VR Game Designer & Development Consultant

Data Entry: Portal

Based on Portal by Rob Swigart

Welcome to the Cloudgate, Traveler.

DATA ENTRY: PORTAL is a VR game sourced from the 1986 adventure game Portal created by Rob Swigart and published by Activision. Revitalized for a modern audience, and inspired by both the original 2D gameplay from the Commodore 64 and Rob Swigart’s own novel, Portal: A Dataspace Retrieval, the game has been fully redesigned for the Quest 2 headset.

Demo currently available with the full game planned for a December 2023 release.

portal-1 — Designed for the Quest 2 headset with modern accessibility standards in mind.

portal-2 — A soft tutorial teaches the player VR controls as they enter Earth's atmosphere from deep space travel.

portal-4 — The player crash lands on Earth only to find the planet desolate and overgrown.

portal-3 — In the distance, the Cloudgate, a central hub of communication -- and an access node for the AI HOMER.

portal-6 — Humanity is gone, though not due to war or extinction. There is a more complex story to uncover.

portal-5 — The player can briefly explore the overgrown re-imagining of a future Chicago before entering the Coudgate.

Project Skills:

Worked inside Unreal Engine 5 to develop VR for the Quest 2 headset.
Taught VR game development pipeline and practices to students.
Managed a team of developers to create a game consistent with approved design and mechanics.
Designed environments, levels, and gameplay that guide the player through the game’s narrative.

JANUARY 2023 – JUNE 2023

Level designer

Parasoul

Ascend through the cloud cover.

Hunted through the undercity by hostile enforcement drone, you play as a lone android equipped with nothing but a stolen umbrella, and the illegal “upper-tech” it contains.

ParaSoul challenges players to platform, glide, and grapple through each section of its futuristic, cyberpunk inspired skyscape as they explore each section of the city. Only by powering up their umbrella can they hope to climb the tiers of the city and reach above the oppressive cloud cover.

parasoul-1 — My experience developing Parasoul sharpened my skills, and also taught me several things to avoid when moving forward on future projects.

parasoul-3 — I designed the final stage as a boss fight, incorporating all the key mechanics the players had learned across the game.

parasoul-2 — The fight takes place both above and below the cloud cover, forcing the player to grapple, platform, glide, and dodge their way across different environments.

parasoul-4 — Enemy mechanics were developed for ease of implementation. Our level designers could quickly customize attack patterns, animation paths, and aggression.

Worked in Unity to design attack patterns and mechanics for both aerial and ground enemies.
Created easy drag and drop customization for all enemy prefabs, allowing level designers to quickly build encounters.
Designed weapon and energy vfx using materials and particles.
Scripted and animated several playable cutscenes leading up to, and during, the final level.
Blocked and decorated the level layout, and created the fight mechanics, of the game’s final boss.

JANUARY 2022

Project manager

Amnesia : Restored

The Original Adventure Game by Thomas M. Disch

You wake up feeling wonderful. But also, in some indefinable way, strange.

This project is the official restoration of Thomas M. Disch’s original text adventure game Amnesia, published by EA in 1986. With full permission granted by the Thomas M. Disch Estate, AMNESIA: RESTORED was developed by the Class of December 2021 graduating Digital Technology and Culture seniors at WSUV. It represents Thomas Disch’s original vision of the game, now free from the technological constraints of the time.

Project Skills:

Lead a group of 32 students in the reconstruction of the 1986 adventure game AMNESIA published by Electronic Arts.
Communicated with our client, the Thomas M. Disch Estate, to produce content aligned with their vision.
Pushed the game in new directions for our current generation while staying authentic to the original 1986 publication.
Coordinated consistent progress across six teams through online and in-person meetings to successfully hit deadlines.
Served as quality control for produced assets to guarantee consistency across all departments.
Further developed social communication and conflict resolution skills.

