Author Archives: derek

Derek Warner is an international video game and level designer with AAA experience. He has worked in the industry for 6 years and has shipped three titles, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Socom: Combined Assault, and MAG. Derek currently works as a designer at Zipper Interactive, owned by Sony Computer Entertainment of America. Derek started his career at Sierra Entertainment in 2003 and worked as an environmental artist. After 6 months Derek became the lead multiplayer game and level designer and designed the multiplayer component of the project including creating the design documents and map layouts for the multiplayer missions. In 2004 the project was canceled, and Sierra Entertainment closed its doors. In 2004, Derek headed to Australia to work as a level designer on a new start up game company called Perception. They acquired the Stargate SG-1 license and were creating a game based on that franchise called Stargate SG-1: The Alliance. He designed the first two missions of the game which was later canceled in 2005. In 2005, Derek was hired as a level designer on Rainbow Six: Vegas at Ubisoft Montreal. He created and designed the second level of the final game called the Calypso Casino creating a 25 page document of all the encounters of each area of the map, story and plot points, along with blocking the level out and working with an art team to finish the map. Rainbow Six: Vegas shipped November 20th, 2006 to great reviews. In 2006, Derek was hired as a designer at Zipper Interactive. He was hired on to create levels and help on the diesgn of MAG still in its early stages, but their current project, Socom: Combined Assault at the time needed a multiplayer designer. Derek designed all the multiplayer missions for Socom: Combined Assault before starting work on MAG. Currently he works as a designer on MAG which he designed and worked on most of the missions in the game. Derek's latest project is SOCOM 4. He is currently doing level design along with some system design. The game is scheduled for release in the fall of 2010.