JUST CAUSE 4
Danger Rising

LEAD DESIGNER

Rico Rodriguez faces off against the Agency in a long-awaited reckoning.  The new hoverboard, explosive weapons, gripping missions, massive submarine bases, and a villain to rival Rico himself make this the biggest DLC in Just Cause History.

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Getting Dangerous

After shipping Daredevils of Destruction, I had the opportunity to step into the role of Lead Designer and Product Owner for Just Cause 4's final expansion, which we ended up naming Danger Rising.

This project was a career highlight for me.  I'm grateful that I was entrusted with leading a really cool team of dedicated developers and with holding vision for the project.

And I finally got to bring some of my own loony dreams to Just Cause.​

As the Product Owner, I put on a lot of hats, from working out the appearance of the Agency bases and enemies with our concept artist, to honing the story beats and cinematics with our narrative designer, reviewing iterations of level design, collaborating with our sound team and composer (the hoverboard course theme is the best), and even getting hands-on tuning the hoverboard, weapons, and enemy combatants. It was a perfect blend of sitting and talking through the vision and implementation with developers, and getting elbows deep in the engine to make a cool thing.

Danger Rising was not without challenges. We felt end-of-project turnover, and I ended up taking on some unexpected tasks, like providing art review for 3D assets in the absence of an Art Director.  Our team was split between New York and Stockholm, so I spent time in frequent art reviews and daily player mechanics syncs with the Stockholmies to encourage  everything to stay connected, ensure everyone was heard, and make sure no one was left swimming in uncertainty. We also had a lot of end-of-project antsy-ness, as our time with JC4 was drawing to a close.

Despite these challenges, my producer and I did our best to maintain an energetic spirit. We encouraged developer autonomy, staged weekly pass-the-controller playtests, and got the crew together for team-wide sprint kickoffs and reviews.

And I'm incredibly proud of some of the love and good design that went into the project:

• Post-DLC hoverboard courses
• Easter eggs like the return of Mr. Snowman and the JC3 beach chair
• Secret hoverboard skins
• Back-to-basics bases
• Grappling enemies
• Miniboss Agents and the duel against Miller
• Adding the hoverboard seamlessly into Rico's arsenal

These highlights are just some of the reasons I feel JC4 Danger Rising still holds a positive Steam review ranking -- best of any JC4 product! -- to this day.