Dambuster Studios
QA Tester June 2021 - Present
Currently working as embedded QA Level Design QA Tester on Dead Island 2. I am learning a lot about professional game development and how I can apply that to my personal work. I really like the friendly and collaborative atmosphere at the studio.
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I started off as a regular QA tester before doing a secondment to LD for 3 months where I worked on tertiary content for the game. I then moved back to QA, moving to embedded LD QA testing. This development has been really beneficial as it has given me more confidence and more knowledge in my abilities to work in games.
Crunch
University Final Major Project
Overview​
Created in 2021. A first-person game where the player must 'code' a game in under 3 minutes, all while trying to keep their publisher way who keeps coming to publish their game. Apparently, this project was liked so much that it is still displayed on open days at the university.
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Design Decisions
This game was inspired by me constant reading game industry news, mostly related to crunch. I also love the portrayal of hacking as portrayed in popular media where a person just types randomly on a screen to code. This inspired me to create a game where you are constantly battling your publisher to stop them from releasing your game before its ready. The primary gameplay loop is you making the game by typing randomly on your keyboard which fills the "Game o' Meter". I also added secondary gameplay loops of a bug fix quick time even where you have to spam a button to fix bugs and an alarm clock which beeps randomly and you have to switch off, forcing you to quit coding to turn it off.
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My Responsibilities
Game designer - Designed mechanics
Programmer - Programmed all game systems
Level designer - Layed out level and mechanics
UI designer - Designed and created all game UI
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Technical Abilities​
This project was made in Unreal Engine 4, making use of the blueprint programming system. I created the models in 3DsMax and textured them in Substance Painter
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Audio was created by my friend Aran Everett
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Team Fortress 2 (TF2) greybox 2Fort
Greybox practice
Overview​
Created in 2022. I chose TF2 2Fort as it is my favorite map in TF2. It is my favorite because it is a very versatile map, providing lots of interesting gameplay for each character in TF2. These include:
Long sight lines for Snipers via two opposing balconies on each of the team bases, which is my favorite thing to do on this map. Here snipers can counter-snipe each and any enemies trying to make their way to their base.
A central covered bridge means players can reach each other's bases without taking too much damage from Snipers and other characters.
Lots of short corners provide easy cover for characters like the Scout who wants to flank and get out of danger fast. These also provide cover for Engineers to set up turrets to surprise the enemy.
Two spawn points to prevent enemy camping
Lots of different elevations of levels allow for lots of opportunities for movement-based characters such as the Demoman who can charge off edges down to the lower levels
The two bases in the map are also completely symmetrical like many of the other maps in TF2. This means that no team has one advantage over another when it comes to attacking and defending. This however does mean in some games that teams can reach a stalemate. This does then mean teams have to balance themselves and create a plan to stop the stalemate and win.
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I created this greybox using reference images from google, videos, and my own memory, having over 400 hours in TF2.
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Technical Abilities​
This project was made in Unreal Engine 4, making use of the Blockout Tools plugin.
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Possessed
Game Jam project (2 person group, 48hrs)
Overview​
Created for the Kenney Jam 2020, with the theme 'Cursed'. The idea was a puzzle stealth game where you kill guards using objects to get to the end.
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Design Decisions
The game was designed with a specific colour scheme, yellow for possessives, green for interactable, orange for possessing and blue for blocked. This was very important to have as it mean players instantly knew what objects were once they worked out what the colours meant. By having the players' movement limited by certain walls while in ghost form it mean they had to work out how to kill their first guard and then how to get to the end. A key decision was the designing of the main menu, by incorporating the game's main mechanic into the main menu it acted as a tutorial, meaning we could limit the hand-holding in the first levels.
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The stealth bit of the game had to be cut due to it not working in time, originally guards were going to spot the player if they were possessing a dead guard or object and knock them out of it. However, the guard AI was not working in time for submission so the game had to be reworked to be solely puzzle. This took away from the levels, making them less complex that originally designed.
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My Responsibilities
Level designer - Created the levels using tile sheets in Unreal
Programmer - Assisted in programming mechanics
Audio Designer -Sourced all the sounds from different Kenney packs
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Technical Abilities​
This project was made in Unreal Engine 4, making use of the blueprint programming system. As we were both well-versed in blueprints this made the programming a lot smoother. We also made use of the tilemap tool in the engine, which was the first time we were both using it. This saved us a lot of time in the creation of levels as we could just paint on the tiles easily rather than hand placing them in the engine. This also allowed for a lot of prototyping of levels and ideas. This taught us a lot and has been used in a lot of my 2D projects.
