Design and Development
Over the years I have been responsible for a great deal of design, direction, prototyping, and pipeline defining and leadership. From prototyping new environment art pipelines and damage systems on Kinect Star Wars to providing best-practice guides for other artists (both in house and as a contractor), I have provided a great deal of design and mentorship throughout my time as a game developer and asset creator.
I have directly tasked and managed programmers and artists on development of projects as well as individual assets, including the use of written/verbal, paint-over, and concept based direction and critique.
InfinitasDM
A tabletop RPG app that brings digital tools to in-person gaming, one of the only apps of its kind approved for sale on Steam, developed concurrently for desktop and mobile platforms. On a fixed, Kickstarter-funded, $40,000 budget utilizing a single engineer, I designed, roadmapped, tasked, and managed the project which was released on time and on budget, including all Kickstarter rewards and reward content. I am also responsible for all ongoing customer support for new and existing users.
Along with my business and project management duties, I also provided all UX and overall design, branding, marketing materials, reward materials, and supplemental content. One of the top challenges was devising an intuitive way to bring digital tools to an in-person setting, as well as to ensure that all of these complex processes were mobile and touch-screen friendly.
Kinect Star Wars Pre-Production and Prototyping
While working on Kinect Star Wars I was given the opportunity to do a lot of exploratory and pipeline defining work, as well as a lot of level blockout (whiteboxing) work. I was teamed up with a senior programmer and animator to define and document an new vehicle damage system, then teamed up with a senior designer and the then-Technical Art Director of Microsoft Games Studios to develop a new pipeline for quickly prototyping massive outdoor racing levels using a mix of 3d Studio Max and Houdini. I also worked with a designer to create a terrain-looping “infinite runner” style speeder bike prototype.
In addition to all of the prototyping and pipeline work, I also performed regular Environment Art duties such as prop and environment and vehicle asset creation, set dressing, and lighting work, as well as some more extended duties helping designers to create more advanced white-box level blockouts during various game mode’s preproduction schedules. I was also responsible for several marquee set builds, including the Carbonite Freezing Chamber environment and the Cloud City catwalk chamber where Luke’s had is cut off in Empire Strikes Back.
Atom Switch, Inc. Prototyping
Atom Switch, Inc has created a number of internal prototype projects to test technical pipelines, explore gameplay scenarios, explore art styles, and flesh out story lines. My engine of choice is typically Unity3d, since I can write basic scripting elements and code in C# as well as have a robust set of tools for everything from 2d platformers to 3d and VR gaming environments across all of the major platforms.
My efforts range from story writing to gameplay design, art direction and artistic exploration, pipeline refinement, and technology testing. I typically create all assets (from 3d models to UI) for these prototypes and enjoy the wide variety of tasks and skills it develops to do so.
Hover Racer Prootype: Overdrive Infinite
A sci-fi racing game prototype inspired by the likes of F-Zero, Extreme-G Racing, Wipeout, and others of the like. Originally intended to be a traditional arcade racer (then titled Overdrive: Revolution), it later evolved into a hybrid arcade racer / infinite runner with procedurally generated race tracks and ever increasing speed.
The first phase of this prototype was created in conjunction with a programmer and concept artist that I lead as creative director, lead designer, and principal artist.
I later revisited the concept myself, where I wrote all of the projects code in C#, from the basic debug menus, to the UI, health/damage systems, to the car controls and physics and provided all concept and asset support. Creating the systems for procedural track generation (especially setting rules to ensure that it couldn’t left or right-turn back onto its self while still allowing occasional 90 degree turns) was the most complex challenge of the project.
A work in progress video of the track generator; car controls, fx, and physics; health, boost system, speedometer UI, and damage systems; and reset menu that I created in Unity3D.
Dungeon Crawler Prototype: Blade of The Ancients
A classic dungeon crawler, Blade of The Ancients explored a modernization of the classic 90’s gameplay styling. Bringing in a dynamic player-following map, more robust combat system, and interactive puzzles to a mobile phone gaming experience.
After writing a background story inspired by one of my homebrew D&D campaigns, I created a design document outlying key gameplay elements, level structures, puzzles, and boss fights. I also created a working prototype in Unity3d with working UI, controls, and basic enemy AI with a build running on Android mobile devices.
InfinitasDM Campaign DLC Content
In addition to the InfinitasDM app, I also created a set of accompanying DLC campaign content including a linear, story based campaign, an open-world free form campaign, and a set of quick-play campaigns for the app’s showing at GenCon50.
