MFA Game Design, Class of 2018

BFA Written Arts, Class of 2014

The following are selected projects that I worked on while studying at the NYU Game Center and at Bard College. During my studies, I developed my voice as both a writer and game designer, and cultivated artistic sensibilities that have persisted into my professional career.

September 2017 - May 2018, NYU Game Center

Lead Programming (C#) - Game Design - Narrative Design - Writing - Animation

Available to download on itch.io

XIX: Boy Band Simulator is a visual novel/raising sim/rhythm-action game created with Unity that affectionately lampoons modern boy bands and the culture that surrounds them. With XIX, we wanted to make a game that would bridge the gap between fans of narrative games and fans of more systems-focused games while still being engaging and accessible to both. To accomplish this, we combined conventions from visual novels, raising sims, and rhythm-action games to create a unique gameplay loop wherein the player’s system knowledge, hand-eye coordination, and ability to understand and connect with the game’s characters are all put to the test. The constituent pieces of the loop are very simple, but together they create a complex interlocking system that rewards players for engaging with every aspect of the game.

XIX: Boy Band Simulator was created as my Thesis Project for my MFA studies at the NYU Game Center.

Check out a review for the game on freeappsforme.com.

My responsibilities on XIX: Boy Band Simulator included:

  • Collaborating with my creative partner to develop the characters, world, and lore of XIX.

  • Designing a unique gameplay loop that flows seamlessly between story segments, schedule making, and a collection of Warioware-like mini-games.

  • Designing and balancing mini-games to be easy to understand while also expressing their function within the narrative.

  • Programming and implementing all game systems in Unity.

  • Collaborating with our lead artist to create unique character animations for mini-games.

  • Writing dialogue for the visual novel segments, including branching and variable storylines based on the game state.

Prototype Studio Projects

January 2018 - May 2018, NYU Game Center

Prototyping - Game Design - Programming (C#) - 2D/3D Art - Animation

Available to play & download on itch.io

While studying at the NYU Game Center, I took a course called Prototype Studio in which we were required to make one fully playable prototype each week. The professor would provide us with a prompt (not dissimilar to a Game Jam theme) at the beginning of each week, and we would be required to ideate, create, and present a prototype in response by the following week. This format allowed me to stretch myself both creatively and technically, and taught me how to iterate fast, how to manage the scope of my projects, and how to work creatively within constraints. Although the resulting twelve projects are nothing more than vertical slices of grander game designs, I am very proud of them, as they represent many facets of my design sensibilities.

My responsibilities on these projects included:

  • Formulating game ideas in response to prompts provided by the professor.

  • Creating minimum viable game designs that would express the merits of my ideas while remaining within scope for a short-term project.

  • Implementing my designs in Unity.

  • Creating and curating 2D and 3D art assets to be used in the projects.

Lead Animation - Game Design - Narrative Design - Writing

January 2017 - May 2017, NYU Game Center

Available to download on itch.io

KnifeHeart is a competitive visual novel/fighting game made in Unity that I worked on while studying at the NYU Game Center. With KnifeHeart, the team and I set out to create a competitive multiplayer game wherein a player’s success or failure is not only determined by their mastery of the mechanics, but also by their understanding of the game’s story and characters.  To do this, we crafted a system whereby players draft their combat abilities by making dialogue choices during visual novel-style vignettes in between fights. This system incentivizes the player to interact with the story and characters of the game in a way that a more typical “character select screen” cannot.   The player must be able to understand and respond to the characters and narrative within the world of the game in order to optimize their draft strategy.

My responsibilities on KnifeHeart included:

  • Leading the initial ideation phase to develop an ethos and mission statement for the project.

  • Designing and developing early prototypes.

  • Designing a dialogue system that fit the needs of both the game’s story and drafting system.

  • Designing combat abilities for both in-fight function and in-story personality.

  • Collaborating with our lead artist to develop unique fight animations for each combat ability.

  • Collaborating with other writers to write over 8,000 unique lines of dialogue based on the combinatorial personalities of the characters as they develop across the game.

  • Conducting playtests and balancing gameplay based on user feedback.

Writing - Narrative Design - Programming (Inform 7)

September 2013 - May 2014, Bard College

Available to play & download on itch.io

Colette is a work of interactive fiction that questions the role of the reader, and explores the unique ways in which agency, interpersonal relationships, and environmental conditioning can define a person’s identity. With Colette, I intended to explore and question the unique space between self and other that a person inhabits while he or she is assuming the role of another person. This is not only true of the character in the narrative, but of the reader as well. Just as Colette must decide between being the person she feels she is, and being the person that she’s told she was before her amnesia, the reader must decide if he or she will assume the role of Colette, or merely use her as a conduit for his or her own self expression. As Colette discovers, and ultimately questions her identity throughout the narrative, it was my hope that the reader would simultaneously begin to question the role that his or her participation plays in the narrative as well.

Colette was created as my Thesis Project for my Creative Writing BFA at Bard College.

My responsibilities on Colette included:

  • Developing unique characters, settings, and histories for the world of the story.

  • Writing over 400 pages of prose and dialogue to accommodate any path the player may choose to explore during their play through.

  • Designing a narrative system by which player’s choices, actions, and relationships can affect the course of the story.

  • Programming the the story in Inform 7.