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We worked right to the end to polish the game and bug fix. We did not manage to catch all the bugs such as the gun on the first level firing backward (which I fixed in a later patch) and guards not moving when they were supposed to. Despite this, the game received a lot of positive feedback and the game came 87/187 entries. We received reviews such as: "Really enjoyed the concept, the possession was pretty fun and the game played well", "I believe this is one of my favorite games of the jam so far. I liked the mechanics and puzzles", "Really creative! Loved the aesthetic ╰(*°▽°*)╯ and super fun to play".
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Cyberpunk Nottingham Contemporary
Final Year 3D Project
Overview
Created during the third year of university (2020/21). Based on the brief of taking an existing environment and twisting it with a cyberpunk theme.
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Design Decisions
I decided to use the Nottingham Contemporary Art Gallery as it is one of my favorite buildings in Nottingham. I then chose the cyberpunk genre as it is one of my favorite genres, with some of my favorite films being Blade Runner. I decided to not edit the base of the building too much as it is already quite a futuristic-looking building and it is rather ironic. I decided to set it in the Blade Runner world, with the story premise that there is an exhibit about Roy Batty, the antagonist of Blade Runner. I, therefore, added references to him all around the environment including candles, graffiti of his lines, and a hologram of him in his final pose. I also added lots of cyberpunk touches like neon lights, holograms, trash everywhere, and of course rain. The pink advert seen in the image above is for an exhibit on Neuromancer, which is the book said to have helped start the cyberpunk genre. The hologram of the two zebras is a logo by an artist for the contemporary which I took and used to make a hologram. In the real building, it can be seen on the sliding doors inside.
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My Responsibilities
Modeling - I created all the 3D models from scratch. I took reference pictures of the sight and contacted the architects to get their plans of the building to help with scale and layout.
Texturing - I textured all the models in substance and use photoshop for things like adverts and graffiti.
Tech art - I did all the lighting and materials in the environment, following tutorials for certain elements such as making advert boards appear to have real pixels.
Technical Abilities
This project was made in Unreal Engine 4, Models were made in 3DsMax, and then textured in Substance Painter.
Click the button below to see more pictures on my art station.
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FireFly
NHS Game (6 person university group project)
Overview
Created in during second year of university (2019/20). A game where you move around a maze collecting fireflies to open doors, flame bugs to take out obstacles and cobwebs to build bridges
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Design Decisions
As this game is going to be for the mobile market I wanted to use simple accessible controls, users interact with everything in the game by tapping. The game was going to be used as part of a mental health app for the NHS, so for the theme and gameplay, we wanted something that is calming and simple. This is why the concept of catching fireflies and of simple puzzles to collect items to beat obstacles was chosen. The aesthetic was chosen as it because it was very unique and very calming with neon lights contrasting against purple and pink. Blue was used for lights in the game as from research it was found that blue light does not affect fireflies so adding some environmental consideration into the game. Due to the size of the team, we communicated ideas and progress via a discord server which I managed. We made use of kanban management to make sure work was done to schedule and so we could easily track it.
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My Responsibilities
Team Leader - managed the project, making sure the team kept to milestones
Mechanics designer - designed games mechanics and worked with the programmer to refine them
Level Designer - designed both mazes in the game
Grey box of levels - established game scale and allowed for initial playtesting
Implementing of 3D assets - took assets made by the asset team and placed them
Coding of core mechanics - assisted in the programming of core systems such as doors and pick-up items
Designed UI layout, programmed UI elements with UI art, and implemented UI into game
Technical Abilities
This project was made in Unreal Engine 4, making use of the blueprint programming system. I made use of the landscape to create the floor and the geometry tool to create the initial grey box of the levels. Also used the foliage tool to lay out specific models.
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Click the button below to see the blog about the development of the game
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Die Action
Game Jam Project (3 person group, 48hrs)
Overview​
Created for the Game Makers Toolkit 2022 Jam with the theme 'roll of the dice. The idea was a 2D side scroller where use has limited actions based on a total of 3 dice rolls. These dice also act as health, take damage, and have fewer dice and fewer actions. These dice can be recovered in level to regain actions. There are a limited amount of times you can roll dice to add a level of tactics.
Design Decisions
The idea was based off what if user could only do actions based on an amount on a dice roll. By using a grid-based movement we could also easily limit these actions, however, this came with limitations from a tech side to make it work effectively which is why it is a bit jank.
