Mohammad Alavi (game developer)

Mohammad Alavi (Persian: محمد علوی‎, Persian pronunciation: [mohæmˌmæd(e) (ʔ)ælæˈvi]) is an Iranian video game developer who currently works at Respawn Entertainment.[4] He is best known for his critically acclaimed work on the Call of Duty series at Infinity Ward, creating the iconic "Crew Expendable" and "All Ghillied Up" missions from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) as well as the controversial "No Russian" mission from Modern Warfare 2 (2009).[4]

For other people named Mohammad Alavi, see Mohammad Alavi (disambiguation).
Mohammad Alavi
Born
Tehran, Iran[1]
NationalityIranian[1][2][3]
Other namesBadMofo
EducationB.Sc. (Biology)
B.Sc. (Chemistry)
A.S. (Game Design and Development)
Alma materVirginia Polytechnic University
Full Sail University
OccupationLevel designer
Years active2004–present
EmployerInfinity Ward (2004–2010)
Respawn Entertainment (2010–present)
Known forCall of Duty series

Biography

Mohammad Alavi was born in the 1980s in Tehran, Iran[1] and relocated to the United States with his family after the Iran–Iraq War.[2] He remains proud of his family's culture, and calls himself "An Iranian inside his heart".[1] Alavi attended Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies in Richmond, Virginia. He then attended Virginia Tech, majoring in Biology and Chemistry before becoming a video game designer after being credited for creating some of the best modded games in PC Gamer magazine. He applied to and attended Full Sail University.[5] He has two elder siblings, a brother and a sister, who are both physicians.[1]

Career

Alavi's main field of expertise is design and cinematic gameplay scripting. His creations are described "thoughtful" and noted in terms of artifical intelligence (AI) companion roles.[5]

Entering video game industry

During his college years, Alavi started to create mods for Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Half-Life and Counter-Strike. His hobby was to work as a mapper and texture artist for mods.[4] He later made a reputation for himself under the alias "BadMofo", when one of his works was published on an issue of PC Gamer.[4][5] Alavi later entered Full Sail University to focus on programming, and applied for a programming job at Infinity Ward following his graduation. Considering his reputation as a modder, the company offered him a job as a level designer, instead of a programmer.[4][5]

Call of Duty series

According to Edge, Alavi "is responsible for some of the most intense and memorable campaign levels in Call Of Duty history".[4] PC Gamer called Alavi "the designer behind two of the most acclaimed missions in Call of Duty history ("All Ghillied Up" and "No Russian")".[5]

Alavi created his first professional levels for Call of Duty 2, including the potato-throwing grenade tutorial.[4]

The first level of Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, "Crew Expendable", which is set on a ship on a stormy sea is also his work. His design for the level was initially rejected by the leads, due to technical complexities, but Alavi stayed after hours and worked 18-hour days for three weeks to secretly script the rejected level. Once the leads became aware of his work and saw his not quite done work, they were convinced to include it in the game.[4]

The same went for a flashback mission called "All Ghillied Up", when he ended up writing the necessary code himself.[6] His "tense and deliberately paced mission" was debuted in E3 2007.[4] The mission marked the first time in the series that non-player characters were capable of stealth behaviours.[5] The mission won significant critical attention, being described as "One Of Gaming's Best Levels"[7] and "The Best Call Of Duty Mission Ever"[8] in reviews. In 2011, Now Gamer ranked the level the 20th on its "Top 50 Gaming Moments".[9] It was also ranked #13 in IGN's "Top 100 Video Game Moments".[10] Alavi's script for AI in Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, ended up having value and formed the template next title of the series, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.[4]

"No Russian" controversy
Main article: No Russian
See also: Controversies surrounding Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 § No Russian

Alavi was the designer of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's controversial mission called "No Russian".[11] The mission was described "Call of Duty's most controversial moment" by PC Gamer[12] and GamesRadar named it "one of the 10 most shocking game moments of the 2000s."[13]

Titanfall series

In 2010, Alavi co-founded Titanfall's team in Respawn Entertainment alongside other former Call of Duty developers.[14] He served as the senior map designer for the studio,[15] and shot some motion capture footage as an actor.[16] According to PC Gamer, its difficult to know the details of Alavi's design and scripting in the game, however his influence is apparent in "how Titanfall's on-map AI allies support the player".[5] In an interview, Alavi stated that he was heavily involved in different aspects of the project, including AI design, gameplay and level design.[17] He also bore much responsibility for the game involving a narrative component at all, pushing for longer and different introductions to each campaign map. In order to convince that the feature can be achieved within budget, he designed an introduction for "Airbase" map in three days.[5]

Alavi resumed his work at Respawn Entertainment by working on Titanfall 2.[18]

Games

References
  1. Ghassemi, Mani (January 23, 2010). "مصاحبه با طراح ایرانی سری بازی‌های Call Of Duty" [An Interview with The Iranian Game Designer of Call of Duty Series]. manilife.net (in Persian). Archived from the original on January 28, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  2. Norouzi, Danial (July 9, 2012). "صاحبه با محمد علوی ،Level Designer سابق استودیو InfinityWard" [An Interview with Mohammad Alavi, Former Level Designer at InfinityWard]. Honar-e-Bazi Electronic Magazine, No. 15 (in Persian). Archived from the original on March 23, 2014. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  3. Hakimi, Arash (January 2011). "The Birth of a Game Developer: Mohammad Alavi". Bazisazi (Donyaye Bazi's Monthly Special Edition for Game Development) (Print). 1 (in Persian). Donyaye Bazi (11): 17–18. ISSN 2008-7810.
  4. "No Russian: the modder who went on to make Call Of Duty's most controversial set piece", Edge (No. 250 ed.), February 2013, ASIN B00BH4U102
  5. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell (July 2016), "From All Ghillied Up to No Russian, the making of Call of Duty's most famous levels", PC Gamer, no. 293
  6. Joannes Truyens (February 12, 2013). "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's most iconic set pieces wouldn't have been included if not for one man". Beefjack. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  7. "Why Modern Warfare's 'All Ghillied Up' Is One Of Gaming's Best Levels". Kotaku. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  8. Nate Hohl. "Why All Ghillied Up Is The Best Call Of Duty Mission Ever". Opshead. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  9. "Top 50 Gaming Moments: 20. The 'All Ghillied Up' Mission In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare". Now Gamer. Imagine Publishing. Dec 5, 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  10. "All Ghillied Up made it all the way to number 13 on IGN's Top 100 Video Game Moments". IGN. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  11. "The Designer of Call of Duty's 'No Russian' Massacre Wanted You to Feel Something". Kotaku. 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2016-07-06.
  12. Tom Senior. "Modern Warfare 2 designer explains the thinking behind No Russian mission". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2016-07-06.
  13. "The 10 most shocking moments of the decade". GamesRadar. 2009-12-29. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  14. James Gregory (2014-03-20). "Grad Mohammad Alavi Founding Member of 'Titanfall' Team". fullsailblog.com. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  15. Josh West (2014-03-01). "Titanfall will most definitely have an ending. It's not a story if it doesn't have an ending". X-ONE. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  16. Josh Engen (2014-03-13). "Titanfall: Behind the Scenes Motion Capture Video". Escapist Magazine. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  17. Norouzi, Danial (January 14, 2015). "مصاحبه اختصاصی با محمد علوی، طراح مراحل بازی‌های Call of Duty و Titanfall" [Exclusive Interview with Mohammad Alavi, Designer of Call of Duty and Titanfall]. ZOOMG (in Persian). Retrieved August 5, 2016.
  18. "Titanfall 2 Interview - E32016". PostGamePodcast. 2016-06-15. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
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