SUMMARY
I
a writer and a musician
to make an interactive fiction game.
joined Vidaly's remote startup team comprised of an EdTech entrepreneur, a software engineer, and a wellbeing education expert to help them make their first educational game.
I used my background as a games professor to teach them about how games work, how games are made, and how to support player choice.
I used my background in working on educational games to inform how we approached the delivery of educational content and assessments we gave the player in the game.
As the project lead, I wore the hats of
game designer and art director.
Over one month following
WIP THEMIS DIVISION
Intermediate
This is your Skill Description. Use this space to describe your skill, as well as examples when having this skill might be useful.
THEMIS DIVISION
Release: Jan 2022
Studio: FamJam
Platforms: PC | Mac
Team size: 3 (Kris Gathman, Nicholas Gathman, and myself)
Project length: 48 hours
Responsibilities: creative & design direction/collaboration, worldbuilding, narrative design/writing, business development, marketing & community management, writing
Engine and tools: Twine, Adobe Suite, Google Suite
GALLERY
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
This is your Gallery section paragraph. Use this opportunity to provide background for your showcase of photos and images. Consider explaining why you’ve included this collection of visual media, and provide any relevant details or descriptions.
HIGHLIGHTS
Read on if you'd like to:
See highlights from Neptune's Bounty.
See more detail about my development process, with case studies.
Warning: text. Lots of it.
THE FIGHTING MCDONAGH TAVERN
A key location in Neptune's Bounty. I built the layout and crafted moment-to-moment gameplay.
This served as an exemplar of what good "spoke" (as in hub-and-spoke) spaces should feel like in BioShock in terms of:
Pacing and variety of play experience.
Amount of scripted moments vs. emergent and systems-driven gameplay.
Spatial scale.
Variety of space types and themes (eg. there's a bar area, wine cellar, basement office, and upstairs hotel rooms).
Amount of occlusion and thus "mystery" created by not being able to view an entire space from any single vantage point (the bar area is a great example of this: an open space with pillars and other vision blockers).
Amount of verticality (eg. the vertical element of a balcony overlooking the bar area).
Elements of the space were even retooled and re-used in BioShock 2, and there is a Fighting McDonagh's multiplayer map.
Moments such as a splicer wandering into the bar with a security camera in tow, or a Big Daddy showing up as you go to leave the bar feel like unscripted, systemic moments. They were however scripted. As much as possible I pushed for scripted moments to feel organic and natural. I wanted to blur the line between systemic and scripted moments so that it all feels the same to the player.
VIDEO TITLE
Video Subtitle
This is your Video Description paragraph. It’s a great place to add a description of the video displayed in this section, and a few more words about your business, your site or what you do. Use a friendly and conversational tone to engage as many users as possible!
SUMMARY OF CONTRIBUTIONS
I was the designer responsible for __________. I built spaces, planned and scripted gameplay, told visual stories, and acted as ambassador of the player's experience in the level.
CREATIVE DIRECTION
Creative Direction
This is your item description. Use this space to add a description of the services, products, team members or any other items you want to highlight on your site. Have a lot to say? Easily turn any item into a full page by clicking ‘Create a page from this item’ in the edit panel.
GAME DESIGN
Game Design
This is your item description. Use this space to add a description of the services, products, team members or any other items you want to highlight on your site. Have a lot to say? Easily turn any item into a full page by clicking ‘Create a page from this item’ in the edit panel.
NARRATIVE DESIGN
Narrative Design
This is your item description. Use this space to add a description of the services, products, team members or any other items you want to highlight on your site. Have a lot to say? Easily turn any item into a full page by clicking ‘Create a page from this item’ in the edit panel.
ART DIRECTION
Art Direction
This is your item description. Use this space to add a description of the services, products, team members or any other items you want to highlight on your site. Have a lot to say? Easily turn any item into a full page by clicking ‘Create a page from this item’ in the edit panel.