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My Responsibilities
Game designer - Designed mechanics
Programmer - Programmed some of the game systems
Level designer - Layed out level and mechanics
UI designer - Designed and created all game UI
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Technical Abilities​
This project was made in Unreal Engine 4, making use of the blueprint programming system. As we were all well versed in blueprints this made the programming a lot smoother.
This jam took place over a really hot weekend in July 2022, meaning it was hard for us all to work. We all also had other commitments during the time meaning there was less time to create the game overall. This is why the game has some blocker bugs within it. Despite this it did receive some praise "Gameplay is very clever. Understanding the jumping/ walking off edges was a little confusing. Love the music. Great job". If we had more time we would have refined the level design and mechanics, making sure to QA test it more effectively.
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Brian & Me
Game Jam Project (3 person group, 48hrs)
Overview
Created for the Game Makers Toolkit Game Jam 2021 with the theme 'Joined Together. The idea was a platformer where instead of the player getting hurt, an innocent dog gets hurt.
Design Decisions
The idea was to see if a player would perform better if it was not their player character that would take the consequences for their actions. In hindsight, a dog was not the best decision for this, and instead, an inanimate object or robot may have been better.
Responsibilities
Level designer - Planned the level and created it in the engine
Programmer - Programmed some of the systems to work in the game
Technical Abilities
This project was made in Unreal Engine 4, making use of the blueprint programming system.
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We decided to do a simple game for this jam due to other events taking place during the jam. This meant focusing on making simple mechanics that worked well and were polished. The game received feedback as part of the jam, coming 1775/5755. It received comments such as "I really liked the 1 bit aesthetic of the game. Hurting your dog feels worse than getting hurt yourself. Very cool." and "Dogs were certainly harmed in my playthrough. Very tough beginning of the level, but the rest was good. Nice work.".
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Wasted Wanderer
Game Jam project (3 person group, 48hrs)
Overview
Created for the Game Makers Toolkit Game Jam 2020, with the theme 'Out of Control'. The idea was to control a drunk man trying to get home from a party. The concept, the Dark Souls of drunk games.
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Design Decisions
The game was designed to be hard, having the player constantly try to keep the character upright and doing quick time events to stop them from passing out and throwing up. There are beer bottles around the map which the player will move to, which make them drunker and therefore harder to control as keeping them upright gets more sensitive. Originally there were going to be water bottles that pushed the player away, meaning the player would have to fight to get to it, once picked up these would reduce the players' drunkness, but these proved to buggy to fully implement.
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My Responsibilities
Level designer - Assisted in the level design process and laying out of models
Programmer - Assisted in programming the mechanics, making the sleep quick time event.
Audio Designer -Created all the sound effects and soundtrack for the game
UI Designer - Created all the UI in the game, polishing it to look good for the jam, making it so elements such as the button prompt flashed to indicate to the player they needed to be spammed.
Technical Abilities
This project was made in Unreal Engine 4, making use of the blueprint programming system.
This was the first time I developed for the controller and had a fun time designing the controls and playtesting it with the controller. Unfortunately, we were not able to submit the game for the jam in time, but we still had a load of fun making the game and are proud of what we accomplished in the 48 hours.
Colour Jump
Personal project
Overview
Created in 2019. A 2D platformer where the player must collect blocks and then make it to the endpoint. Players can change between 3 different colours, red, green and blue. The levels are made up of blocks that are the same colours. The player can only collide with a block if they are the same colour as it.
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Design Decisions
By having the player only collide with blocks they are the same colour as, it adds a layer of strategy to the game,. The player must plan out how they will encounter a platform. They can also use it to their advantage by using it to not colliding with spikes or with rotating pillars that would knock them off. For the level design, I applied the technique of Kishotenketsu; the idea of a level introducing an idea, developing it, twisting it in some way and then concluding it. This is used in the Mario games and from learning about it, I really wanted to make a game that used this technique.
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Responsibilities
Level designer - Planned out all levels on squared paper
Programmer - Programmed all the systems to work in the game
Artist - Created all the sprites on a website called Piskel
Audio Designer -Created all the sound effects and soundtrack using a website called Beepbox.
Technical Abilities
This project was made in Unreal Engine 4, making use of the blueprint programming system.
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Upside Down Maze
Personal project
Overview
Created in the summer 2020. A 3D maze game in which the player has to think quickly about their decisions while navigating.
