Generation Zero is an open world coop FPS made by the Systemic Reaction division of Avalanche Studios and set in an alternate reality 1980s Sweden invaded by a mysterious robot army. It's unique setting and grounded, realistic, often bleak tone set it apart and over the course of it's five and a half year lifespan it developed as strong and dedicated community.

I joined the team as game director and lead designer four years into the game's live operations lifecycle, after it had been through multiple cycles of both team makeup and creative leadership changes. I was responsible for the design team but also for developing a strong, cohesive vision for the ongoing development of the game, which had fractured through multiple creative leadership changes on the project. I took the game back to it's roots, it's original design pillars from before it's live service pillars, and integrated those with the feedback and observations from the community about what they loved and enjoyed doing in the game and why they were so dedicated in coming back to Östertörn and fighting our machines. With a limited team size and resources, there was a very real need for razor sharp focus, prioritization, innovation, and and improvisation to create the most impactful features and content possible, bringing the game back into the most cohesive and engaging experience possible.

During my time with the Generation Zero team I oversaw the release of:

• The Machine Companion, a robotic buddy to fight along side you which helped make single player less lonely for a game with "Joint Struggle" as one of it's pillars
• The Flakmoped, a traditional Swedish 3 wheeled vehicle with a tray on the front that a coop player can ride in, further reinforcing the Joint Struggle pillar as well as empowering the kind of wacky teenage hijinks our GZ love to engage in
• The Augmentations system, allowing players a new way to customize their weapons by researching and then applying different levels of augmentations which change the weapons' gameplay properties and behaviours
• The Advanced Intelligence Cosmetics Pack, a set of weapon and companion cosmetics with some flashy scifi flare
• Additional weekly procedural missions focusing on problem solving and investigation
• The Vulture, a new endgame boss fight along with a new reworked, more easily understandable system for spawning endgame bossfights
• A revamp of the Base Defense gameplay system, focusing on intentional player strategy, long term end game economies, and more diverse and engaging moment to moment gameplay
• The Showdown update which fulfilled the two largest player requests from the previous years, a whole new playable map area to explore, and a new series of missions to provide a satisfying conclusion to the storyline of the game

The Generation Zero team was an absolutely incredible group of people and it was a privilege and an honor to work with them to re-find the game's heart and bring it back into focus over the course of it's final years.