Client Work
& Misc.
Vestigial
Surreality Games - Arcade Cabinet - 2021
Vestigial is an experimental arcade game centered around a unique dual analog joystick control scheme. The player controls an alien mech made of plant life (megaflora) with the mission of eradicating all human life. I was hired to design new levels and touch up some older levels.
One of the biggest challenges of this project was comprehending the scale of things in game and finding interesting ways to play with it. Each visible structure in the game would be the size of a megastructure on our earth, so I would have to keep scale in mind for each gameplay pass. I was surprised to find that there was a full destructible structure system in the game already, but no major features that employed the system aside from smaller structures, so I designed a gigastructure space elevator that has to be broken apart piece by piece. It was hard work, but it has an immense payoff in-game!
The game is focused on destroying targeted buildings and enemy robots. Each level is replayable with higher difficulty enemies that spawn in each time the player returns. A major focus of the damage system in the game is on explosions and splash damage which are hazardous to the player. When I joined the project it was difficult to use the explosive systems to the players advantage, so I created highly explosive oil derricks which act as the "red barrels" of the environment. That gave the player some better crowd control options while also fitting in with the eco-revenge theme.
An explosive red oil derrick is featured in the center.
Jankyland
Superplastic - iOS & Android - 2019
Jankyland is a mobile game promotion for Superplastic's Janky line of vinyl toys. This was my first work on someone else's game and it was a strong exercise in asset reuse and space saving. No new art could be produced, and the entire design of the game had changed from being an adventure brawler-style game to being an autofaller collect-em-up game. I created chunks for the different themed worlds, using some minor scripting and kit-bashing from the models for the previous design. We managed to reuse every asset that had been created, which I take some pride in. Unfortunately the game was taken off of stores by the client a few months after launch.
Disclaimer: Superplastic has since gone on to mint and promote NFTs and other crypto schemes. I am not interested in any future work involving NFTs, crypto, or the blockchain.