Project Description:

Videtwolle was designed to be an "in-character" game of chance for use within the MMORPG EVE Online. My goal with it was to create a poker-style game that kept the money moving and was easy to pick up yet contained the types of nuances that can be found in traditional poker. Because I wanted it to feel like a game that was created and played by the characters of the fictional world of EVE, a regular deck of cards would not do. This led me to create a custom deck from scratch that would serve not only the primary game idea but would be versatile enough to be used in a large number of variant games just as a standard deck of cards is. Multiple physical prototype decks have been created for play-testing and for fun. A web-based version of the game was created and is playable both within the EVE Online game itself and on the regular web. In this version both EVE Online players and regular web players are able to play in games together.

Play the web version of Videtwolle at www.videtwolle.com

The suits of the Videtwolle Deck.

The numbering system for the Videtwolle Deck.

The symbols for the wild cards of the Videtwolle Deck.

A few of the cards from the Videtwolle Deck.

An early alpha shot of the Videtwolle Experience as it would appear in EVE Online via the in-game browser. This shot depicts how players might find a "table" to be part of.

Another alpha in-game shot. This one depicting what the play experience is like for someone participating in a game.

Project Description:

Savvy Pirate is a pitch/design doc written as a quick-writing demonstration for a serious games company. The criteria were simple, design a game idea that would help encourage young people to save money. My goal with the project was to come up with a game that would help encourage the behavior and understanding of saving money while at the same time being interesting enough as a game to compete with other forms of pure entertainment.

You can download the full document HERE and read an excerpt of it below:

"It’s the dawn of a new era, the 17th century. The civilized nations of Europe are taking part in the greatest land rush the world will ever see, doing everything they can to claim, colonize, and develop any corner of the world they can find, in their name. Ships are being built as fast as possible, sea-bound trades routes are everywhere, and the wealth of the world is flowing with the currents of the sea. It is a fantastic time to be a pirate.

Unlike anywhere else on earth, the Caribbean has become a major hub of activity in this new age. Endless island chains, calm seas, and a close proximity to the newly-discovered Americas have made it a gateway through which riches and resources travel between the nations of Europe and the fresh additions to their empires. It is here that the adventure takes place.

In this tale the player must assume the role of a young person ready to set out on their own adventure and make their own rules, to take the helm of their destiny and become a pirate captain. Only as a pirate captain can they hope to sail the seas the way they see fit, to have the freedom to choose where to go and when. They are free to choose who to attack, what to pillage, and how to spend their loot. They are the master of their world. Aye, but there’s a catch."

Project Description:

Fairwheat is a Neverwinter Nights module that follows the story of the village of Fairwheat and their struggle to enlist a hero to help them deal with a band of local bandits who have been plaguing their village. Designed primarily as a writing demonstration, this module contains a branching narrative with 6 different outcomes and subsequent rewards depending on how the player might choose to handle the situation. The story unfolds over 4 distinct areas. Screenshots from the module can be found below, click on any of them to get a larger version.

You can download the module HERE. Because it was created primarily as as writing demonstration, certain triggers have been omitted in order to allow you to try the dialogues multiple ways.

This is a shot of the Market area which kicks off the story when you are approached by a small boy and his brother who ask for you help in saving their village from bandits.

This is a shot from inside the village of Fairwheat where you meet several different characters, each with their unique point of view about how the situation should be handled.

Again in Fairwheat, some of the villagers have clashing opinions on what should be done about the bandits or whether they are really bandits at all.

Out on the open road, finding the bandit lair.

Being confronted by the bandit leader as you enter the lair.

Another shot of the bandit lair, it becomes more clear that several people live an approximation of a life here.

Confronting the lord of the land in his manor.

The lord enjoys the comfort of his large receiving hall.

This is a basic event flow for the Fairwheat module. The dashed boxes indicate a transition between areas whereas the colored lines trace specific arcs of the story.

This is an example of one of the character flows. The bold text represents what the character says and the regular text separated by dashed lines represent player dialogue choices. In this case this is the dialogue flow for the first time you meet the village leader.

Another sample dialogue flow, this time what the flow is like after the leader has given you the quest. The colored flows represent how the conversation would go if the player has resolved the situation in one of the 6 possible ways.

Another character flow, this one of the old war hero in the village the first time you talk him.

The introductory dialogue flow produced by the "gateway" characters in the marketplace. In this flow more than one character is speaking with the player, although the young one is mostly ignored for being annoying.

