LCS Courseware

Overview

At Cubic, I worked as a Technical Level Designer on immersive courseware for crew members of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), built in Unreal Engine 4 as part of the Immersive Virtual Shipboard Environment (IVSE) and related training programs. The team delivered multiple LCS titles through the Total Learning Platform (TLP), supporting realistic procedural training for Engineering Plant Technicians (EPT), Readiness Control Officers (RCO), and integrated engineering watch teams.​

This work was developed at Cubic as part of its broader live‑virtual‑constructive (LVC) and simulation training solutions for the U.S. Navy and other defense customers.​

My Role

As a Senior / Associate Technical Designer, I owned the functional implementation and level design for a large set of interactive training modules, collaborating closely with subject matter experts, instructional designers, artists, animators, simulation model engineers, and embedded QA. This required taking designs from contract requirements and game design documents through prototype, vertical slice, and full production.​

Design & Implementation

  • Designed and implemented Unreal Engine 4 levels and interactive blueprints for more than 500 individual training “levels,” each targeting a specific job task and averaging around 30 minutes of gameplay.​

  • Built mission flows that followed a crawl / walk / run progression, allowing sailors to progress from guided training to unguided performance that closely matches real‑world shipboard tasks.​

  • Created and maintained UMG UI layouts and interaction standards so LCS titles shared a consistent look and feel across courses and deliveries.​

  • Worked with Simulation Model Engineers to integrate simulation state machines into UE4 Blueprints, ensuring strict adherence to Naval procedures and system behaviors.​

Leadership & Production Responsibilities

  • Supported proposal efforts for follow‑on LCS work and related surface training projects by helping estimate level design scope, technical complexity, and content pipelines.​

  • Helped break down features and contract requirements into tasks for the Technical Design team, distributing work based on skills and schedule needs.​

  • Worked within time and staffing budgets to plan level design and implementation work, monitoring progress and adjusting tasking to keep deliveries on schedule.​

  • Collaborated with production to provide status updates, identify risks, and propose options when scope, schedule, or technical constraints changed.​

Process & Collaboration

  • Helped translate initial contract language into feature backlogs, level designs, and detailed feature / game design documents.​

  • Prototyped and iterated core interactions and scenarios in UE4, gathering feedback from internal teams and Navy stakeholders and adjusting designs based on reviews and demos.​

  • Partnered closely with embedded QA to take levels through defect resolution, polish passes, and formal acceptance against contract test standards.​

Deliveries & Courses

Across the LCS program, contributed level design, blueprint implementation, systems integration, and production support to multiple shipped titles, including:​

  • Engineering Plant Technicians (EPT) – Courseware focused on system alignments, casualty control, and plant start‑up / shutdown procedures.

  • Readiness Control Officer (RCO) – Training for a critical watch station responsible for safe machinery and propulsion system operation.

  • Engineering Watch Team Training (EWTT) – Multiplayer LCS environment where EPT and RCO students collaborate to complete evolutions and drills without scaffolding.

  • EPT Surface Training Immersive Gaming and Simulations (STIGS) – Part of the STAVE program, expanding LCS IVSE courseware to additional U.S. and FMS surface ship platforms