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Design Decisions
To make it so that the player could not just brute force solve the maze I added keys around the maze for the player to collect. In later levels, I also added mazes with different layouts and mechanics such as in level 4 where the player can move between two different mazes sandwiched together.
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Responsibilities
Level designer - Took maze designs from http://www.mazegenerator.netand adapted them to the game.
Programmer - Programmed all the systems to work in the game
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Technical Abilities
This project was made in Unreal Engine 4, making use of the blueprint programming system. I grey-boxed the mazes using the geometry tool in the engine. I also adjusted the gravity in parts to add challenges within the levels.
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All audio was created by my friend Aran Everitt for the project.
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Fate's Arcana
University board Game Jam project (5 person group, 9hrs)
Overview
WINNING game created for the 2021 Confetti Industry Week boardgame jam, with the theme 'Journey'. The idea was a card game that simulated a journey through the use of custom tarot cards. This jam was in aid of Special Effect.
Design Decisions
The game was designed to be both a cooperative and competitive 4 player game. Each player starts off with a currency called 'Fate'. If a player runs out of this, then everyone loses. The aim is to be the player with the most amount of Fate at the end of the game.
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The game starts with the card 'The Fool' which symbolizes the start of a journey. The game ends when the card 'The World' is played, which symbolizes completion. All cards in the deck are shuffled apart from 'The Fool' and 'The World', which once the deck is shuffled are placed at the top and bottom of the deck. This creates a beginning and ending for the deck.
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There are 22 cards in the deck, but due to the nature of the tarot, these can be drawn either upright or reversed. Each card has two effects, one for upright and one for reverse. Players choose each turn to pick a player to draw a card. These then affect the game in interesting ways such as:
The upright version of The Lovers allows you to choose two players to bind together for a round when upright or the next card that affects you is doubled for reversed.
The upright version of The Emperor allows you to select the player to go next or you take your turn again for reversed.
The upright version of The Magician allows you take someone's fate or the player with the fewest fate takes one of yours for reverse.
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A card's effect can be stopped. If a player wants to have the effect stopped, all players pick a card from the two cards they hold, one says 'Fate Accepted, and one says 'Fate Averted'. Players reveal their choice all at once. Players who play fate accepted then have to sacrifice some of their Fate to roll dice. If the dice score is higher than the number on the card then it is averted and the effect does not take place.
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My Responsibilities
Designer - Generated ideas for different cards
QA Test - Helped test the game
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Corpbread Espionage
College Final Major Project (4 person team)
Overview
Created in 2nd year of college (2017/18). A 3rd person action steal game. You play as Agent Wholemeal who works for Toast-E Co, and is trying to steal the plans for the ultimate toaster from rival company Bread.Corp.
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Design Decisions
The core game loop was designed to be the player sneaking around each level to find the keycard to access the next level. In each level, there are guards, laser grids, turrets and cameras. The guards can be taken out using an arsenal of bread-themed weapons and gadgets. These included throwing toast, baguette baton, crumpet mine, and donut distractor. Each level was a different department in the company, which was reflected in layout and environmental design, with the player going from reception to all the way to the CEO office.
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My Responsibilities
Game designer - created the concept and implemented mechanics
Level designer - Planned out all levels and grey-boxed them
Programmer - Assisted in programming AI and core systems
UI designer - Created UI for the game, including the toaster main menu
3D modeler - Created the final level for the game and minor models for the game
Animator - Created the game's final cinematic
Technical Abilities
This project was made in Unreal Engine 4, making use of the blueprint programming system. For the project, I also utilised Autodesk Maya to make models and animations. I edited the footage for the cinematic using Vegas. I textured the models in Photoshop.
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This got a lot of positive feedback at the college showcase event, with lots of people saying they would like to see this be taken further.
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Corbread Espionage Showcase
When displaying Corpbread I decided it would be fun to hook up a Makey Makey to pieces of bread as I discovered bread could conduct electricty. Players could then wrap a piece of foil around their hand or hold it to ground themselves. They then touch the bread to control the characters movements. Everyone loved this and brought a lot of attention to our game.
Corpbread Espionage Redux level 2Â design
This is the level design for level 2 of the version of the game will be remaking. The layout was created in draw.io with graphics for guard paths and crit paths created in Photoshop. I like using draw.io for layout as it allows for easily editing of the layout with a grid background for scale. By measuring the grid background in Draw.io I can then scale the grey box to make the level. Due to other commitments have not made much progress on this project outside of a design and greybox, but we will be soon.
