During my Game Design BFA studies, I created and playtested a multitude of prototypes and games, with the core values of elegance, innovation, and user-centered design. While I specialized in XR Design and Development, these projects range from interactive VR visual albums to a projection mapped co-op game. My undergrad experience, comprised of these projects and inspiring classes, taught me Unity/C# skills and invaluable lessons in design and teamwork.
Bienvenue Au Ballet
Sole Creator
You find yourself thrust into a ballet class where the tiny children around you know every move. Precisely position your lanky, unwieldy ragdoll to mimic them and avoid humiliation!
Designed/Developed: Mechanics, Physics and Collisions, UI/UX, Procedural Animations, 3D Models, and Levels
This is an autobiographical game about experiencing my very first ballet class, as a high school freshman, in a class of all 4th graders. I chose this topic because it was an hour of my life where I was diving into a world completely alien to me, and that’s often what games depict best. It’s a memory that stands out to me as a big obstacle in life, and one I’m proud I overcame. However, I thought that my chaotic fumbling would be more uniquely entertaining than a representation of myself knowing how to dance. After learning about Unity physics joints in class, I knew I wanted to make a game that used physics in an interesting way. A hinge joint rag-doll seemed like the perfect way to articulate how out of place and inexperienced I first felt in the class.
Presented in Robert Yang's 2017 Intermediate Game Development class
Clone Chlome
Co-creator
The concept was to take the game Gone Home and recreate it as close to the original as possible.
Designed/Developed: Mechanics, UI/UX, Levels, and Animation Integration
We set ourselves up well with scope from the beginning, deciding to take on the room most crucial to the experience, your sister Sam's room.
I was responsible for developing the main controls and interactions with objects, and then creating the environment present in the game with recreated assets and audio.
Presented in Robert Yang's 2017 Intermediate Game Development class with Kelsey Hu, Erin Qin, and Caitlin Falls
Necrenomistake Rulebook
Co-creator
Skills: Mechanic, Item, and Narrative Design, and Stat Balancing In this multiplayer deck builder, victory means conquering your fellow summoner's monsters, and your own, before they conquer you.
After finding the Necrenomicon, you agree to a friendly--and potentially deadly--wager: whoever can successfully defeat 10 monsters first, and without falling in battle, shall be proclaimed the “Master Summoner”. This game was developed in Josh Debonis's 2016 Intermediate Game Design class with Ariana Barry, Allison Weiss, Jack Chiarello, Matthew Cutts, Rachel Geng, and Sisa Chiang.
We fabricated these cards using the NYU Game Center Labs and playtested it among the Game Center community.
Infinite Walker Play It!
Sole Creator
Skills: Mechanic, Enemy, Audio and UI/UX Design, and Programming
In order to survive these procedurally generated streets you'll have to hop around to avoid scuffing your sneaks.
In this infinite walker you alternate feet with each input, a mechanic loosely inspired by QWOP and walking sims. This game was developed in AP Thomson's 2017 Procedural Generation class, part of a series of games developed as we learned different proc-gen techniques and prefab hierarchy standards.
I created this game using C# scripts, Unity, and Photoshop for 2D art.
The Powder Rush Play It! World Bible Narrative Designer
Skills: Narrative Design, Writing, and UX Design
This branching narrative tale is part of a series set in The Lotus Den, created with Matthew Cutts, Ben Fried, Rachel Geng, and Andrew Woo.
We started by creating a world bible from which to base all of our connected stories. This independent island lies in an unknown sea, a territory outside the claim and jurisdiction of any single nation. It is the home of pirates, outlaws, and exiles from around the world.
In the story I wrote, The Powder Rush, you step into the shoes of a pirate gunner and have to make your own luck to survive. All of our stories were playtested and then presented in Josh Debonis's 2016 Intermediate Game Design class.
We created the world bible in Google Docs and then created the interactive novels using Inklewriter.
Brawlin' Billiards Play It!
Sole Creator
Skills: Mechanic Design, Level Design, Programming, Audio Design This ain't your normal game of billiards. Players control the movement of the cue ball itself, and must clear all the red billiards from the felt.
I've always loved subverting player expectations to create moments of joy and intrigue. The playtesting I conducted for this game, the final project from AP Thomson's 2016 Intro to Programming class, proved that the first moment of surprise carried players through the rest of a straightforward, but challenging, game loop. This observation prompted me to add the pool cue to further misguide player expectations.
I created this game using Unity primitives, C# scripts, and Unity's physics/collisions systems after a semester's worth of Unity and C# tutorials.
Dishonorable Mention: Arcana
This game has never been a portfolio piece of mine, and for good reason. My first semester final project for Intro to Games was a 7 person group project where we had free reign. We tried to make a "high fantasy themed, Dungeons & Dragons meets Mario Party inspired board game." (Arcana rule book).
What started out as iterations on combat involving building dice towers ended up as a wildly out of scope co-opetition board game. The day of presentations, I stayed up through the AM finishing encounter designs and stat-balancing, and later woke up in a panic. I had slept through my alarm and the presentations had finished. I asked how it went, and was told an enraged team member had kicked a hole through our board afterwards. It was bloated, barely playable, and combat had zero flow.
I later designed a concept UI for a heavily automated, digital version of this game, but the original was a brutal and valuable lesson in scoping and game loop design.