PACK-LASH - 2026
Role: Game Designer and Editor
Publisher: Bearded Board Games
Pack-Lash is a card game where two players have a 15-card deck with a different way to win. The game was designed by Craig Hughes, a fellow student in Bradley University's Game Design program in the spring semester of 2023. I aided him in the play-testing and developing of the rules as well as the initial design of the cards. Hailey Fetting, a student in Bradley University's UI/UX department revised and created the final artwork for the cards as well as promotional material. I edited the rules document and the wording of the cards to be as straight-forward and understandable to a wide audience. The game underwent several revisions, tested by hundreds of testers from local conventions, showcases, and even Gen Con. As of 2026, the game has been published by Bearded Board Games and a Kickstarter campaign for the project is in the works. Below is a tutorial video for the game staring Craig and me and edited/narrated by Bradley University alum Scott Chernobrov.
OUR NAME IS THE STARS - 2024
Role: Game and Mission Designer
Publisher: Bradley University/Aether Trout
Our Name is the Stars is a singe-player 3D space exploration experience designed by Bradley University's Game Design class of 2024 under the name Aether Trout. A cross disciplinary team of 34 students spent an entire academic year working on a single project. I wore many hats during this project. In the early phases, I assisted the design effort for the ship, which is the primary vehicle of the game. This involved testing and programming in Unity 3D and conducting external play-tests. In the latter half of the project, I played a large role in the development of the three missions the game features. I programmed traps, puzzles, and power-ups while maintaining a strong focus on player feedback and game feel. Our efforts were supported not only by our professors, but also representatives from Insomniac Games and Undead Labs.
PARTY CRASHERS - 2023
Role: Game Designer and UI Designer
Publisher: Bradley University/National Planning Committee (NPC)
Party Crashers is a festive VR experience where the player defends their birthday party from evil piñatas that seek to ruin all the fun. This game was developed by a cohort of 17 Bradley University students to make an experience for FUSE, Bradley's student showcase for Interactive Media Students held at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. My role in this project was as a tester and a developer for all of the UI and score elements. Everything you see on the shield where you see the score and instructions is largely my doing. The goal of the project was to make a short but memorable experience. Shown below is recorded gameplay of the project by Caden Sheehan who was the sound designer and composer for the project.
RHYTHM RUMBLE - 2022
Role: Game Designer and 2D Animator
Publisher: Bradley University/BeatBoxerz
Rhythm Rumble is a 2D rhythm-based fighting game developed in 2022 by a team of 15 Bradley Students known collectively as BeatBoxerz. This project was showcased at FUSE at the Peoria Riverfront Museum in 2022. The premise of the project was to blend a rhythm game like Dance Dance Revolution with a fighting game. The characters face off and the higher your combo is on the rhythm pad, the more damage you deal to your opponent. In this project, I implemented the animations that were rendered by our art team to play on queue. I also programmed the basic controls of the game to utilize a rhythm pad in Unity 2D. Below is a video showing the game being played at our exhibit at the Riverfront Museum by two fellow students who dressed as sharks to draw attention to their pirate-themed experience.
HIGHCASTER - 2021
Role: Contributor/Intern
Publisher: Gallant Knight Games
Highcaster is an epic fantasy roleplaying game about creating legends created by Christopher Grey and published by Gallant Knight Games in 2021. I, along with fellow Bradley University student Brandon Tompkins, acted as interns for Christopher Grey in order to get exposure to the process of creating a game for a Kickstarter Campaign. My contributions were largely in playtesting, but I was also given the opportunity to write flavor text for several of the character customization options for the book. There are three creatures in the book's bestiary that I also wrote and designed the mechanics for. This project funded on Kickstarter within the first two hours of going live and is one of my favorite projects I have worked on. Both Brandon and I participated in the campaign process, aiding Chris in testing the game and creating promotional material.
Shown above is the official launch trailer for Highcaster as well as one of the actual play videos we created demonstrating the Highcaster system using Dungeons & Dragons pre-written modules.
TOWER OF POWER - 2021
Role: Game Designer and 2D Artist
Publisher: Bradley University/Team Ultraviolet Catastrophe
Tower of Power is a 2D tower defense game where you play as a disgruntled old wizard with too much power in their hands and too many enemies on their lawn. This game was developed in the fall semester of 2021 by a team of four Bradley University students including myself. Since the team was so small, we each wore many hats for this project. I contributed most of the enemy sprites as well as the art for the tower and the wizard player character. Many of the UI elements, if not all, were designed and implemented by me. All team members were responsible for testing the game and balancing it as we added more content. Shown below is a trailer for the game edited by Seth Weeks, our team's other primary artist and composer.
BURRITO BLAST - 2020
Role: Game Designer/Solo Developer
Published: Bradley University/Parker DeVenney
Burrito Blast is the first full-feature game I ever made and the only project I made (almost) entirely myself. The idea for the project was to develop a vertical platformer along the lines of Donkey Kong while learning the basics of game feel and Unity programming. I designed the assets in Aseprite, I found stock sound effects on the internet, developed the project in Unity, and asked my friend Andre Builta to assist with the game's score. While it may seem a crude first effort, it was a tremendous milestone for me. I hope to one day revisit this project using my knowledge and experience to make an improved version of this game.