August 2021 – December 2021

Level designer

Cannon Canines

Full of charming characters and slapstick action, Cannon Canines takes place scattered among an archipelago of lush islands. Meet a diverse resistance group of freedom-fighting animals in the Pawpad Isles and join the fight against DHI, a heavy machinery manufacturer turned militaristic.

canines-1 — Multi-linear level design encourages replayability as the player unlocks better equipment and upgrades. Hidden secrets to reward exploration, extra enemy encounters, and optional puzzles.

canines-5 — The player pilots a customizable tank. Image from early in development and does not represent the final product.

canines-2 — Levels are built using a variety of tools, including premade meshes and Blueprints, terrain sculpting and splines, and custom BSP models. Level sequencing is done inside Blueprints.

canines-3 — Layout is designed to keep the player engaged at all times, with large set pieces or reveals occurring frequently. Puzzles build upon previous knowledge and gradually introduce new mechanics.

canines-4 — Set pieces are blocked out with prebuilt models and temporary assets, then marked for an art pass at a later point.

Project Skills:

Worked remotely as a freelance level designer to build gameplay and sequence level events using blueprints.
Used Perforce Helix Visual Client (P4V), Trello, Slack, and Zoom to collaborate inside Unreal Engine 4.
Designed using landscape sculpting, splines, BSP mockups, and blueprint brushes.
Created in-game cutscenes and short cinematics using the level sequencer.

August 2021 – December 2021

Game Director and Lead Developer

Dead Air

Your only companion went to salvage parts from Tower 15 for some much needed repairs. However, that was several hours ago and you have not received a transmission since.

Working at a watchtower on an alien planet, the player must carefully manage the tower’s failing power generator, one-way communication network, and impending darkness to lead their companion safely back home. Things are not as they seem, however, and the creature responding to your signal only sounds human.

Created over a couple weeks as part of the PIGSquad Summer Slow Jam for July 2021. The themes were “Remix” and “Unreliable Narrator”.

deadair-1 — The player manages a transmission console inside Tower 18, one of the last few functional towers remaining.

deadair-2 — The sun slowly sets as the game progresses, giving way from a harsh sunset to a black night. In the distance, Tower 15 stands on a lonely hill.

deadair-3 — Each button or lever on the console represents a number, and the player must input them to match the requested code. They can either send the correct transmission or a deliberately wrong one.

deadair-4 — Context clues in the environment and transmission dialogue hint at a darker force at work. If the player doesn't realize in time, they will end up facing a quick death.

deadair-5 — The generator must stay powered to keep the lights on and transmissions live. When it overloads, the player must hurry to restart it.

Project Skills:

Developed a 3D point and click horror puzzle game from scratch inside Unreal Engine 4 using blueprints.
Designed and decorated the gameplay environment using 3D models and 2D assets from my team.
Created atmosphere effects using Unreal’s Apex Destruction, Niagara, and custom made materials.

JULY 2021

Lead Developer

Huli

When a mysterious force threatens the harmony of their world, Huli and Maomi race to drive the darkness away. The game follows the aftermath of Maomi’s sacrifice and the player, as Huli, explores forgotten places to recover the scattered fragments of their fallen companion and restore them to the spirit world. After completing the main game, the player unlocks Maomi as a playable character with a different move set, and a hardmode version of all previous levels.

Created over a couple weeks as part of the PIGSquad Summer Slow Jam for June 2021. The themes were “Exploration” and “Forgotten Places”.

huli-1 — Interactive levers glow faintly so the player can easily see them.

huli-2 — Using their tail, Huli can charge and throw projectiles to trigger puzzle elements.

huli-3 — 2D lighting and glow effects were used to tie the hand-drawn assets together in engine.

huli-4 — After beating the main game, the player unlocks Maomi as a playable character, as well as hardmode versions of the main levels.

huli-5 — Maomi has a different moveset compared to Huli. Increased mobility, air jumps, and rapid projectiles allow the player to beat the hardmode levels.

huli-6 — Interactive cinematics carry the player through scripted events and puzzles.

