At Astral Productions I serve as the primary driving force for our project, Astral Plague. I work both as the project manager and lead gameplay designer. Our project is being developed in Unreal Engine 5 and tells the story of a robotic assassin... but there's more to come soon!
Game Designer May 2024 - Present
At Kennesaw State University I am part of a small team called the Game Narrative Lab. This lab is part of Kennesaw's eventual plan to make a full fledge game studio and we are actively developing multiple titles. I previously worked as a Narrative Designer writing and editing scripts for our first project, which won an international game design challenge. I now work as a Technical Designer focus more on gameplay design and implementation.
Narrative Design January 2023 - November 2023 | Technical Designer November 2023 - Present
Hypixel was my first foray into game development. I was part of a small team called the Hypixel Player Council (HPC) and we were responsible for consulting on upcoming releases as well as doing extensive beta testing. In addition to consulting I was one of the few members that actively worked with developers to design updates from start to finish and, generally, I worked on narrative and combat updates.
Consulting Game Designer August 2020 - August 2022
Hirescape is an innovative job search platform made as part of my interaction Design II class at Kennesaw State University. Over the course of the semester I led my team through the Lean UX process broken up into two three week sprints.
Project Developed in Fall 2024.
Astral Plague: 0 was part of my Digital Media and Interaction class at Kennesaw State University. This class required us to apply a twist to one of the given games (stuff like Mario and Pong) or we could choose our own game to put a twist on. Our team decided to go with the latter option, demaking Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, making it a 2D pixel art game. I was responsible for all the game's code, design, and also managing/directing the project.
Project Developed in Spring 2024.
Gaming Grimoire is a project I worked on for my Interactive Design class at Kennesaw State University. I was the project lead and director serving as the driving creative force behind it. My responsibilities included directing user research, user interface design, and general project management responsibilities (i.e. scheduling meetings and ensuring we are meeting deadlines).
Project Developed in Spring 2024.
I worked on this project during my User Interface Design II class at Kennesaw State University. Our assignment was to develop an informational website on a topic of our choice, and I chose Unreal Engine. We were tasked to complete this assignment entirely in Figma and went through three main iterations. This project was so good that my professor asked to use it as an example in future classes and now lists it on her personal portfolio.
Project Developed in Spring 2024.
Yasuke, the Lost Samurai is a project I originally came up with during a narrative design class I took at Kennesaw State University. After completing the class I fell in love with the project and wanted to attempt creating some of it in Unreal Engine. Eventually, however, I realized that the project was far to big too complete and decided to just focus on combat. I ended up modeling the combat after Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and focused on building my technical skills.
Project Completed in Summer 2023.
Asterism is a game jam project I worked on in 2022. This game jam's theme was a bullet hell and our team decided to go with a space theme (something common among my projects). I worked as the enemy designer for the project, designing and sketching ship's movement and attack patterns. I did not have any technical responsibilities for this project.
Project Developed in 2022.
My experience creating games started when I was 8 when I began making iterations of card games. When designing I would change things from what each card did, the number of cards dealt, or how you won. No matter what it was I was seeking to make it better. Time passed and I eventually learned that making video games wasn't something only millionaires could do... maybe I could do it too?
To me, making games is not simply about creating fun experiences, although that's certainly important, what I seek to do is make games that change the player and the industry. It's all about creating that "wow" factor, the moment the player stops in the middle of a fight to appreciate the beauty of a game. I believe it is possible for a game to transcend the concept of "game" and shift into something new, worthy of a category of its own. It is these exciting experiences that define a game and distinguish it from bad games.
Game Design is not something I approach lightheartedly. Every choice has some impact on a player, it could be a micro change, such as armor color, or a macro change that completely shifts the meta. Everything should be approached with careful thought. Every decision should constantly be critiqued and questioned whether it helps improve the player's experience.
Ultimately, if I do nothing else I seek to create games that players will enjoy and grow to love the same way I grew to love games.
Last Updated July, 2024.
