About Me     |   Resume     |     Design Portfolio     |     Game Music Portfolio      |     LinkedIn

Client Project with The Linden Foundation, Quakertown, PA

Spring 2012

Project Web Site

Design Document [PDF]

Design Document [Google Doc]

kindworks is an expandable digital community, inspired by the pay-it-forward concept, that provides a place online for people to celebrate good deeds and to encourage others to be more generous. This was a client-based project prototyped by a small team at CMU's Entertainment Technology Center.

The prototype for this project demonstrates a solution to the design challenge of using games to encourage altruism. While games often revolve around rewards, the very concept of generosity is defined by a lack of such feedback - an act is considered generous because the person performing it receives nothing in return. Thus, this project aims to reconcile the contradiction between these terms.

By creating an online network that visualizes the connections made between members, the impact of positive actions is presented in an accessible way. Being able to see the effect of one's good deeds provides an inherently rewarding experience that encourages repetition of such actions.

Student-pitched Project

Fall 2011

Project Web Site

seAker is a physics-based exploration game for the iPad, originally a student-pitched project at CMU's Entertainment Technology Center with the goal of devising a compelling and original game mechanic for a touch-screen device and developing it in a full game. It is currently the independent project of a small team of CMU alumni.

Originally an attempt to translate a different game to a touch-platform, this project evolved into an endeavor to simply find fun, addictive gameplay specifically borne out of the medium's touch capabilities. Rapid iteration and testing were key to developing this gameplay, and the mission is to expand on that base in different types of environments featuring varied physical rules.

Client Project with Bodymedia, Inc, Pittsburgh, PA

Spring 2011

Design_Document

Aero's Quest is a side-scrolling adventure game concept for the Android phone, prototyped by Team Energym at CMU's Entertainment Technology Center. The client for this project was Bodymedia, Inc. The goal for this game was to incorporate the client's product, which provided personal fitness data, in a way that could be utilized by a game and meta-game structure to motivate players to lead an active lifestyle.

Crucial to this effort was the design of a rewards framework involving both the player's real-world fitness metrics and in-game resources. The client's product can be synched to the game to transfer recorded data, which provides the player with additional in-game resources based on the level of activity attained, as measured by the product.

The core mechanic of the game consists of launching projectiles to clear paths on the level, but certain paths are blocked by obstacles that can only be destroyed by superior projectiles. These superior projectiles can only be obtained through the rewards system meta-game. In this way, the level design and meta-game structure are coordinated in such a way as to encourage greater physical activity on the part of the player.