Project Description:

Age of Insects: Turf War was a concept for what I call a virally-spread, web-based Massively Multiplayer Online Game. The task was to create a "freebie" game to generate interest in the upcoming graphic novel series The Age of Insects. My idea was to create a game where the strength of a player in the game was derived from how many other people they signed up to the game, in a way similar to network marketing. Because the graphic novel series revolves around a silent war between human federal agents and insect-human hybrids, the game world was a representation of the real world with players fighting an "unseen" war for their local area. A web-interface served as the primary method of observing game state and action interface while email served as the way the players were updated about events regarding them when they were not playing.

While this project was not given the green-light due to the client wanting to go in a different direction, much pre-production and design balancing was done and could even be fitted to another IP with minor modifications.

An example of viewing the state of the war at the country level. Despite the appearance, the game had no basis in politics.

An example of the flexible action system that would allow for many different play choices by the players. the plan for this system was to eventually replace the words with cells drawn by the graphic novel's artist that represented the actions, items, or characters. Essentially allowing the player to paste together their own comic action sequence.

An example of the type of interface players would use to make use of the players they had signed up underneath them.

An example of the simple interface a player might use to communicate with the players underneath them.

An example of the news system that would allow players to see what action had taken place with or without their involvement.

Project Description:

Glory by a Mile was futuristic racing game concept that was pitched to a panel of industry professionals, primarily from Electronic Arts. The primary design concept was built around accessibility. Many racing games fall into a trap where competition comes down to one or 2 "best" vehicles. My solution to that was to instead create a series of constant factors such as air resistance, mass, and power and let the player build the vehicle that suited their skills and personal style. Another part of the accessibility design was to include a "cyclical" online competition system that reset player progress on a regular basis and limited the amount of races that could count towards it in a given amount of time in order to make it more inviting for anyone to try to compete during one of the cycles.

An example of how building a vehicle from scratch might begin, by allowing players to choose a base shape and modifying it.

The next step, allowing the player to choose the type of thruster(s) they might want for the vehicle and placement. Do they want to go with fewer, larger thrusters for raw speed potential or smaller, distributed thrusters for steering potential.

The next step, choosing steering methods and placement. Here players can decide if they want to go with all air-based steering, good for tracks with mostly atmosphere, or thrust based steering which is good for tracks without a lot of atmosphere.

The next step, choosing power system and distribution of that power. Here players can make a choice as to whether they want to work with more available top speed or burst speed ability and trick modules.

The final step, allowing the player to choose exactly how they would want the vehicle controls to function.

A mockup of what the creation interface might resemble in the final product.

Project Description:

Faerie Genocide was a concept for an MMOFPS involving the artwork of Brian Froud's Faeries and the struggle between good and bad. The idea was to merge the immediate and immersive fun of an FPS with the persistence of world and character that comes with an MMORPG. The world of Brian Froud's Faeries was divided up into the "good" and "bad" faerie classes with players given the choice to pick a side and then freely play different classes on that side as they fought to control the different regions of Faerieland and the bonuses they provided. A playable board game prototype version incorporating the design balance elements was created and play-tested.

An example of the "generic" glass of Faerie that could be found on either side. This type was good for new players as it possessed no great weaknesses or strengths.

One of the good faerie classes, the Water Faeries excelled in areas where water was involved.

Another good faerie, the Woodland Faeries were the strongest single class for combat.

The last of the good faeries, the power of the Soulfuls came from indirect manipulation of battlefield situations.

A popular bad faerie, the Fire Faeries were strong and versatile offensive units.

A more advanced bad faerie, Pixies were weak on their own but their strength multiplied as they traveled and fought together with others of their kind.

The last of the bad faeries, the Blurkers could nullify the powers of the opponents.

A mockup of the player interface, the concept was for it to be simple and organic. Here you can see an example of the buddy list which was represented by colored drops of water which grew as added people.

Another mockup of the interface, mostly helping to identify how the health orb in the upper left might change based on the health of the character.

Project Description:

The Magellan Project was a game concept that revolved around a group of 4 construction robots belonging to the Magellan Interplanetary Construction Corps. who were mistakenly deployed to a deserted planet. 1-4 players needed to use the different robots together cooperatively to solve puzzles in order to be rescued. My task here was to create a few art assets with the direction that they were to be kept very "simple" to fit the more casual nature of the game. All 3D work done with 3D Studio Max.

A shot of the Lifter-class robot. He was to be the part of the team that moved all the objects around.

A shot of Lifter-class from behind.

A shot of the Bonder-class robot from the front. His role was to be the one who to "bond" any 2 prefab pieces together.

A shot of Bonder-class from behind.

A shot of the Fabricator-class robot from the front. The fabricator's role was to create prefab pieces from raw materials found on the planet.

A shot of Fabricator-class from behind.

