Game Development

I code games in Unity C#, focusing on game design and puzzle design. I also compose the original soundtracks for my games. So far I've mainly built games in the puzzle and adventure genres, most made on a team under the time pressure of a game jam.

As part of a 4-5 person team I have won two game jams. Project OCEAN won the Triangle Game Jam, a game jam held collaboratively by Duke, UNC, and NC State including students from across North Carolina. Off the Record, won the judge's choice award

In addition to building games I am an exec member of DPAD, Duke's game development club. As an event chair, I've planned workshops with current professionals, collaborations with the Duke Game Development Masters Program, and multi-school game jams. I am particularly proud of helping to plan the Triangle Game Jam, an 150 student event and the largest student game jam in North Carolina.

Project Ocean was made in 9 days for the Triangle Game Jam, on the theme "Across Dimensions". We won the Judges' Choice Award out of over 150 students from 6+ different universities.

Game description: You signed up for an experimental procedure that splits the mind into 5 distinct conscious beings — Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Now you have to battle your way through your headspace, reliving memories and unearthing secrets, until you can recombine into one.

This is both the most expansive game I've worked on and my first 3D one. In the theme of across dimensions, we spent a lot of time building environments out of 2D sprites placed in a 3D world, using perspective tricks and lighting to make an impossible space feel cohesive. Each level got its own color palette, art style, and lighting so it would read as a genuinely distinct world.

The key mechanic is that the environment, the character, and the soundtrack all switch dimensions every time you dash. Making that work in a short timeline meant writing automated systems to swap out every sprite, light, and music track at once.

My favorite part was the OST. I wrote 5 tracks as variations on a single melody, which let them be layered over each other or switched between instantly as the player crosses dimensions.

Off the Record was made in 24 hours for Duke's Fall Game Jam, on the theme "From Scratch". We took 2nd place.

It's a puzzle/rhythm game where you rebuild a story by splicing together scratched and incomplete records. As the story unfolds, you find more records to parse and sync together.

My favorite part was designing hard puzzles around a unique mechanic. In 24 hours we shipped a 30 minute game with its own story and in-depth logical puzzles.

Coding this one taught me a lot about polish and user experience. Buttons need to grow when you hover them, everything needs to make a sound, and smooth particle effects and scene transitions make the whole thing feel immersive.