Hello! I'm a game designer with a focus on narrative design comfortable with converting ideas into functional, appropriate design, whether it's a branching questline or an item hinting at a little lore.
This portfolio is currently being built. If you're here this early, I must be very excited to have applied to work with you as a designer! Please note that some links or content may be inaccessible for a few more days.
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An example of a simple quest with multiple conditions and end-states based on player choice, with playable Twine build.
Player agency — Choices matter
Barks • Characters • Dialog • Items • Quest
The Gilded Lie
A short single quest design using the established voice and tone of an existing game, designed for immersion.
Dark — Moody — Somber — Tragic
Barks • Characters • Dialog • Quest
Fishing Up Trouble
A short repeatable/daily quest design using the established voice and tone of an existing game, designed for fun and replayability.
Fun — Quirky — Surprising
Characters • Items • Systems
The Terminator
Full DLC integrating a licensed external IP into an existing game, designing appropriate systems, mechanics, and lore.
Player expression — Power fantasy — Serious
Branching Mission Design
A Kestrel in the Dark is a short mission which tasks the player with infiltrating a corporate space station to find and extract a captured ally. However, said ally is there by choice, letting herself be captured for easier access to secure databanks. Giving the player agency to make different choices directly impacts future content, such as whether certain characters or factions are available to the player later on, leading to mechanical differences and authentic player narrative.
This task required designing conditional branches, simple dialog, and achievement flavor text. You can play a short (~2 minute) Twine build here.
Narrative Design, Single Quest: Elden Ring
The Gilded Lie is a small encounter designed for Elden Ring, a franchise known for environmental storytelling and found narrative, ambiguous and easily missed scenarios, and dark themes of despair and decay. I wrote a quest where an unfamiliar, hastily-dressed NPC beseeches the player to retrieve a relic of theirs which has been allegedly stolen and displayed in a nearby fort.
This task required designing an NPC, items, and a quest. You can read a PDF of the full quest design document here.
NPC: Sereth of the Crimson Flock
Summary: An unusual figure who approaches from within a ruined shack when the player approaches. Sereth is dressed like a noble, though his clothes are dirty and torn. His mannerisms and speech demonstrate a practiced eloquence, though a distraction in his voice betrays something deeper on his mind. Due to limited exposure to the idol he seeks, he is currently still in (almost) complete control of his faculties, though his desire for the idol is unbearable.
Design goal: Sereth teaches that not all of the followers of the Frenzied Flame are ragged, crazed beggars. In keeping with common FromSoftware themes, helping Sereth leads to no direct reward as expected, but instead an optional boss battle which ends in new and interesting loot for the player.
Dialog:
- Upon first approaching Sereth: Approacheth without fear, friend.
- Upon first talking to Sereth: Ah, I knew thou would come.
Tarnished or noble, we are but equal in the eyes of the flame which we are fain to serve.
My... beloved Durant. She hath been stolen from me. And put on display like some... brazen souvenir!
Thou wouldst be honored to bring her back to me, yes? - Upon further conversation (repeats): She lays within the fort to the west. Do hurry... friend.
- Returning later, no idol: Thou doth test my patience... friend. Leave me until thy honorable task is complete.
- Returning later, with idol: Ahaha... yes. My skin is tingling. Give me, hurry!
- Upon handing over idol: ... mm. Yes, thou are indeed a true friend. Oh, this is wonderful.
Ah, but of course, to the matter of payment.
Do return later. I'll have something special prepared for such a kind friend. - Upon further conversation (repeats): (Ignoring the player, talking to the idol)
Yes, beautiful goddess... - Returning later, Sereth transformed: Raaauuuuughhhh! Join... us....
- As transformed Sereth dies: The Flame... never.... fades.....
Item: Durant's Idol of Repose
A surprisingly lightweight idol of gold and ruby, a weeping priestess of the frenzied flame. The statue remains warm to the touch.
Those who owned such an idol were said to have known peace, though none remain to speak of it.
Holding this leads to numb fingers and a benign buzzing in the head.
This is the item Sereth wishes to be retrieved from the fort and returned to him. Equipping this item as a talisman causes a constant slow buildup of madness.
Item: Sereth's Smoldering Eye
An engorged eyeball of Sereth, Duke of the First Flame, found among his perished flesh.
Peering into its pupil bestows a burning confidence.
Uses FP to temporarily greatly increase size and HP, and cause a large buildup of madness.
A reusable item looted from the corpse of Sereth, Duke of the First Flame.
Quest: The Gilded Lie
Summary: The player encounters a fallen lord and penitent, Sereth, who requests their aid in retrieving a relic from his former domain. Investigation reveals that the relic never belonged to Sereth, and is stored safely (at least, historically) within the fort to keep it away from frenzied flame heretics like Sereth, who would come to harm from accessing it.
