Jon Hickenbottom

Senior Level Designer @SonySantaMonica on God of War Laufey | God of War Ragnarok

[Jon Hickenbottom @jonmichael]

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

[PlayStation @PlayStation]

God of War Laufey is the next mainline chapter in Santa Monica Studio's series.

First gameplay and story details of the newly announced PS5 action adventure: https://t.co/VTg1O9UNYX

[Jon Hickenbottom @jonmichael]

Posting less here, but had a moment to update my website with all the work I’ve been fortunate to work on for God of War : Ragnarok.

https://t.co/WLIxdYwIey

[Jon Hickenbottom @jonmichael]

@arnaldo42 Ya the Hue setup! Sometimes a little too much for shows and movies but loving it for games.

[Jon Hickenbottom @jonmichael]

@WrightDesign_ @thegameawards @TeamAsobi It was so great!

[Jon Hickenbottom @jonmichael]

@MichaelPHuber

[Rajul R @dajoule]

Happy #Blocktober folks! I got the amazing chance to work on water level mechanics in Svartalfheim in #GodOfWarRagnarok. Lets look at the Water Sluices!
While we could have supported larger, baked sluice setups, we opted for a modular approach for each sluice piece that activated the water mechanics at runtime (shown below). This meant that the entire system’s feature set needed to be supported within the 3m piece! Even though Maintaining visual fidelity while making sure the pieces communicate effectively was a big challenge, This decision allowed quick iteration for our level design team who was allowed to move and tune sluice setups in real-time. Have to callout @jonmichael taking this head on and making and informing so many setups that fully realize the potential in the most fun development experience I have had

[Jon Hickenbottom @jonmichael]

Building out this level was massive undertaking and collaboration—brought to life with the amazing work from the team at @SonySantaMonica I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to collaborate together on #GodOfWarRagnarok

[Jon Hickenbottom @jonmichael]

Today, for #Blocktober , sharing a look into the Level Design for The Applecore location in #GodofWarRagnarok

Special shout out to —incredible— work of @badboi3d, @PiEnvArt, Patrick Ward, Steven Mortensen, Will Petrosky, @ivannaliitt, @ChrisLloydVFX, @rubenvoorhees1, @Revan1322, @QuitevFX, @CptCinderpride, @leftie, Brandon Cha, @ketul1776, @JoshHammondDev, @chlolist, @dajoule, @_GlitterBooger, @DaNightTrain, Michael Cheng, Andrew Chrysafidis, Eric Williams, and everyone, past and present, on the Applecore Crew for the colossal amount of effort to bring this space to life...

[Jon Hickenbottom @jonmichael]

@badboi3d —You— are the best! 💙 It was a highlight and a privilege to be able to work together on every nook and cranny. The colossal amount of work you all did is incredible.

[Drew Welch 🤦‍♂️ @DrGrantSays]

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.

[Jon Hickenbottom @jonmichael]

Check out some amazing work by @xylaei on Alfheim Deserts in #GodofWarRagnarok 🔥

[Mihir Sheth @youtheremehere]

This arena also served as our testing ground for proving out increased mobility in combat! Grapples, drop downs, gap jumps, and all the fun in between. Not to mention some funky ragdoll collision! Having an arena that pushes many systems early is very helpful in development 👌🏽

[Jon Hickenbottom @jonmichael]

Special shout out to @badboi3d , @PiEnvArt , Patrick Ward, Steven Mortensen, Brandon Cha, Eric Williams, and the colossal amount of effort from every single person, from all departments to bring this space to life. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to collaborate together.

[Jon Hickenbottom @jonmichael]

Also today, sharing a look into the Level Design for Svartalfheim’s Pitmine location in #GodofWarRagnarok . This level was a lot of fun to help contribute to and an immense effort by everyone at @SonySantaMonica

[Jon Hickenbottom @jonmichael]

Shout out to @dajoule for the Sluice System Designs and the opportunity to collaborate on the Sluice Intro Puzzle and Sluice Puzzles throughout the Svartalfheim Pitmine & Applecore.