A psychedelic survival horror game that focuses on a ritual gone wrong during a spiritual retreat. Published by Prime Matter and developed by Brass Token. My role on this project was working as a Game Designer.
While a part of this project, I had a hand in a lot of different aspects of the game and had many jobs I was given lead on. I designed the layout, function, and puzzles of some key locations in the game as well as some side areas such as the Commune Farm, the Wretcher Arena, and the Saw Mill. My goal and focus was to create engaging designs that allowed for multiple routes for the player to travel, creating a more dynamic landscape and experience for the player. I wanted players to feel as though their exploration of the world was rewarded, but also experience different encounters or challenges based on the routes they take. Additionally, I designed locations and events that used environmental storytelling to pique the player’s interest in the background story and history of the island and its inhabitants. Helping design lore notes that would offer hints to items or resources while also coming across as genuine and diegetic or using objects and the environment to allow the player to recreate the events that took place in their imagination.
I designed some encounters in the game and was one of the main editors of enemy pathing. This allowed me to create unique challenges and fights that would combine different enemies and skill sets to pose distinctive challenges, both challenging the player and encouraging different lines of thinking or weighing the risk/reward of certain encounters. This posed an interesting challenge to me as I had to plan out routes enemies would naturally take, ambushes that made sense but weren’t always predictable, and the different parameters that dictated when an enemy would continue the chase and when they would return to their original paths.
I was placed in charge of streaming levels and collision implementation throughout the entire game. This was a large responsibility as it required me to take many other considerations into account such as optimization, enemy pathing, how the camera interacts with the environment, as well as creating a playable space where the world seamlessly streams in and out outside of the user’s view.
Outside of organization and desgin, I also assisted with some motion capture for the main character and the Ram Cultist enemy. With previous experience in acting work, I loved the chance to embody some of the characters that I was working with and be a part of the design process in multiple aspects. I recorded multiple attacking and idle animations for Jess as well as all the animations that you see from the Ram Cultists throughout the game. It was a fun chance to be able to do this work, then go into the editor and say “Alright, I’ll put down 3 of me here, and one of this enemy”.
Being able to work on this game was monumental learning experience for me. It offered the chance to work with an amazing group of skilled designers who helped me and mentored me develop many of the skills. It allowed for a unique opportunity to collaborate on ideas and build off each other’s ideas to create a more engaging experience.
I gained experience developing spaces and environments that could offer more opportunities for the player to interact or define their own experience. I learned more about how to grab a player’s attention and help direct them around an environment using the environment itself, items and resources, or using enemies to guide the player through a level. My technical skills in Unreal Engine allowed me to learn and improve my work in blueprinting events, dialogue, enemy encounters, and progression work. This allowed me to contribute further to the project has opened up new avenues in my own work.
The Castle is an interactive soundscape based VR game where the user must use the environment to create unique sounds in order to solve puzzles. This was the final project for our IAT 340 Sound Design course based in Unity and the audio was connected using MAX MSP. The Castle places the character in a locked castle, and must create specific sounds using objects around the level, with each object and environment piece having a unique combination of noises depending on the object hitting and the object being hit.
In this project, I took charge of Project Management to help guide the group, keep everyone on track, and make sure that we were making reasonable and feasible design decisions. I designed the level, layout, and set up the VR structure. This project was a unique challenge as it took a new software and allowed us to find unique ways to connect it to the Unity base.
Mouse Trap was the final project from my BUS 238 Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Innovation class. The idea was to create a product that acted as a mobile mouse attachemtent that moved with the mouse while in use. This support and mobilization of the wrist would reduce the chance of wrist damage and lower the risk of Carpal Tunnel. This product design and presentation won multiple awards at Opportunity Fest 2022 in the Lifestyle category.
The group I worked alongside was a fantastic team as everyone was already excited and invested in the project idea. We were able to create a basic idea very quickly and immediately began research on different iterations and materials that could be used to create an effective product. We researched the main causes of wrist damage that can occur from prolonged computer use as well as some of the main remedies typically used to reduce the risk of further damage as well as preventative measures. This led us to coming up with a design that is able to “latch” onto most kinds of mouse designs and move just as effectively as the mouse while performing its main role of wrist support.
You can download the Business Design process here
This cosplay model was a final project for IAT 336 Material in Design, where the focus was creating physical models using various different techniques and materials. My role in this project was to design and print the Helmet and Blasters. The designing of the helmet and blasters was done in Maya and was printing in PLA+ using an Ender 3 3D printer.
I had a lot of fun designing this project as it allowed me to do something new with Maya that I hadn’t done before. I was able to create a full object, divide it into sections and be able to create custom connectors and clips that kept the entire project together. I did this by creating protrusions from certian pieces that would fit in correspodning holes in the connecting pieces, or using a clip that would snap into place when insterted into its slot but is still removable. This technique allows the helmet to remain as a whole piece, but the back is able to be removed so the wearer can remove it. I loved being able to use Maya in this project in a new way, carefully designing the piece so that it wouldn’t just look visually appealing, but also being something wearable.