Depending on player choices, Sereth is either transformed into a corrupted monstrosity, or is found dead later on within the fort after a failed attempt of his own to steal the idol.
Design goals: Emulate Elden Ring's typical quest structure: non-linear and missable, with narrative delivered through environmental storytelling and item descriptions rather than conveying explicitly. FromSoftware's common theme of tragic inevitability comes into play, with the NPC either transforming into a foul and corrupted creature upon receiving the idol, or being killed during his own attempt to retrieve said idol. No "obvious/good" ending.
Quest flow:
Sereth's quest ends here.
Approaching the shack will trigger the appearance of the quest giver, who has been mutated and corrupted by the power contained within the idol. Sereth, Duke of the First Flame becomes an optional boss battle, assailing the player with fire and madness.
Successfully killing Sereth will give the player the lootable item Sereth's Smoldering Eye, as well as giving them back the Durant's Idol of Repose.
Narrative Design, Repeatable Quest: World of Warcraft
Fishing for Trouble is a short, easily repeatable quest designed to be part of a rotation of "dailies" often found in live service games and MMORPGs. In this instance, I went with World of Warcraft for its playful style. This task required designing a quest that has various parts (relaxing, rushing), has a degree of randomness for interesting unpredictability, and a dash of humor, to make sure the player enjoys returning to this quest multiple times.
Repeatable Quest:Fishing for Trouble
Summary: The player is tasked with catching and arresting a trickster goblin who is currently hiding within a nearby pool, disguised as a fish. The player needs to fish until they find the trickster, who then transforms back into a goblin and attempts to run away at high speed, leading to a chase for the player until they catch her.
Design goal: To make a fun, easily replayable quest which has a small degree of randomness and a variety of pacing. The quest should take about 5 minutes to complete.
Quest flow:
- Quest giver hands out quest
- Player starts to fish in the nearby pool
- 1-3 times randomly, the trickster will send a weak mob to attack the player as they fish (Keeps the fishing sequence interesting and unpredictable)
- "Trickster fish" is finally fished up; she transforms with a poof into a goblin, taunts the player, and starts sprinting away (Change of pace from relaxed fishing to fast-paced chase sequence)
- Player hurries to chase down the trickster until finally catching up and detaining the goblin with a magic item
- Player returns to quest giver to complete the quest and receive their reward
Dialog:
- Quest giver, offering quest: That pesky goblin is back again. She won't take no for an answer whenever she haggles at the market, and our poor vendors are sick
of being turned into sheep simply because they were unwilling to practically give away their goods.
She's up to her old tricks of hiding in Everbloom Pond, pretending to be one of the suntrout there.
Take these arcane handcuffs and put them on the girl, would you? I can't quite catch her myself with these old bones of mine. - Quest giver, after acceptance: Thanks ‹‹PlayerName›› — you're a lifesaver.
- Trickster, sending out an enemy: Git 'em boy!
- Trickster, fished up by player: The heck!
- Trickster, caught by player: Wait wait, waddaya doin' boss? I was only havin' a little fun...
Barks during chase:
- You'll never catch me, pal!
- That chump deserved that polymorph!
- Time is money, and you're wastin' both!
- Give it a rest already!
- Let's uh, talk 'bout this yeah?
Character & Systems Design: Dead By Daylight
I designed a full chapter release for asymmetric multiplayer horror title, Dead By Daylight. I took the premise that beloved license The Terminator was being introduced to the game,
and my goal was to design both a new survivor and killer, making them feel authentic to their IP while also fitting in to the game.
This task combined content, narrative, and systems design. You can read a PDF of the full design document here.
Survivor Design: Sarah Connor
Sarah Connor in-game bio:
Wounded and desperate, Sarah trailed slightly behind her son and the terminator robot accompanying them through the steel mill. The T-1000 remained nearby, and Sarah knew John would never be safe until it was finally destroyed.
The group separated as the T-1000 approached, which soon overpowered the sluggish older model of its enemy, pinning the terminator's arm in a cogwheel mechanism to trap it before continuing to hunt John.
Sarah felt anger and dread as the T-1000 approached her and John on a walkway, but the steel mill seemed to have different ideas. Dark smoke poured from the rafters, obscuring her sight. She reached out to take John's hand and lead him backwards as the fog surrounded them, but his hand soon slipped away.
She turned, calling out to her son, to no avail.
Eventually, the fog subsided, and Sarah found herself in a forest clearing beside a campfire. Confused and angry about being separated from John, she paced as she continued to call his name.
Killer Design: The T-1000
T-1000 in-game bio:
The rogue terminator attempted to block the T-1000 from advancing, but it had no chance against the latter's agility. The T-1000 overpowered its rival, locking its arm in a nearby cogwheel before turning to scan its environment once more.
The target had been successfully reacquired, accompanied by its wounded and exhausted mother. Neither posed a threat; mission success was imminent.
Black smog began to fill the chamber. Lacking the advanced thermal optics of earlier models, the T-1000 lost sight of the target. It walked forward along the walkway to their last known location, but there was no sign of them.
As it continued to move forward, the metallic clank of the steel walkway gave way to crumpled dirt and dead leaves. As the fog finally cleared, the T-1000 found itself alone within a dark wood. It had no data detailing this location, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was the termination of John Connor.
The T-1000 began to walk once more, relentless in its pursuit.
Chapter Design: Terminator 2
Summary: Taking the Terminator franchise to bring two key characters — badass female lead and protective mother Sarah Connor, and the intimidating and cunning shapeshifter, the T-1000. This content designs how these beloved characters could fit within the established mechanics and lore of Dead By Daylight.
Design goals: Create a fun, exciting content which accurately represents these characters both tonally and mechanically, with suitable powers and perks demonstrating the strength and indomitability of both.
The killer role needs to fulfill a power fantasy — the player should feel strong, threatening, and dangerous. I designed three core abilities for the T-1000 to help with this.
First, he is able to mimic the survivors, leading to confusion and paranoia among the survivor team when an injured teammate approaches them for aid. Secondly, he can use his shapeshifting to stab forward over common safe obstacles such as dropped pallets or windows. Finally, the iconic sprinting of the T-1000 from the movie is encapsulated with his passive ability of progressively accelerating until he is moving at terrifying speed.
Power/ability design:
For a short time after injuring a survivor, The Terminator may transform its body, mimicking the appearance of the last survivor injured for a brief duration.
Special Shape: Survivor MimicryThis form provides The Terminator with access to several abilities that allow for greater stealth:
- Removes the ability to attack or interact with Survivors. The Terminator cannot vault, kick generators, or break destructible objects in this form.
- Grants the Undetectable Status Effect.
- Survivors can interact with The Terminator, in order to "heal" their teammate.
- If "healed" more than 25% health, The Terminator can Special Attack all survivors currently interacting with it, before slowly reverting to its regular form.
Press and hold the Power button to charge a Lancet Strike, then press the Attack button to unleash it.
Lancet Strike has extended range, and has a cool-down time of 8 seconds.
Passive Ability: Relentless PursuitThe Terminator is unrelenting in its mission to chase and eliminate targets.
For every second while in chase, The Terminator gains 1% Haste, up to a maximum of 30%. This resets once the chase ends, and goes on cool-down for 40 seconds.
The Terminator does not gain the Bloodlust Status Effect.
Perk design, survivor:
Blood and Sweat
You're willing to push past any limit to save your friends. Once per trial, press the Active Ability Button while Repairing to instantly add 10% Repair progress to the Generator.
Activating Blood and Sweat will make you Scream, put you into the Injured state, and inflict Broken for 150/130/110 seconds.
You can only activate Blood and Sweat while Healthy.
"No! We're going all the way!" — Sarah Connor
Heads Up
While carrying an item, press the Active Ability button to throw the item 20 meters.
If the item has charges, it loses 20/10/0% of its charges after being thrown.
Single use items (Firecracker, Flashbang) will immediately trigger upon landing.
"Come with me if you want to live."
Misdirection
After safely unhooking a survivor, gain a Token.
While sprinting, press the Active Ability Button to consume a Token.
You immediately create a trail of fake scratchmarks up to 20m ahead of you. Your scratchmarks are hidden for
5/6/7 seconds.
"Come on, Mom, you can do it! Come on!" — John Connor
Perk design, killer:
Aberration
Gain a Token for each dull totem destroyed. Gain 0/1/2 Tokens for each hex totem destroyed.
For each Token, gain 1% Haste, up to a maximum of 10%.
"Faster! He's right on us!" — John Connor
Designated Target
When chasing the Obsession, you gain stacks of Bloodlust 3/4/5 seconds faster.
Hooking the Obsession will cause another random survivor to become the Obsession.
"Jesus... you were gonna kill that guy!" — John Connor
Overclock
After kicking a generator, it becomes overclocked. Survivors can visually identify an overclocked generator.
Overclocked generators are repaired 9/7/5% faster.
When an overclocked generator is completed, shrapnel erupts from it,
injuring survivors within a 5m radius and permanently deactivating Overclock.
Healthy survivors are put into the injured state, while injured survivors are
put into the deep wound state.
Only one generator can be overclocked at any time.
"You look like handmade shit." — Sarah Connor