Portfolio – Brett Freese

Dune: Awakening

Senior Level Designer II

On Dune: Awakening, I served as a Senior Level Designer, substantially contributing to the overall level and encounter design throughout the game. I was primarily involved in the design of the deep cave systems, Journey levels, open world, and level optimization.



Primary Resposibilities

  • Develop game levels, encounters, and challenges in Unreal Engine 5 and Blender.
  • Design the metrics and gameplay for the deep cave system.
  • Design and build multiple open-world encounters, including wrecked ships and NPC bases.
  • Layout multiple Journey levels, including The Wreck of the Hephaestus, The Lab Under Old Carthag, The Paranoid, The Glutton, and The Jackal.
  • Develop a prototype of the trap system using blueprint scripting.
  • Level construction with custom and modular sets.

Open World

On Dune: Awakening, I worked on many aspects of the game throughout Arrakis, including:

  • Hagga Basin layout, adjusting island content, adding location tags, and working with the landscape.
  • Combat encounters, loot, and resource balance.
  • Level setup, LOD generation, audio volumes, and optimization.
Image 01 – This early marketing image featured an Atreides base that I built from a modular set provided by the environment art team. The antenna was a custom piece I constructed to enhance the profile.
Image 02 – In The Old Griffin Hideaway, the player is challenged with a dark interior combined with traps, and rewarded if they follow some of the lighting clues showing them the way to some rare loot.

Deep Caves

On many islands, deep caves can be discovered. These island caves differ from the small island caves and enormous caverns found in some habitats.

On Dune, I developed the method and metrics for building these deep caves. Each cave presents its own challenge and rewards, including traps, hazards, and ultra-rare loot. My work included:

  • Establishing the construction method and key metrics for the deep caves.
  • Iterating on gameplay, including proposing and developing the trap system found throughout Arrakis.
  • Working with the art, lighting, and VFX team to establish the look and feel for the caves.
  • Placing, configuring, and optimizing caves throughout Arrakis.

Cave Design Examples

Journey Levels

I was responsible for developing the gray levels and iterations on:

  • The Paranoid
  • The Jackal
  • The Glutton

I also developed the gray levels for:

For all of these levels, I was responsible for developing the gray levels and prototyping gameplay. For the first three, I also carried each through several development iterations, working closely with the environment artists to finalize the layouts.

This included:

  • Set up the levels in the world.
  • All related volumes for audio, environments, checkpoints, and combat.
  • Combat design and NPC setup.
  • NPC dialog setup in The Jackal.
  • Coordinate with concept artists and environment artists on the visual design.
  • Working with technical designers on systems as well as narrative designers.
Image 03 – South View. I developed the exterior encounter area while another designer was responsible for the building layout. Through the security tower, cover is provided for the player to approach the camp and engage with those inside.

Wrecked Ships, NPC Bases, Vertical Challenges

In several NPC bases and Wrecked Ships, I adjusted the combat balance, loot, and designed several layouts and encounters.