I'm currently a junior at Michigan State University, and in the Games & Interactive Media major program as well as the Minor in Game Development. I've met lots of awesome people and have learnt a lot about team working during my time here so far, so here are some of my favorite student projects!
Embedded Files
RECURSION
My role: UI Art & Design
Team size: 13
Made over: January-April 2025
A time looping stealth game, where you intrude into an abandoned space station to stop an evil cult and its leader in a boss fight. Your goal is to "break the cycle" by killing the boss at the end of the level to end the time loop. On the way, you encounter hostile aliens and unique abilities you can utilize.
I was not on the original team for this project, but I was onboarded at the start of the semester to do UI work. The design of the game shifted around a lot during the first months, so a lot of time was spent sketching before moving on to making full assets. I've done implementation for the UI on top of the art & design for it, and the implemented UI has also been shifted around and scrapped a couple times for something that fits the player better. This has resulted in me getting a lot more familiar with Unity's UI system, to say the least. I also had the privilege of assembling the final trailer for the game!
Four Bungie employees advised us during development, and they've given us a ton of useful advice throughout development each week, including lots of relevant UI feedback. They've been really awesome, and it's been a gem to get tips from people deep in the industry!
Recursion's trailer, by me
The trailer I made for Spaaaace junkers!
SPACE JUNKERS!
My role: All 2D Art Assets & Trailer
Team size: 6
Made over: October-December 2024
A time-limited board game where you work together with teammates to defeat enemies, loot things, and trade with each other while outpacing a blockade and fighting bosses.
This project was one of the only board games I worked on for a class, and the most notable of them. I was really itching to practice vector art, and after assessing everyone's skills, I was given the go-ahead to make all the art for the game.
Despite doing art, I had to stay in very, very close communications with the team members to make sure that I was making the assets that matched the design documentation they made. It was a careful effort, and we overscoped with how vast our game was compared to the in-class budget restrictions, but that's part of why I love it and why it's one of my favorite projects I've ever worked on at MSU.
SADDEST FACTORY
My role: All 3D and 2D Art Assets
Team size: 5
Made over: November 2024
A physics-based factory game set in hell, where the goal is to produce air-conditioning units to help cool hell down and make it habitable. It was made for the November 2024 Spartasoft Game Jam, and its development was fueled by the factory game mania most of the dev team was experiencing at the time.
I had to make over a dozen different items and lots of different buildings for this game, all in Blockbench - while the buildings are less detailed than I'd like, it ended up becoming one of my favorite jam projects because of the experience of 3-D modelling all of the art assets. I even animated a conveyor belt!
GRAVE
My role: UI Design & Basic UI Assets
Team size: 50+
Made over: September-December 2024
A dungeon-crawling rogue like game made by Spartasoft Studio, a student organization meant to bring developers together to create games. This project ran for the Fall 2024 semester, and my job along with communicating with the rest of the design/programming/art teams was to make detailed UI blueprints for the game.
The UI designs for this game were made in Figma, and it was the first time I had an entire Figma document under my own control. Through this project I learnt a very important lesson about design: it should be implemented by the one who designs it. The programming team was saddled with a lot during the semester, and only a fraction of what I designed made it in in to the final game. While I am undoubtedly proud of the detail and quality of my designs, I'm not so proud of the fact that I stayed in Figma the entire time without asking my directors about me implementing things myself.
In the wake of this, being able to be the dedicated UI designer for a game, and the insane amount of communication and meeting hosting that went along with it, was a valuable experience that I will cherish!
CHRONOWARE
My role: 2D Art Assets
Team size: 7
Made over: September 2024
A rocket-jumping puzzle platforming game with a time stopping mechanic. It's set in a cyberpunk-y plot with a lot of cheeky inside joke humor. It was made for the September 2024 Spartasoft Game Jam.
The game has a well-presented opening cutscene, but the actual rocket-jumping gameplay wasn't properly balanced in time before the jam ended. Regardless, I had a lot of fun making the 2D art assets for this game, and it led me to look into Blockbench as a 3D modelling tool that would meet my needs for future jams. Blockbench ended up being the 3D tool I would use for Saddest Factory.