Project Skills:

Developed a 2D puzzle platformer from scratch inside Unity using C# and the Universal Render Pipeline.
Collaborated across a small team of developers using GitHub and Unity packages.
Worked with 2D lighting and environment design, using post processing, custom materials, and the shader graph.

JUNE 2021

Lead Developer

Just a Farming Sim

Welcome to your new farm! The soil here is amazing, crops grow incredibly quickly, and the nearby town buys and sells anything you need. Don’t mind the little rabbits that come out at night, they’re ~~h̵̢͔̋̈́̇͂̇ủ̴̋͝͠ń̵͉̘̝͊̕ͅg̶͚̅̌̓̓r̶̈́̑͌ÿ̸̛͎̗̯̯̘̖̾͝͝~~ harmless.

Just a Farming Sim is a survival horror farming game. During the day you harvest your crops, buy and sell in town, chat with the townsfolk, explore and customize your farm, plant new seeds, and unlock upgrades for yourself and your equipment. Then the sun sets, and you must defend your crops and your life from the horrors that hunger.

farming-1 — During the day, the player must manage their farm by buying seeds and selling crops in the town. They can also invest in upgrades and equipment like sprinklers and scarecrows.

farming-2 — There are many different types of crops in the game, all with their own benefits and drawbacks. For example, sunflowers take the longest to grow and must be defended at night, but yield the largest overall profit.

farming-3 — Upgrades hidden around the farm can be unlocked with crop sacrifices to grant player bonuses like night vision and stamina.

farming-4 — The night brings many hungry creatures with it, starting with innocent bunnies but quickly devolving into a horde of mutated animals. Each creature has a different set of attack patterns.

farming-5 — Different beasts offer different mechanics and strategies, requiring the player to adapt as conditions change.

Project Skills:

Developed the core gameplay loops and mechanics of a 3D farm simulator turned survival horror inside Unity using C#.
Created a day/night system using post-processing, custom skyboxes, material scripting, and atmospheric fog.
Built character animation controllers using native Unity tools and C# programming.

JANUARY 2021 – APRIL 2021

Independent Project

Lucid Night

A skitter in the mind.

Slowly, the streets have become empty. Children are being called into the woods, lost to the monsters and the madness. Something sinister Weaves in the twisted dark.

Lucid Night is a survival horror game that focuses heavily on exploration. Stumble through the forests, fields, and marshes in a procedurally generated world, intercut with scripted events and cutscenes. The gameplay mixes point and click mechanics with 2D sidescroller interaction.

lucidnight-7 — The world is randomly generated, producing a different environment and enemy layouts each time. To survive, the player must learn to recognize the horrors before they emerge.

lucidnight-2 — By standing still, the screen will fade to black. Either moving the mouse or pressing the arrow keys will let the player see once again. This mechanic is used to hide from certain enemies, and reveal others.

lucidnight-3 — Many enemies work in synergy with or against each other. Crows and scarecrows are both hostile creatures, but can also eliminate each other. The player must learn and take advantage of these interactions to survive.

lucidnight-1 — The night has become hostile, changed by a single force hidden deep in the forest. If the player can make their way through the changing woods and past their manifested fears, they can confront it.

lucidnight-4 — The game follows a brother and sister who become tangled in the supernatural as they search for each other. The player will periodically switch between the two characters as they play.

lucidnight-5 — The game is designed in a hand-drawn, childhood sketch style. Cutscenes and interactive cinematics add character backstory and context to the world.

lucidnight-6 — In Lucid Night, dreams are shattered versions of memories. The player can discover hidden pieces of the story inside these moments.

Project Skills:

Developed a 2D side-scrolling, point and click horror game slowly over a few years inside Flash.
Created both pseudo-random and intentionally designed levels for gameplay and narrative.
Built a multi-file structure to organize and import hundreds of assets.

JULY 2015 – DECEMBER 2019

Independent Developer

The Dust Below

The wasteland stretches out, horizon obscured within a haze of polluted ash.

The Dust Below throws the player into a brutal post-apocalyptic world where the land is dead and survivors have taken to the sky as their last haven. Resources are scarce, and only those who are deserving of life are allowed to stay in the air. You must face the broken world below and return to the sanctuary of steel, racing against the incessant ticking of the clock and fighting to keep your sanity in this withered land of dross and dust.

dustbelow-1 — The player must keep track of the time of day as well as their sanity while exploring the wasteland. Different safe rooms can be discovered around the map.

dustbelow-2 — Combat presents the player with a list of available actions as long as they have the right equipment. To battle each monster successfully, the player must choose the right actions based on current context clues.

dustbelow-3 — Although the player cannot die in game, negative choices are punished by reducing their sanity. The percentage of sanity/insanity changes the game's appearance and introduces hallucinations.

dustbelow-4 — Shattered mirror shards are found rarely and can be consumed to slightly raise the sanity percentage.

dustbelow-5 — Depending on the player's sanity at the end of the game, their character could end up fully unhinged. The game has different endings which explore alternate interpretations of the game's story arc.

Project Skills:

Developed a text-based game inside Twine using native scripting alongside CSS and Javascript.
Created a combat and sanity system that changes the game’s appearance, text, and endings based on player choice.
Collaborated with Rachael Kramer (Sodu-POP / Sodupop) for in-game art to build the world environment and setting.

APRIL 2020

Independent Project

Divide

Every year a monster crosses over into our world, tearing through the membrane that divides us. Every year we send one of our own as a sacrifice to satiate the beast. This time it’s me.

The wind is cold and I don’t have much time. This mountain may be my prison, but it is also my arena. And the monster is not yet here. There must be something I can use to prepare a stronger defense.

I will not be just a sacrifice.

Divide is a text-based game developed inside Twine where the player must scavenge, explore, and ultimately shatter the membrane between two worlds in order to survive. Depending on the player’s choices, they can find five different endings. Created in a week.

divide-2 — The main hub of the game. Blue text are links to travel between locations, interact with the enviroment, and solve puzzles.

divide-1 — A mysterious stone hidden in the forest. Clever players can eventually use it to unlock the true ending paths.

divide-3 — This shows a collection of top comments from the itch.io page. Despite the minimal visuals, Divide was well received for its storytelling and atmosphere.

Project Skills:

Wrote a game inside Twine focused on narrative through character and world development.
Created a series of unique puzzles that lead the player to multiple potential endings.

DECEMBER 2019

Producer and Lead Developer

Quest For Arete

Produced on the Inform 7 platform, Quest for Arete explores the use of Interactive Fiction to tell one story, over 10 episodes, in one interface in order to foster understanding of ethical living. As a game inspired by Games for Change, Quest for Arete challenges users to think about attributes like honesty, magnanimity, and temperance to promote personal growth in a series of quests that are specifically designed to allow users to engage with each virtue in a meaningful way.

The game won first place at SURCA for its efforts to promote equity and education.

arete-1 — Quest for Arete borrows many themes from Greek mythos. In this case, Tartarus acts as a place of punishment for the player when they act contrary to the virtues they are trying to obtain. After a moment of contemplation, the player is returned to where they left off.

arete-2 — This room presents the player with a series of three mysteries, in the form of paintings, that must be examined thoroughly to find clues. The player's goal is to judge each crime fairly, at which point they will pass the trial and gain the Virtue of Justice.

arete-3 — The Owl's Cage is encountered early on and acts as a soft tutorial for the player to learn the game mechanics. The puzzle is designed to teach the basics of text-based gameplay, as well as introduce the overall objective of the game.

Project Skills:

Developed a parser text-based game inside Inform 7 with over a dozen unique locations.
Presented the project at SURCA 2021 and won a Crimson Award for first place.
Lead a recruitment workshop based on the project and taught other students about game design principles.
Worked alongside a team of artists and writers to sculpt the game.

November 2020 – March 2021