Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok

ACV: Dawn of Ragnarök was the first AAA project that I had the opportunity to be a part of from beginning to end. At the beginning of the project, I was responsible for laying the foundation of the quest flow structure.

  • I created the architecture for the mission design for the main quests as well as the side
    content.
  • I created the categories for the NPC systems.
  • Created the static global variables needed for the quest designers to keep track of data
    across the whole main quest.

After the development of the project took off, I received ownership of three features:

  • Dwarves in Distress
  • The Five pieces of Jotun Armor
  • Floating Monoliths

Dwarves in Distress

This feature consists of 10 NPCs scattered around the map in different locations. During the development of this feature, I partnered with level designers who created the locations. I also took charge of the technical aspects, which involved implementing icons, dialogues, spawners, and quest scripting. Moreover, I found solutions to any challenges that arose before the feature was released.

 

Blog post and source of pictures: Dwarves in Distess on IGN

Five pieces of Jotun Armor

After letting free the dwarves from “Dwarves in Distress” you are given coordinates for 5 packs of elite Jotun Shapeshifters. This is considered to be a separate feature but is actually a part of

the “Dwarves in Distress” narrative. The approximate whereabouts of the shapeshifters are revealed during a dialogue sequence triggered by freeing a pair of dwarves. The dialogues are branched and controlled by a script that I created.
The map displays markers indicating the locations of the packs, but these icons become visible only when the player approaches them within a certain distance.

The Icon itself has a script that is controlling its behavior. Icons can be local (only shown on the compass) or global (shown on the world map). To handle this specific feature, I designed a script that dynamically controls how the icons are shown based on the player’s proximity to the shapeshifter packs and their discovered status.
Once the player acquires all five armor pieces, a portal unlocks, transporting them to an arena where they confront a formidable World Boss named RIEKR. As the technical point of contact, I was responsible for overseeing the implementation of everything related to the arena:

  • Navigation
  • Scripting
  • Boundaries
  • VFX

Blog post and source of pictures: Jotun Mantle Armor Set on IGN

The Floating Muspelheim Monoliths

I found working on this feature extremely enjoyable, as it was initially considered impossible to pull off. It was on the verge of being removed from the game when I, along with assistance from my technical team colleagues, discovered a solution for implementing a functional and playable ecosystem in the air while still using the traditional navigation system. I created and managed a custom script responsible for handling NPC behavior, ensuring diverse gameplay experiences, and managing respawning of NPCs. The script was designed to make each monolith unique in its feel and gameplay while preserving the essence of the feature. To this day, this particular feature remains one of my proudest accomplishments.

Wiki post and source of pictures: Muspelheim Monoliths on Assassin’s Creed Wiki