This was a challenging level to work on.  Not only was it the E3 demo, but I was tasked with creating an escort mission where the death of the escort pawn (sentry) resulted in mission failure. These types of missions are notorious for being frustrating.  Since I couldn't remove these limitations, my goal was to design the sentry to give it utility, yet not make it so powerful the game would play itself.

I challenged the narrative team to give the sentry a personality that made players care about it.  Focus testing data shows that several players were sad when the sentry unknowingly sacrifices himself to destroy the portal.  The initial design treated the sentry as another player, allowing players to level up the pawn just like they did their own character.  This original design utilized the helix, which is the system players use to level up their character in Battleborn.  However, this design scope didn't allow us to meet our milestone goals, so I had to refine and simplify.  

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The refined design allowed players to build a turret, shield, and healing pool, turning the sentry into a moving build node.  If the sentry or players were ever low on health, players could use shards to build a healing pool.  The shield bubble would form a barrier, giving protection to the sentry and players inside its radius.  Not only did this design allow co-op players to make up for what they lacked in team composition (Battleborn allows players to choose characters with unique strengths and abilities), but it also gave the sentry utility outside of just being the pawn to defend.