MYSTERY ON THE GOOSEBERRY EXPRESS
My role: 2D Art Assets
Team size: 5
Made over: February 2024
A 'paper' styled game where you play as a detective solving puzzles in order to get past a barricade to a train car made by a smuggler, using the train to illegally haul gooseberries. This game was made for the February 2024 Spartasoft Game Jam.
This game was the first time our group who we ended up calling the Freshmen Five/Four (later Sophomore Six/Seven/Four) formed together after a couple prior Spartasoft jams. It was some of the most fun I've had during a game jam and our team learnt that we genuinely clicked. This game's systems weren't fully completed in time, but the game still won best art for the jam.
ASBESTOS ABSOLVER & RADIATION RESOLVER
My role: 2D Art Assets & Trailer
Team size: 4 & 5
Made over: March 2024 & February 2025
These are both goofy games about removing their expected environmental hazard from the room.. by eating said hazard. Yes, in these games, you eat asbestos and radioactive products with your bare hands to clear the hazard from the rooms (modeled after suspiciously familiar spaces).
Asbestos Absolver was made for the March 2024 Spartasoft Game Jam, and Radiation Resolver was made for the February 2025 Spartasoft Game Jam.
The idea of the first game, Asbestos Absolver, came up after our team was unsatisfied with what we were making for the first 24 hours of the 48 hour Spartasoft jam. Morale was low, and then someone had a divine vision: let's make a game about eating asbestos. It was an instant hit among the team, and later the crowd we presented it to.
Radiation Resolver was the result of everyone on our team having a busy semester - because we had little time and some members were too busy to even participate, combined with wanting to mix the jam with school matters to keep grades alive, we opted to continue Asbestos Absolver into Radiation Resolver. This one not only had an entire new room in its arsenal, but also had music made by "thatboxlion", one of the talented musicians who works on Parse-O-Rhythm. A trailer was even made for a contest by me. Radiation Resolver's multiplayer made it an instant hit amongst the audience, and we managed to get over 20 people into one game.
Radiagtion.mp4Radiation Resolver's glorious trailer
GOOSE GENIE
My role: Systems & UI Design
Team size: 50+
Made over: January-April 2024
An innovative puzzle platformer made by Spartasoft Studio. This project ran over the Spring 2024 semester, and I spent over half of my time in the systems design team. I then moved over to a smaller UI design team at the same time it was created later into the semester.
For my time in the systems design team, I convinced the team to use this tool known as Figjam, which is like a digital post-it-note and drawing board. I managed to get the team hooked on Figjam, and so the design documentation was made in it for this semester. Our systems design team of six people managed this document, adding to it and meeting over it countless times.
Once part of our systems design team was fragmented off for UI design, three of us worked in Figma, a separate tool for robust UI design and development. This time in the development was particularly messy, and lots of inter-team conflicts, on top of work being scrapped on a whim, made it a turbulent time. However, in the end, we were able to make a complete UI set with the help of some 2D artists!
MARKET MAYHEM
My role: Level Design
Team size: 40+
Made over: September-December 2023
A multiplayer hide & seek game set in multiple different levels. This project was made by Spartasoft Studio for the Fall 2023 semester, and it was my first time inside the studio (I was generously given the opportunity to skip being in QA team, typical for freshmen at the time).
I worked in a team of five to design and build the warehouse level for the game, pictured in this screenshot. We started with some quick drafts along with dividing up who works on what parts, since this level has multiple sections (ship & dock, shipping bay, upper deck & catwalks).
Because collaboratively editing a design live (as if you're in the game with others) is near-impossible in the Unity engine, I opted for the idea of building the level concept in a google sheets as a sort of pseudo-pixel art method. It tracked, and although lots of things were modified once put in-engine, this doc allowed us to collaboratively draft a high concept for the warehouse level and helped us nail down all of our ideas.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse