Game Design
Video games I’ve made or been in a team to produce
Enchanted
2022, Unity
Enchanted was produced and completed in 3 weeks in the spring of 2022 with a team of 2 other people. This 2D platformer follows the story of a young mouse, Ella, whose mother has just passed on. Ella is determined to bring her mother back, and sets off to take the powerful magic of the forest in order to complete her goal. However, the journey is not what she expected, and to get the powerful magic she must take it from the forest itself.
This game has fully original code and assets. All of the art was created by myself, while the code and game engine implementation were completed by my team. My team members and I specifically chose to work with each other since our skills complimented what was necessary to complete a game. We ensure our pre production was strong to prevent any forms of creep, which was successful as we completed our most important deliverable goals.
My most important goal with this project was to make a compelling, cohesive art style. Since the game elements would be simple as we had a limited time, the code and assets that would be included had to be polished.
Below is some of the game assets, sprite sheets, and concepts.
Scottish Dating Simulator
2020, Unity
Scottish Dating Simulator was created in the Fall of 2020. It is a visual noel style dating sim. You, the player, are Angus, a Scotsman that is madly in love and determined to make his first date go perfectly.
This is the third game that I have created to completion, and it came with many challenges. There were two big challenges, the first being that my scope was enormous. Since I had a little more experience creating this game than my two previous games I wanted to go big, however due to time, things not working, and my second challenge, feature creep, my scope was significantly reigned in.
All of the art for this game was created by me, I wanted to keep the art direction very close to my personal style, but I used inspiration from an anime style as well. I did this for two reasons, the first being most visual novels are in that style, and the second being doing it with that style mixed in would also sell the humor and ridiculousness of this game.
Below there is some art from the game, including backgrounds, sprites, and the earliest piece of concept art.
Necromeowncer
2019, Unity
Necromeowncer was my first game that I was taught how to make. Up until this point my only direct experience was a Gator Summer Game Jam, and I went into that with no experience in game development. This game is a culmination of my very first dose of game development experience, and I absolutely loved it.
You are the Necromeowncer, and your dear animal companion has died. However, death is not the end of your friendship! You must find new pieces for your companion and rebuilt them so you can have your friend back.
My main goal going into this game was to make a strong story and to have strong art. I knew I needed a strong story because the gameplay was going to be extremely simple since I had just started learning, and plus no matter how fun gameplay is it’s the story that keeps players coming back. I also wanted it to have strong art because art is my specialization, however at this point in learning game development I had to focus on learning game development and only dedicated time to create art for the most essential areas of the game that would benefit from custom art, such as the main menu screen, the sprites, and the ending screen.
Below is art for the game, including early level designs, sprites, early concepts, and more.
Groove Ghost and the Piano Mansion
2019, Unity
This was the very first game I ever created. I made it with a team of 3 other people as part of the Gator Summer Game Jam 2019 and won Best in Show.
This was my first semester in college, I didn’t know anyone, wasn’t even sure if I really wanted to go into game development, had barely any clue about how a game jam worked, and had even less of a clue how game development works firsthand. After 48 hours, a Best in Show certificate, and a game that I was proud of, I knew game development was for me.
I am very grateful to my team members, two of which were familiar with Unity and one was familiar with coding. They were patient with me and taught me what they could with the little time we had. Our roles were divided perfectly, the three of them took on the Unity and coding development portions of the game, and I had the art skills with no Unity experience I took on the role of creating all of the art for the game.
When we first started concepting the game, it began as a music themed game that we wanted to mix mad scientist themes into. Out first idea was the instruments were fused with animals and they had escaped containment in a lab hidden within an abandoned mansion. We all weren’t sold on the ridiculousness of the idea, however. So, we made them fused with human limbs. The Groove Ghost is a ghost trapped within the Piano Mansion, and must survive the waves of human instrument hybrids as long as they can.
Below is the some of the art I made for the game, such as backgrounds, sprites, and more.
