipping level. I streamlined this final campaign level to fit the production scope and serve as a swift race to the game’s conclusion. In addition to designing the level’s four combat spaces and encounters, I also:

Choreographed a scripted SWAT team sequence as player and NPCs infiltrate the Mothership.

Scripted gameplay and narrative to support three possible player perspectives.

Arranged level logic and narrative scripting to support the game’s only non-linear critical path.

Created a level layout emphasizing the player is aboard a hostile spaceship orbiting Earth.

Led a team to implement a pivotal plot point using gameplay verbs that increase player agency.

Operation Hawkeye

This optional side mission pits the player in pursuit of an escaped prisoner. The level’s layout and design blur the distinction between combat, narrative and buffer spaces. And the story reinforces the prisoner’s unique gameplay ability—mind control. I worked on this level from initial concept to completion, including designing three combat encounters and scripting numerous events.

Operation Firestorm

I worked on this optional side mission from initial concept to completion. In it, the player must infect an alien structure with a virus and then escape through a forest fire. This is the only level featuring a looping layout guiding players along a circular path and transforming the introductory narrative space into a fiery final encounter space. I designed, implemented and iterated on this level’s four combat encounters.