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James (@DaNightTrain) profile picture

Game Designer, Weight Lifter, Movie Lover, Self proclaimed Beer Snob

Los Angeles, CA
Joined July 2010
Photo by James (@DaNightTrain)Photo by James (@DaNightTrain)Photo by James (@DaNightTrain)Photo by James (@DaNightTrain)Photo by James (@DaNightTrain)Photo by James (@DaNightTrain)Photo by James (@DaNightTrain)Photo by James (@DaNightTrain)Photo by James (@DaNightTrain)Photo by James (@DaNightTrain)
God of morning routine
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In the spirit of #Blocktober, I'm posting images of the design sheet I worked on alongside the wonderful art it was turned into by Sam Delfanti and Timo Pihlajamaki. This comes from a portion of the finale of God of War: Ragnarok, which involved many, many people so there are more to thank for these images, please comment below if you were also a part of bringing this to life! This sequence directly follows the moment Atreus and Sindri expose the flaw in Hrimthur's Wall, and was built to be a combat gauntlet, where Kratos and Atreus join forces with Thrud to take on Odin's army of Einherjar. The sequence was built to feel like a final stand, filled with back-to-back fights, an environment crumbling around you, and a constant downwards progression as you barrel towards an inevitable final battle. Special shoutouts to Andrew Chrysafidis and Eric Williams for allowing me the chance to build this special moment. Beyond honored to have contributed to the Ragnarok battle and feeling blessed to work with the incredibly talented people at Santa Monica Studio, please enjoy.
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Happy #Blocktober! Will be posting some gameplay and systems design from #GodOfWarRagnarok here! I got the amazing chance to work on so many little narrative moments across the game in #GodOfWarRagnarok. Lets look at the Train Align minigame moment today! @DaNightTrain , while working on the level wanted to invoke the feeling of someone spotting you when parallel parking (lol) and so we did! We had to make sure the player always had the choice to agree/disagree with Atreus’ directions, while still maintaining a max time for the minigame. This led us to design it so the train actually started and ended in the same location 😉 in order to guarantee the number of moves the player could do (hence the camera angle). While this limited the steps, we still had to have unique game states for each time you visited those alignment locations. Can’t end this post without calling out the months and months of back and forth and amazing animation and tech help from @Adams_Animator to accomplish so many interdependent syncs!
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Happy #Blocktober ! Today, sharing a look into the Level Design for Svartalfheim’s Nidavellir Port location in #GodOfWarRagnarok . This arena was a blast to design—collaborating with @DaNightTrain & seeing it come to life with the incredible work of everyone at @SonySantaMonica
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We been cookin' with the wonderful team here at @SonySantaMonica for something special!
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Here's what you're gonna do. You're not gonna be sorry, you're gonna be better. The deer? You are hunting it, not chasing it. You only fire when I tell you to fire. NOT when you see it. NOT when it's guard is up. Nice and easy. Do you understand, boy?
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RIP Betty White 🙏
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Just realized my '19 GDC talk "Evolving God of War's Combat for a New Perspective" has been added to youtube! I hope ppl find this talk both insightful and practically useful. youtu.be/hE5tWF-Ou2k Shout out to @theshroffage for helping put this together and joining Q&A! – at Los Angeles, CA
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One of the environments I had the pleasure to work on for the #GodOfWarRagnarok trailer.
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We’re ready to go beyond the Nine Realms! Congratulations to our friends @insomniacgames for the incredible launch of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart! #RatchetPS5
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Dear politicians/political influencers: When you tweet about my father’s birthday, remember that he was resolute about eradicating racism, poverty & militarism. Encourage & enact policies that reflect your birthday sentiments. Here’s the authentic #MLK:
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Happy 15th Birthday to #GodofWar! I did this back in 2013 when I 1st joined the @SonySantaMonica team! I was so excited to join a team w/such an outstanding legacy of amazing #artists who had helped create the world and characters of GOW #Kratos #videogame #playstation #photoshop
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A look back at gaming in 2019
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At Santa Monica Studio we unite together every day to #BeBetter, for our fans, for our creative work, for each other, for this great industry of creatives. Our hearts always go out to those impacted by layoffs. We'd love to connect ❤️ #gamedevjobs bit.ly/2SupSIk
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The 2019 #DICEAwards come to a close with a victory for @SonySantaMonica: Congratulations, God of War!
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James retweeted
.@corybarlog's reaction to God of War winning IGN's 2018 Game of the Year:
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