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	May 18, 2013

		Amazon Game Studios Sr. Game Designer

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Travis Hoffstetter's Blog Expert Blogs

I am a level designer in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have shipped "Tomb Raider", “Transformers: War for Cybertron” and “The Bourne Conspiracy”. I have a Masters in Interactive Technology with a Level Design Specialization from The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Saint Louis University.

I like to surf and eat breakfast burritos.

Expert Blogs

The Art and Science of Pacing and Sequencing Combat Encounters
Posted by Travis Hoffstetter on Sun, 10 Feb 2013 08:55:00 EST in Design
Pacing and sequencing is an art, based on science. The following explores how artistic decisions based on scientific process pave the way to making awesome combat encounters.
Read More... \| 13 Comments

The Use of Spawn Animations to Make AI Look Smarter
Posted by Travis Hoffstetter on Wed, 09 Jan 2013 02:50:00 EST in Design
As a level designer I can feel when spawn animations in a combat encounter are an afterthought or have been rushed. Here is a process for creating a set of quality AI spawns that make the AI look smart before they interact with the player.
Read More... \| 2 Comments

Travis Hoffstetter's Comments

Comment In: The truth about how AAA developers view indies [Blog - 04/30/2013 - 05:01]
Great read I can 't ... Great read I can 't count the number of times I 've heard people talking about going indie, especially during crunch.

Comment In: The Art and Science of Pacing and Sequencing Combat Encounters [Blog - 02/10/2013 - 08:55]
The spawn location factor is ... The spawn location factor is not just for fps, but can be for any game that lets you have camera control as you enter the combat space. The spawn location factor would apply to Uncharted or Dead space for example 3rd person . John, you are correct in the fact ...