REFERENCES

Below are some things that people I have collaborated with over the years have been kind enough to say about me.All references were collected from, and are viewable on, my LinkedIn page.

• LinkedIn

JESSE SNYDER
_{lead campaign designer}

Cory was an awesome mission designer when I was the Campaign Lead on Halo 4. He was a fast learner and quickly got up to speed on our tool set and became one of the go to designers on the team. He wasn't afraid to take on extra work in order to improve the game and he always wanted what was best for the campaign.He made my life as a manager easy and was a pleasure to work with from a managerial standpoint. His missions were usually some of the top rated levels when we did internal testing, but that didn't prevent him from continuing to further improve them.Cory is also a huge gamer and really understands what is out there, not just in the FPS realm but industry wide. He's an awesome designer and great to have on any game design team.

KYNAN PEARSON
_{lead multiplayer designer}

Cory is a great designer. He's legitimately a jack of all trades willing to take on any part of design. He has very strong values and he's always motivated to press forward and go the extra mile.He is an encyclopedia of classic game knowledge which gives him a solid understanding of foundational design philosophies. Cory is the type of designer you can trust to do a great job on what ever he is responsible for.A strong addition to any team and one of the few designers that can see the entire vision in his head and understand how all of the parts fit together. I always look forward to seeing what he's been working on.

TIM QUINN
_{game designer}

The time I spent working with Cory at Nerd Corps was a fantastic experience. His ability to communicate clearly, adapt to the situation, and uphold the vision of our projects made him an indispensable part of our team. I learned a great deal from Cory and hope to work with him again in the future.

JAMES ROMANCHUK
_{Art Director}

Resourceful and intelligent with his creativity, Cory has a talent for analyzing problems and presenting viable solutions. Cory has a great respect for those he works with and their expertise and can balance decisive leadership with the confidence to invite his team's input and insights.

ROB CONNON
_{project manager}

Cory is a excellent example of a true "Expert" and "Professional" - In the time i've worked with Cory he's helped me re-think how design and user experience is delivered. His understanding of game, interface and experience design is astonishing and not only does he know what makes a great experience but he also understands what makes that experience successful.I would not hesitate to recommend Cory, his passion and drive to innovate is an asset to any team.

JOE BONAR
_{studio head}

Cory has an encyclopedic knowledge of games, both classic and current. He is a gamer through-and-through, but he doesn't over think or over engineer his designs, which are concise, sufficiently detailed and useful.He has a great work ethic and will apply himself with gusto to the smallest task to the biggest and everything in between.

TRENT WARD
_{CREATIVE DIRECTOR}

Cory is an excellent game designer, with the ability to quickly generate workable ideas and then describe those ideas concisely and with visual backup.Even under less than optimal conditions, Cory looks for the tools that he has to work with and makes those the centerpiece mechanics rather than spending time worrying about what he can't get done. He keeps a clear head under pressure and is a strong leader in times of stress.I highly recommend Cory for any design team and would not hesitate to add him to my own team if given the opportunity.

JEI KOHLENBERG
_{senior producer}

Cory is an extremely talented designer whose passion for the games industry is obvious in the way he tirelessly devours his projects.His communication, documentation and leadership abilities are exceptional. Cory’s designs are fresh, innovative and thorough. In the short time I worked with Cory he set the standards for what I expect from a lead designer.Cory always delivers. It was a pleasure to work with Cory – he makes an excellent addition to any development team.

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EXPERIENCE

Below are some of the projects I have collaborated on and my specific contributions to them.

GHOST OF TSUSHIMA:
LEGENDS MODE

I was privileged to be a part of the four person core team responsible for designing and creating the cooperative Legends Mode for Ghost of Tsushima.Legends was nominated for the "BAFTA 2021 Best Multiplayer" and "D.I.C.E Awards 24th Annual Online Game of the Year" awards.Legends Mode was so well received that it was sold as a standalone game at a later date, and will be getting a recently announced anime adaptation, directed by Takanobu Mizuno (Star Wars: Visions) in 2027.The reviews of Legends Mode, linked below, highlight the passion, care and thought we put into our work.

• WATCH
• READ

GOT: LEGENDS
STORY MISSIONS

I was responsible for designing, planning and building four of the nine story missions within Legends Mode.Each mission featured branching paths, unique mechanics and content randomization, and was built around endless replayability.The missions were told as a living story to the player by the narrator Gyozen, who described the player's actions and explained the overarching story as it played out.

• SEVERED HEARTS
• VEIL BETWEEN REALMS
• THE STRANDED DEAD
• CURSE OF THE ONIBABA

GOT: LEGENDS
SURVIVAL MISSIONS

I was responsible for designing and building all six survival missions in Legends Mode.Each Survival Mission had players defending three capture points from attacking enemies, across up to thirty waves, with bosses appearing every five waves.Higher difficulties had the Legends Story Mission mechanics layered on top, challenging teams further.Rotating weekly challenges offered players opportunities to acquire the best rewards, for the highest risk.

