High Moon Studios | Activision
Level Design Intern Summer 2025
Gameplay
While respecting NDA, my contributions can be illustrated through shipped missions I assisted with:
Mission: Distortion
Mission: Suppression
Note: My primary role was assisting with pre-production polish, bug fixing, minor gameplay adjustments, and playtesting, while also designing my own level internally focused on rapid prototyping and core level design.
Overview
During my internship at High Moon Studios, I worked on Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, focusing on level design, iteration, and post-production polish. My contributions spanned creating playable spaces, rapid prototyping, and supporting the team with bug fixing and design adjustments. This experience gave me hands-on exposure to AAA development pipelines, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and iterative design at scale.
​Key Responsibilities
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Player Flow & Pacing: Smooth spatial transitions, minimized abrupt turns, guided player navigation.
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Visual Guidance: Consistent blockmesh usage and visual cues for clarity.
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Rapid Iteration: Prototyped new layouts, tested ideas, and integrated feedback quickly.
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Attention to Detail: Polished combat spaces, minor gameplay tweaks, and environment refinements.
Workflow & Tools
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Proprietary in-house tools for level design.
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Playtesting sessions to gather and analyze player behavior.
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Bug tracking and post-production documentation.
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Light scripting for environmental and gameplay elements.
Team Collaboration
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Worked closely with fellow level designers, artists, and engineers.
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Presented layouts, pitched iterations, and incorporated cross-disciplinary feedback.
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Learned to communicate design intent clearly and adapt based on technical constraints.
Key Learnings
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Iterative design at AAA scale enhances player experience significantly.
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Cross-disciplinary collaboration is essential for cohesive level and gameplay design.
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Observing and analyzing player behavior leads to actionable design improvements.
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Rapid prototyping and structured feedback are crucial for refining gameplay systems.
Dev log
This internship strengthened my skills as a generalist designer, capable of taking ownership of levels from ideation to polish while collaborating effectively with a AAA team. It also gave me valuable insight into the realities of shipping content at scale and the professional expectations of AAA production pipelines.
+1(425) 340-4264