A shot of the Surveyor-class robot from the front. The surveyor had the responsibility of providing information to the group including where to find raw materials and what dangers or obstacles lay in their paths.

A shot of Sureveyor-class from behind.

A shot of the MICC Dropship in protected mode. The design for the dropship revolved around the idea that it would endure the rigors of atmospheric reentry in a "protected" state and then "unfold" after the worst of reentry was over to reveal control surfaces and thrusters to achieve a controlled landing with its robotic cargo.

A shot of the MICC dropship in open mode.

The following are a series of frames from the dropship reentry sequence that would play near the beginning of the game. You can download the reentry sequence movie HERE.

The dropship burning through the atmosphere.

The dropship adjusting rate of descent after unfolding.

Dropship gaining atmospheric flight control.

Dropship changing course for landing site.

Dropship on final approach to selected landing site.

Project Description:

This was a website I created for the Big Day Your Way Event Coordination company. It is created entirely from dynamic PHP pages using master CSS files to easily control style. The site includes a fully mySQL database-driven image gallery and review system that are easily manipulated by the client themselves on admin pages without any further interaction needed from the web developer. All code work done by hand using Text Wrangler. You can view the site live at www.bigdayyourway.com

The main page for the site.

A shot of the gallery page which included dynamically-created javascript rollover browsing of the images.

A shot of the primary services page.

A shot of the gallery admin page used by the owner of the company.

Project Description:

This is a website I created for the EVE-Online player-corp I was leading. It was comprised entirely of dynamic PHP-based pages. It contained several mySQL database-driven features such as a member system including rank management, an individual/corp goal system, and a password protection system. The site fully integrated with the EVE Online in-game browser system and took advantage of functions like player affiliation, player location, and player permissions within the game. The site can be accessed in or out of EVE Online at www.eve-synar.com.

A shot of the main page. The experience of the site is faithfully duplicated both in the game and out so that users of the site, whether part of the corp or not, get a consistent feel.

A shot of the Goals system, a system that was used to fairly distribute the shared wealth of the corp by allowing the members to establish wish-lists of things they wanted and the offers to accurately record what had been purchased for who and easily calculate who was next in line.

A shot of the web experience as it was from within EVE Online. This page shows the "My Info" page that was used by members to set info about themselves, mostly for communication purposes with the corp.

Project Description:

The story of one man finding hard to identify with his sexual orientation in a magical sushi restaurant.

Project Description:

A simple film that asks a simple question, "What if?". Video file coming soon.

Project Description:

The Council for Stellar Management was a group of players set up by the EVE Online Community Manager to speak to the devs on behalf of the greater EVE Online population. I was part of one of the groups, selected for my high community forum visibility and level-headed communication skills. I attended several meetings with the devs and the other members and communicated several issues to the devs on behalf of the players during my term of a few months.

Project Description:

Synergistic Arbitrage was an EVE-Online-based player corporation (clan/guild) that I created initially as a grouping of people I knew personally who played the game. I established a rule structure, officer system, held regular officer meetings and corp events, and made regular State of the Corp addresses to the members. The membership peak was at 10 members, the smallest I have worked with but was a different situation than I am used to because it was all people I knew. Website can be viewed at www.eve-synar.com.

A shot of the web site displaying the goal list which was an impartial list of corp wealth that had been distributed to the members.

Another website shot displaying the goal list for the entire corp that was used to help give our corp direction.

A shot of our fleet leaving a station before a group mission.

A shot of the corp engaged in a PVE mission together.

Project Description:

Frog Morton Industries was an EVE-Online-based player corporation (clan/guild) that I joined shortly after starting to play EVE-Online. I initially joined as a member but made regular contributions to the corp both physical and idea-wise. I was put in charge of the group (about 100 members) when the previous leader and founder had to take a break from the game. I led for the better part of a year holding regular events for the members, officer's meetings, and managing membership.

A shot of the corp website, designed to work and have a consistent feel in and out of EVE Online.

Another shot of the corp website member area, this area showing a quick update communication system for the members.

A promotional image used in corp recruiting.

A screenshot of our corp during a ceremonial display of fleet supremacy.

Project Description:

ATF was a large (around 400 person) gaming clan that spanned over 20 different online PC games. I joined initially as a member but quickly rose to a position of leadership after demonstrating good ideas, level-thinking, and dedication. I helped co-lead the clan for over 3 years. The clan was structured like the US military with different "divisions" for different games. The member demographics included virtually all ages, both sexes, and all walks of life. The clan slogan was "The Best Damn Family on the Net" and I was responsible for having professional T-shirts made for the clan. I also organized over 10 outings and LAN parties that included members from all over the world. More information on ATF can currently be found on their website at www.atfclan.com.

