Games Designer and Developer based in Manchester, UK.
I love designing game systems that evoke strong emotions and connections to real-life activities and points of view.
I’ve also got a 2:1 BEng in Computer Science
You Will Crash
Genre: Endless Runner
Engine: Unity 3D
Platform: iOS, Android
Project Duration: 3 months
Team size: 5
Roles and Responsibilities
Game Design
Writing the Game Design Documentation and mechanic One-Pagers
Writing Level Design Guidelines
Approving and testing Level Designs
Making critical decisions about Monetization, Visual aesthetic and Level Structure
Collaboratively running Alpha and Beta Testing
Narrative Design
Conceptualised the narrative set-dressing of the game
Collaborating with marketing to make relevant social media
Summary
This game was made as part of the Indie Game Academy’s Level 3 Program. As such, the team were from a diverse set of backgrounds, and all looking to break into the games industry.
One challenge that became immediately clear was that as a team we lacked a dedicated artist to make 2D or 3D models. As such, we adopted a low-poly aesthetic that included bright block colours to relieve as much pressure from people making models for the game as possible. Additionally, when ideating we decided that making a game that feels ludically satisfying was the thing we could best accomplish as a team, so that was our focus over visual fidelity.
Initial pitches for the game had a risk-reward system built-in; in which the player would choose whether or not to save a lap time at the end of the lap. This would create an incentive for a player to push themselves if they had a lot of health remaining. While this feature tested well for players who figured out the system, the number of players that understood the system was large, and many found the UI required to include this gameplay element was intrusive, and thus the feature was cut for time.
On this project, I learned a lot about working with a multi-disciplinary team long-term; what concessions need to be made when Designer and Programmer are not one and the same; and the importance of Triage in projects with hard deadlines. In future projects of this scale, I will insist that successful prototypes are scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up with a stronger mind towards the finished product. The rest of the team thought it would be easier to simply build on top of our existing prototype; but this proved to be limiting to how much polish we could feasibly apply.
1000 pieces
Genre: Puzzle / Narrative
Engine: Unity 3D
Platform: PC
Project Duration: 2 weeks
Team size: 5
Roles and Responsibilities
Game Design
Writing the Pitch Document
Collaborating with the team to create the game design document
Narrative Design
Conceptualised the narrative structure of the game
Co-Wrote the dialogue for the game
Summary
This game was made as a part of the Buddy-Up Jam, in which teams are randomly assigned between everybody who enters the jam. The theme of the jam was “1000”, and after much debate we settled upon a jigsaw game.
The challenge that repeatedly presented itself to us during design and development was how to overcome the scale of the puzzle. 1000 pieces means the puzzle can potentially become too difficult, too unclear or too repetitive.
Steps taken in the design to combat this included introducing narrative breaks to alleviate the constant nature of the puzzle, and to reward the player at intervals in which the puzzle was not yet complete. This helped immensely with the extending play sessions, but the puzzle was still difficult to implement and frustrating to play, due to the sheer scale of it. As such, we pared back the puzzle into multiple sections of roughly ~100 pieces each, meaning the player was not exposed to every piece all at once. This also solved any problems we had with implementation.
It was then found that solving the centre puzzle sections were difficult, as they did not have corners or edges as with traditional jigsaws, so solving was somewhat difficult. As a team, we understood that we had limited time, so we decided that having a reference image of the puzzle available at all times was the best way to alleviate these problems while making a fully-formed project in time for the jam submission.
Handles With Care
Genre: Physics / Platformer
Engine: Godot 2D
Platform: PC
Project Duration: 1 week
Team size: 4
Roles and Responsibilities
Game Design
Wrote the Pitch and Design Documents
Designed all 4 levels
Assembled those levels in-engine
Game Development
Lead coding for the game
Used version-control software to manage the project
Summary
This game was made as part of the Godot Wild Jam. The theme was Fragile, so a game about a breakable vase was chosen. I was solely responsible for game design, level design and programming, using the Godot Engine, and C#.
The levels are designed to be short but difficult challenges, with a clear path forwards. It was important that the player knew what areas were safe and what weren’t, so working together with the Artist to form a visual language to mark what was safe - red cushions and things with red banners, was important to help the players visualise the correct path, in a game where knowing what the route needs to be is important.
One of the big problems presented in playtesting was players being unable to escape pits because they would break before having a chance to escape. This was difficult, as players would spend a long time preparing their next shot after failing to make a jump, so any invincibility frames we gave the player would run out before they got a shot. Additionally, players would be unable to adjust their positioning if they were in a bad spot, as hitting the non-safe floor would quickly destroy them. As such, I developed a combination of Invincibility frames and a force checking method that would see how quickly the player was moving, and only damage them should they be going that speed and not have those invincibility frames.
This project taught me a lot about level design, designing around a novel movement system, and how to avoid being too punishing on the player.
Frog Frenzy
Genre: Physics / Platformer
Engine: Unity
Platform: PC
Project Duration: 4 days
Team size: 5
Roles and Responsibilities
Game Design
Wrote the Design One-Pager and Mechanics One-Pagers
Wrote the Pitch Document
Headed up ideas Ideation and Synthesis Meetings
Summary
This game was made as part of the IGA Level 3 Introductory Game Jam. The intention behind this Jam was to becom familiar with the other members of our team and our workflow by building a platformer.
The mechanics are designed to be partially standard platforming-based, with the tongue grapple serving as a physics-based option for fast but challenging traversal.
One of the larger problems that presented itself during playtesting was how difficult it was to manage regular platforming and swinging. As such, I made the decision that the tongue should always come out at a specified angle, making the entire mechanic a single button press + hold. This made the mechanic more approachable and better synthesise with the platforming mechanics at large. It also gave direction to the level designers for how best to assemble levels and challenges.
This project taught me a lot about trying to make complex or reaction-based mechanics more accessible by controlling their forms of interaction; as well as how to work with people from different verticals and backgrounds.