Arkane Studios Employee Spotlight: Clément Patalano
Welcome to our Arkane Studios Employee Spotlight series!
Once a month we’re going to take time to highlight one of the amazing people who work at Arkane Lyon so they can share their story about how they begun working at the studio and give some details on what their job entails.
Today, we kick things off with Clément Patalano, Level Designer.
What is your role at Arkane Lyon?
I am a Level Designer, our task is to use the space and gameplay tools (weapons, spells, enemies…) made by the other teams to propose the most interesting challenges and situations possible to the player. We work closely with the art and narrative teams to create a cohesive and symbiotic experience.
Everyone at Arkane, us included, also pay close attention to giving the player enough information and freedom while reinforcing the immersion so they can be part of the game’s world, play their own way and have a meaningful impact on the universe.
When did you join the studio?
I joined Arkane Lyon in 2018 as a Technical Level Designer on “DEATHLOOP”. At our studio, Technical Level Designers are a bridge between programmers and designers. Making sure the designers have the right tools for their work and translating their needs into specifications for the programmers. I also assisted the designers with some technical aspects of their work like scripting and optimizing.
It's an interesting and multi-faceted job, but I was longing for something that would allow my creativity to express towards something closer to the player’s experience. Being a Level Designer now is scratching that itch and I’m thrilled I was given the opportunity to switch roles.
Before you joined Arkane Lyon, did you have any past experiences that you would like to share?
I have an engineering degree in networks and computer science. I’ve also worked as an apprentice in a big company making satellites. I realize how cool working with the army or with space agencies sounds and being able to enter a white room where satellites are made is awesome. But honestly, I felt like it wasn’t the world for me. It was way too “down to earth” (pun intended).
I was fascinated by video games’ ability to immerse the player in fantastic worlds, so I really wanted to become a creator myself. My programming experience helped me get started fast, but I really wanted to learn design and I chose to study Level Design after my engineering degree. It was a “step backwards” (from an engineering degree to a license) but I don’t regret it at all, as it was all I’ve ever dreamed of. I was lucky enough to start working at Arkane, which is my dream studio, right after receiving my license.
But please, don’t be discouraged to join us if you don’t have an engineering degree or haven’t worked on satellites! What matters the most is to love making great games and the discipline to reach this expectation.
What does your day-to-day look like in your role?
As a Level Designer, no day is the same!
At the beginning of production, I spend a lot of time making diagrams to specify the different steps of the mission that will take place in the level I am working on. I will describe the different spaces, their functions, size and how they are interconnected. I will also propose some “vignettes”, little remarkable beats of the level that generally involves bespoke narration, mechanics and/or visuals and validate them with the teams involved.
When the design intentions are clear, I will spend more time prototyping the level in the engine with grey blocks and scripting. I will also be paired with a Level Artist, who oversees all the artistic design and the architectural coherence of the level. We will have very regular interactions to ensure the artistic and design intentions are aligned during the whole production.
In production, I also have to keep an eye on anything that could impact the player’s experience in the level I am working on: Script the specific narrative and gameplay beats, make sure the environment is clear enough, iterate on the enemy positions and movements and so on.
Design is an iterative process. So anytime in production we could go back to step 1 to adapt to feedback we received or technical/production constraints we couldn’t anticipate.
What is your favorite part of the job?
I love the creative aspect of Level Design and the holistic approach to it we have here. We can (and are expected to) make proposals for any kind of content, even if it involves specific narration, game mechanics or visuals. Of course, we will have to make coherent proposals for them to be accepted, but getting very specific on the hows and whys we should be doing anything this way is also something I love here.
Interacting with different disciplines, understanding their approach and sharing ideas together is also very stimulating.
What is something that inspires you about your role?
I love how there is no “useless knowledge” when you’re working on a level.
You love music? Why not add a mechanic involving different instruments!
Watching insects is your passion? You’ll probably have a lot of ideas to make a level feel like an anthill or to make vignettes involving insects like rituals!
My point is, you can really pour yourself in your levels, and that’s what will make them feel unique and special. That’s also an incentive as a designer to pay closer attention to the world, read books, watch movies, play games, enjoy life. Inspiration can really hide everywhere!
What other games or studios inspire you?
Oh boy, I could write thousands of pages about the games and studios I love! I will try to keep it short.
I am very fond of Frictional Games and their ability to immerse the player. How everything in their games revolves around making the player feel a specific emotion, it’s so refreshing!
I also love Remedy, they have such unique universes and stories. Alan Wake 2 was a blast! They use the medium and transcend it in a unique way to serve their thematic.
From Software and their efficient approach to design is so humbling and inspiring. Elden Ring truly is a masterpiece. Bloodborne is still their game that has the dearest place in my heart because of how well they managed to get that Lovecraftian horror feeling right.
Of course, Outer Wilds and its ability to make the player pay attention to details, be curious about everything and understand the world down to the most obscure mechanic.
Finally, Undertale is extremely dear to me. It made me realize how deeply the medium can put the player (and not just their character) at the center of the story and that our choices really matter. It’s made by Toby Fox, who worked on it almost alone and it inspired me so much that I took the decision to work in video games after playing it!
Any words of inspiration to prospective game developers?
Game creation is an exciting world, even if harsh and unforgiving sometimes. It can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re still at the beginning of the learning stage, but that is absolutely normal.
Making a video game involves so many different types of knowledge, craftmanship and tools. You can’t master them all. In fact, even deciding how and why you should be doing something is already a challenge in itself. Trust yourself, you will learn on the way, that’s why you need to just keep going. Don’t spend too much time reading game dev books, watching tutorials, choosing the right tool for the job… Sure, it’s important, but the best experience you can have is always by getting your hands dirty, and there is no shame in making baby steps and doing very small and simple projects first.
In the end, there is no better feeling than seeing a world that existed only in your head come to life on screen and watching other people enjoying it.
Thanks for reading our employee spotlight! Want to join us at Arkane Studios? Take a look at the job’s we currently have available.
