About The Developer

A friendly creative game making Scot experienced in game design and production management.
I started my game development journey in 2016 and haven’t looked back. I adore coming up with fun and novel levels and gameplay for players while working alongside diverse and talented teams.

Having worked on 2 shipped games and backed up with the academic excellence of Abertay University, I'm ready to join your team and give back to our wonderful community!

Shipped Titles

Portfolio Content

A Bonnie Odyssey

A Colourful open world puzzle game

Project highlights

this project was my first freelance contract, and I couldn’t have wished for a better client. Astrodreamer is a team of Abertay alums, it’s always exciting to see how fellow grads are making their way in the field. check them out their out of this world!

  • My Role: Level Designer

  • Studio: Astrodreamer Studio

  • Genre/ Style: Open-world puzzle game

  • Engine: Unreal Engine 5

  • Released: Coming 2024

Responsibilities

  • Designed and developed levels in Unreal Engine 5.

  • Authored level design documentation, wireframes, level layout plans and whiteboxes.

  • Carefully curated levels to be accessible from the open world in any order while maintaining narrative flow.

  • Cooperated with the internal team to assist in developing puzzle and narrative elements.

Synopsis

A Bonnie Odyssey is an open world puzzle game set on a Scottish island. Follow Zoe and a cast of charming robotic companions as she explores the island and solves a time-bending mystery.

Bonnie Odyssey Narrative Trailer


Tools used

  • Environment- Unreal Engine 5 (c++ & blueprint). Due to the size of Bonnie Odyssey, Unreal’s new world partition system was used to full effect to optimise the performance of the large open world.

  • Documentation- Google Docs & Miro. I created a full suite of documents from Miro wireframes detailing every level’s flow to Google Docs explaining individual elements and decisions made.

  • Layouts and plans- Photoshop. I always make use of either digital or paper to sketch out and plan my levels and ideas. Here I elected for photoshop for speed and ease of shareing.

Home

Outreach adventure game for Dundee carers

Project highlights

Both clients warmly received the game, and we were given the opportunity to showcase Home and our process at the I2I partner meeting held in Dundee. Home remains in use by Dundee Carers and used within classrooms and workshops.

  • My Role: Designer and Production Manager

  • Client: Dundee Carers, I2I

  • Genre/ Style: Cozy Adventure Game/ Outreach Tool

  • Engine: Unreal Engine 4

  • Released: 11/2019

Responsibilities

  • Gameplay and level designer within a cross-disciplinary team.

  • Helping to maintain and nurture the team’s vision through flowcharts, system requirements, personalized objectives, and open discussions.

  • Close collaboration with the art team to create a visually appealing and exciting game space.

  • Acted as a liaison between team, client, and young carers.

  • Personally Showcased at the I2I partner meeting held in Dundee.

Synopsis

Home is a light-hearted 3D life simulation that follows the daily responsibilities of Deer, a young career. Help Deer care for their little sibling, Bear, and parent Fallow. Showing both the struggles and positives of being a young carer. 

A short walk though of Home


Development Blog Posts

The Gameplay of Home

Handling serious themes in a fun way

The Level Design of Home

making a level a home

The Documentation of Home

Visual take on documentation

Hack Mech

Level Design Study

  • My Role: Solo developer

  • Genre/ Style: Top-Down Action

  • Engine: Unity

  • Submission date: 11/2019

Responsibilities

  • Research of narrative structures in media and tutorial-level design principles.

  • Design of gameplay mechanics and level layouts.

  • Development of critical Themes across two levels and a final boss fight.

  • Organisation of playtesting and collating feedback.

  • Feedback implementation.

Synopsis

A twin-stick shooter with some light Metroidvania elements. It emulates the opening moments of a complete game and features the ability to move, fight, solve puzzles and take control of your enemies.

Project highlights

A rewarding study into the application of narrative structures in level design pacing and an opportunity to research and apply renowned designer’s methodologies to my work.

Original walkthrough video submission for Abertay.


Development Blog Posts

Hack Mech: Level 1

Level design overview of Level 1

Hack Mech: Level 2 & Boss Fight

Level design overview of Level 2

Hack Mech: Gameplay

Gameplay overview

Responsibilities

  • Solo development of playable experience within Unity.

  • Independent cross-disciplinary research into architecture.

  • Analyze existing architectural works both within and outside of games.

  • Designing and iterating playable game spaces both on paper and in the engine.

  • The collection of findings and used processes into an honours dissertation.

Synopsis

Final undergrad research and development project exploring the use of architectural theory applied to game spaces. Including transitions, counterpoints, sightlines, and signposting.

Project Highlights

Developing skills to create accurate architectural tech drawings carried over to level layouts and maps.

Video walk though submission


Honours Project

Game Architectural Dissertation

  • My Role: Solo developer

  • Genre/ Style: adventure puzzle

  • Engine: Unity

  • Submission date: 4/2022

Padly

Group Project

  • My Role: UI Designer

  • Genre/ Style: Adventure Platformer

  • Engine: Unity

  • Submission date: 12/2018

Responsibilities

  • Design and implementation of UI elements and menus.

  • Directly collaborated with the game artists to design UI elements for the game.

  • Creation of paper prototypes of menus.

  • I worked within a cross-disciplinary team to create an original concept.

  • Facilitating design discussions via the use of mindmaps.

Synopsis

A laid-back 3-D character platform starring Padly the Frog with a focus on exploration and interactions with light-hearted characters.

Project highlights

Padly marked my first opportunity to work in a team of over three people for a prolonged period. While early in my personal development as a designer, the project sparked a love for working alongside a team that I hold to this day.

Demo walkthough