• BLOOD AND STEEL
• DEFENSE OF AOI VILLAGE
• THE SHADOW OF WAR
• BLOOD IN THE SNOW
• SHORES OF VENGEANCE
• TWILIGHT AND ASHES

GOT: LEGENDS
THE TALE OF IYO RAID

I designed and crafted the elaborate mechanics and encounters found within all three chapters of the Raid.Spread out across a sprawling, handcrafted level that I designed specifically for the Raid, these bespoke systems and challenges demanded teamwork and cooperative play.The Raid featured over twenty distinct platforming sequences, lethal encounters, and devious puzzles that challenged teams with both repurposed Legends Mode systems, as well as completely new Raid mechanics.

• WATCH CHAPTER ONE
• CHAPTER ONE DETAILS
• WATCH CHAPTER TWO
• CHAPTER TWO DETAILS
• WATCH CHAPTER THREE
• CHAPTER THREE DETAILS

HALO 5: GUARDIANS

I led a focused team of designers to deliver significant portions of the campaign experience.In addition, I was also responsible for taking two campaign missions:("Reunion" and "The Breaking") through the full production cycle.

• REUNION
• THE BREAKING

HALO 4

I was responsible for owning the campaign level "Forerunner" through all stages of development.I also assisted in the scripting, encounters and polish of other campaign levels, including "Requiem", "Infinity", "Shutdown", "Composer" and "Midnight".

• FORERUNNER

UNRELEASED WORK

OLDER PROJECTS

SONIC RIVALS 2 (PSP)
_{LEAD LEVEL DESIGNER}

SONIC RIVALS (PSP)
_{Level Designer}

MONSTER LAB (WII)
_{GAME DESIGN SUPPORT}

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SKILLS

Listed below are some of the skills I feel are my strengths as a veteran game developer, and a brief explanation of how or why I feel the way I do about each of them.I'm very passionate about game design - I hope you enjoy reading about these things as much as I love talking about them!

HOLISTIC GAME DESIGN

I strive to create strong, interconnected systems that feed off of one another to create a more meaningful whole - a complete experience, rather than just a game with just a series of disparate systems in it.

CREATIVE DIRECTION & DECISION MAKING

I believe having decisiveness and confidence are key to keep a project moving forward smoothly, but having the experience and humbleness to know when to pivot when things aren't working is just as critical. Don't be afraid to fail fast or fail often, just make sure you're trying awesome stuff.

HERO & ABILITY DESIGN

Some of my favorite design exercises and work I've done have been around designing heroes and their accompanying combat kits. Finding new ways to communicate a character's personality through their moveset while also establishing a fun and unique gameplay rhythm for each is an exciting challenge for me.

WEAPON DESIGN

I have experience brainstorming, designing, tuning and iterating on both first person firearms, as well as melee weapons and ranged tool kits. I have experience with magical and more non-traditional weapon design as well, with a strong understanding of feel and player empowerment.

ENEMY & BOSS DESIGN

Designing enemies and bosses that have readable, understandable and coherent movesets is always an engaging experience for me. I find it gets even more enjoyable when I start thinking about how I can layer in attacks and mechanics that require the player to utilize their toolbox in fun and compelling ways. Layering all of these philosophies onto the design of a multi-phase boss fight (especially when cooperative play is involved) is where you can push challenging player interactions to the limit.

EGOLESS COLLABORATION

I just love making video games, and I love working with all the creative, brilliant people that also make games. I firmly hold that great ideas can spring from anywhere, and I have no need to get defensive or upset if someone suggests improvements to any work of mine. If I truly believe in something, I will defend it - but respectfully and politely, while listening to their logic, as often there can be amazing results from these collaborations.

LEVEL & MISSION DESIGN

Having designed over a dozen missions or levels from beginning to end across a variety of different genres of game, I feel that I have developed a very strong sense for pacing. Guiding a player fluidly through a space I've designed, as though being pulled by an invisible thread - even in a non-linear space - is a skill I have spent years honing. Scripting events, implementing combat encounters, hiding treasure everywhere and secrets in hidden nooks - I pride myself on my confidence in both designing levels and populating those spaces with compelling gameplay.

PROGRESSION SYSTEMS

From when I was a child and I felt compelled to level all of my characters to level 99 in Final Fantasy II and III (American numbers, I know, I know...), progression systems have captivated me.When they are more shallow, like crafting or alchemy systems, they serve the purpose of driving players forward towards collecting ingredients and exploring the world. When they're incredibly deep, like skill trees that span multiple pages and tabs, they encourage players to return for the one thousandth hour, seeking that perfect build or true mastery over the game.Regardless, these systems are one of the core principles of my love for design - in every way they permeate my thinking when I'm designing almost everything: "How can we hook progression into these mechanics to keep players engaged for longer?"

NARRATIVE INTEGRATION & CREATIVE WRITING

I believe that my love of films has dramatically informed my sense of narrative pacing when it comes to planning, writing and designing my levels and missions. I love working with the Narrative Designers and Writers on the teams I've been a part of over the years, and I've been lucky enough to not only have had my suggestions make it into the games, but I've been able to actually write portions of my shipped missions to help ease the writer's burdens.

COOPERATIVE MECHANICS

I find designing cooperative mechanics fascinating - it's such a precarious line to walk. Too light of a touch, and a single player can handle the challenge with ease. Too much pressure, and it becomes impossible to do solo. It's all about striking a balance where cooperation is the optimal path forward, but not the only path forward.When designing the Legends Mode cooperative mechanics, we made a very conscious decision that we were going to strongly encourage players to cooperate in the Story Missions, and then up the ante and force them to cooperate in the Raid. Not backing down from that design pillar throughout development allowed us the freedom to design some refreshing, challenging, and very engaging cooperative gameplay.

RAPID PROTOTYPING

When developing a new feature - especially one that has unforeseen risk or open design questions - I like to try to get it in game and playable as quickly as possible. If I can manage it with my schedule, role and responsibilities, I'll get hands on and implement a rapid prototype as quickly as possible. If I have other pressing tasks, I will work with my reports to prioritize a strike team with clear direction and goals, to implement a rapid prototype for us to assess as a team.

CONCISE WRITING & ROBUST DOCUMENTATION

Over my career, I have written thousands of pages of game design documentation, and I have become very proficient at it. It all reads as highly organized, concise information presented in a no-nonsense manner that is very easy to digest. Team members I've worked with have given me great praise for presenting them with just the right amount of information they need to execute, without overloading them with unnecessary details. I also strive to keep all of my documentation up-to-date over the life of the project.

STRONG COMMUNICATION

I have strong verbal and written communication skills, and am a strong and empathetic listener. I take great pride in my ability to hear all sides of any conflicts that arise during production and try to find a solution that suit's the projects best interests, while clearly explaining the reasoning behind my decisions to the parties involved. I speak clearly and confidently, and enjoy championing design visions to the team.

UI & UX DESIGN ACUMEN

While not an expert by any means, I have years of UI and UX design experience, including experience designing for different interaction methodologies, such as touchscreens and stylus interactions. I have experience designing UI wireframes, interface flow diagrams, and more. I understand the principles of UI/UX design, and understand how to translate them into my game designs to enhance the player's experience.

LEADERSHIP AND MENTORING

I greatly enjoy finding young talent in the games industry and helping nurture and mentor it. I firmly believe that while years of experience and shipped titles can give you knowledge you can't get elsewhere, you should not underestimate the power and potential of a talented, passionate, earnest industry newcomer. With the appropriate guidance and mentorship, that talent can be molded into something that can help define the next generation of our industry, and I enjoy helping them achieve that potential.

RAPID ITERATION

Once a feature comes online and we start rapidly testing it with the team, I find that is when it becomes very important to iterate on it frequently. Make small changes, tweak enemy placements, or unit types. Move spawn volumes as you watch people engage with your content. Don't be afraid to tweak your work to make it better - improvement comes through iteration!

HANDS ON, IN-ENGINE WORK

I love getting my hands dirty in-engine... not much more to it than that, really! While it has happened a bit less over my last few roles, due to there being more high-level direction and people management required, I still relish getting in-engine and making tweaks, tuning weapons, fixing bugs and providing feedback.

PITCHING & PRESENTING

As mentioned earlier, my communication skills are very strong, but so are my presentation skills. I understand how to put together a solid, comprehensive but concise pitch deck that can convey complicated mechanics, systems or even entire projects. I can also deliver these pitches in exciting ways while fielding questions naturally.

FAST LEARNER

*I am a naturally fast learner when it comes to tools, pipelines and game editors. I have worked hands-on with mostly proprietary engines over the course of my career - game engines with almost no documentation, held aloft by decades of tribal knowledge, and I still manage to pick them up rapidly and become proficient very rapidly.

CAPABLE SCRIPTER

I've used various scripting languages over my career, from melscript, to haloscript to lua. Recently, as a personal project, I have been spending more time working in blueprints, where I continue to steadily improve. As mentioned in my point about being a fast learner above, I believe that I can pick up any scripting language very rapidly when I'm immersed in it - it's simply a matter of dedication and focus.

BUG FIXING & POLISH

As a project winds down and you approach the ever critical bug fixing phase, I find that I flourish. I thrive under mountains of bugs, treating them like a checklist to crossed off. The speed, efficiency and quality of my work shines here, and I'm able to take on a lot of work to a high quality bar, delivering lots of bug fixes and improving the overall quality of the project by an order of magnitude.

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