A collage of different facets of ATF that I planned or was involved in.

Project Description:

This was just a simple writing sample I wrote as a bit of fan fiction that takes place in EVE Online universe. The idea for this was that it could be used as the backstory for a player-driven mission.

You can download the full document HERE and read an excerpt of it below:

Project Description:

This project was an idea that I had a long time ago to integrate a computer into an entertainment center. This was done long before the prebuilt-cases, media-center functionality, and motherboard features existed that make this sort of thing a breeze today.

Over the years I have dedicated myself not only to playing games for my personal enjoyment but to broaden my experience as a designer/developer.It might very well be impossible to list all the different games that I have played. Instead, I offer below a list of those that I have a SIGNIFICANT amount of experience or playtime with in no particular order. Platform noted when relevant. List updated as I play more.

First-Person Shooters

• Starsiege Tribes
• Starsiege Tribes 2
• Tribes: Vengeance
• Unreal (including Na Pali expansion)
• Unreal 2
• Unreal Tournament
• Unreal Tournament 2003
• Unreal Tournament 2004
• Unreal Tournament 3 - XBOX 360
• Aliens vs. Predator - PC
• Aliens vs. Predator 2 - PC
• Quake 2
• Quake 3 Arena
• Quake 4 - XBOX 360
• Shadowrun - XBOX 360 & PC
• Deus Ex
• Deus Ex 2 - XBOX 360
• Half-Life - PC
• Half-Life 2 - PC
• Counter Strike - PC
• Portal - XBOX 360
• Halo - XBOX & PC
• Halo 2 - XBOX & XBOX 360
• Halo 3
• Shadowrun - XBOX 360 & PC
• Bioshock - XBOX 360
• Call of Duty - PC (including allied expansion)
• Call of Duty 2 - XBOX 360
• Ghost Recon - PC & XBOX (including Island Thunder expansion)
• Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - XBOX 360
• Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 - XBOX 360
• Rainbow 6 - All versions available for the XBOX
• Gears of War - XBOX 360
• Gears of War 2 - XBOX 360
• Savage
• Thief
• Thief 2
• Duke Nukem 3D
• Star Wars: Dark Forces
• Star Wars: Dark Forces 2
• Dead Space: Extraction

Massively Multiplayer Online Games

• EVE Online
• World of Warcraft
• Everquest
• City of Villains
• Ragnarok Online
• Planetside
• The Sims Online
• Earth and Beyond
• Guild Wars

Role-playing

• Final Fantasy - NES
• Final Fantasy 3 - DS
• Final Fantasy 4 - SNES
• Final Fantasy 7 - PC
• Shadowrun - SNES
• Enchanted Arms - XBOX 360
• Neverwinter Nights - PC
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - XBOX
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 - XBOX
• The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
• The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion
• Fallout
• Fallout 2
• Fallout 3 - XBOX 360

Real-Time Strategy

• Starcraft (including Brood War Expansion - PC
• Warcraft 3 (including Frozen Throne Expansion)
• Age of Empires 2 - PC
• Age of Mythology

Adventure/Platformer

• Original Mario Bros.
• Super Mario Bros.
• Super Mario Bros. 2
• Super Mario Bros. 3
• Super Mario World - SNES
• Super Mario 64 - N64
• The New Super Mario Bros. - DS
• The New Super Mario Bros. Wii
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Super Metroid
• The Legend of Zelda
• The Prince of Persia - PC
• The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - XBOX
• The Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within - XBOX
• God of War
• God of War 2

Casual/Puzzle

• Gin - yahoo games
• Tetris - numerous platforms
• Dr. Mario - NES
• Hexic - XBOX 360
• Geometry Wars - XBOX 360
• UNO - card & XBOX 360
• Videtwolle - card (see my game project section)
• Animal Crossing - DS
• Viva Pinata - XBOX 360
• Farmville - web/facebook
• Restaurant City - web/facebook
• Castle Age - web/facebook

Simulation/Vehicular

• Sim City - PC & SNES
• Sim City 2000 - PC
• Sim City 3000 - PC
• Crimson Skies - PC
• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
• The Sims
• USAF
• Need for Speed: High Stakes
• Black and White 2
• Trauma Center - DS
• X-Wing (including B-Wing expansion) - PC
• X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter - PC
• Freespace 2
• Mechwarrior - SNES
• Mechwarrior 2
• Mechwarrior 4
• Spore
• Mechassault
• MechAssault 2

Rhythm-based

• Dance Dance Revolution - multiple arcade versions
• Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 1 - XBOX
• Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 4 - XBOX
• Dance Dance Revolution Univerise 2 - XBOX 360
• