Digital Games
Itch.io Page
Click the image above to visit my itch.io page. Itch.io is a wonderful platform to peruse and download indie games. The titles of mine that can be found there are: "Bound," "On My Terms," and "FOLLOWDIRECTIONSPIEL."
Spell Strike
What is it?
Spell Strike is a mobile, arcade game designed around the mechanic of timed tapping. I developed this game during my time at MassDiGI's Summer Innovation Program. I served as Spell Strike's Design and QA leads as well as one of its programmers.
What tools were used?
Game Engine: Unity 2018
Version Control: PlasticSCM
Where can I play it?
Spell Strike is available for download on the Android Play Store and Apple App Store!
Mixed-Media Projects
Athena At Night
What is it?
“Athena At Night” is a steampunk, popup puzzle, visual book about a girl who defies fate through hard work and intellect. “Athena At Night” is targeted towards children from five to nine years of age. On this project, I served as lead artist and lead writer.
Athena is a princess who has been cursed by the stars themselves to sleep while others in her castle are awake and be awake while others are asleep. Her parents have kept her confined to a specific wing of the castle, fearing that something terrible may happen to her without their supervision. Longing for an escape from both her loneliness and her physical constraints, Athena begins to build a flying machine. When the machine is eventually complete, she pilots it into the night sky breaking the curse.
What tools were used?
Adobe Photoshop
Containment Breach: Escape Room
Welcome to the Federal Anomalous Entities Research Team. You have been chosen for this position because you are the best of the best. For your first day, you’ll be interacting with Entity #2006. We can’t give you much more information over a channel as insecure as the internet, but I’m sure you’ll be fine. Succeed, and you’ll be an official part of one of the most elite government agencies in the US. Fail, and this conversation never happened.
What is it?
The Containment Breach: Escape Room was an escape room built in six weeks and run by thirty graduate students on WPI's campus. For this project, I was on the writing team and responsible for generating any text needed for puzzles needed within the room. I also scripted, filmed, and edited a video to loop in the lobby, designed the lobby layout, and helped build the physical set.
Escape Room WebsiteTable-top Games
Perspective Shift
What is it?
“Perspective Shift” is a social board game which combines and facilitates physical construction and conversation to enable open communication between its players. Platforms which encourage this nature of communication are increasingly necessary in the United States considering the nation’s current socio-political climate. The design of “Perspective Shift” is informed by practices used in play therapy to help participants feel more comfortable being vulnerable. Perspective Shift is subversive in its treatment of traditional goals and fail states. The context in which various game pieces are used is negotiated by the players themselves.
“Perspective Shift’s” gameplay is segmented into four phases; negotiation, construction, drawing, and preservation. Each phase establishes conditions for the next phase and adds an additional, necessary layer of meaning to the whole experience. The first phase acts as a form of consent about what topic and feelings players are willing to openly discuss. The second nurtures a structured conversation that makes space for every person to contribute. The third phase acts as an exercise in literal perspective-taking and subsequently the formulation of other perspectives into language. The last phase, after players have engaged in meaningful conversation and thought about everyone else’s point of view, asks players to reach a consensus.
Where has this game been?
WPI Showfest 2017
Different Games 2018
Gotta Go
All of the characters have have just landed at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport and are excited about attending the Raleigh Innovations Technology Conference at the other end of the city. Unfortunately, they have taken advantage of the free refreshments during their respective flights and really “gotta go.” The characters must make their way through the streets of Raleigh trying to find a comfortable restroom to empty their bladder before reaching the convention.
What is it?
Gotta Go is a progression based board game with resource management elements that tackles the issue of anti-transgender bathroom legislation in the United States. It features a cast of colorful characters with unique gender identities that are severely underrepresented in popular culture. Players navigate through the city of Raleigh, North Carolina collecting bladder tokens and trying to find restrooms that their character feels comfortable using. The event card system juxtaposes humorous events with realistic and sombre negative events that are drawn when a character is forced to use a restroom that does not align with their identity.
Where has this game been?
Games For Change 2017
MassDiGI's Mega Games Meetup 2017
WPI's Showfest 2017
RPI's GameFest 2017
Queerness in Games Conference 2018
Different Games 2018
Available Materials
Printable Game ManualPublic Speaking
Bound
This video captures three Boston Independent Developers (Ichiro Lambe from Dejobaan Games, Graham Pentheny from Spry Fox, and Joe Mirabello from Terrible Posture Games) interviewing me about my experiences developing "Bound."
Activism Through Game Design
This presentation is part of a Student TED Talk series organized by the WPI Arts & Sciences Department. In this talk I unpack the importance of transgender representation and how video games can be used for advocacy work.
Gender Is Like A Sweater
This presentation explores gender identity and diversity in the context of modern media. It will cover topics such as the complexity of "passing," what it means to medically transition, and problematic representation. This talk will give insight into how to respectfully portray trans characters in games and discuss trans issues in everyday life.
Trans YouTubers mentioned in the talk
Ash HardellChase Ross
Stef Sanjati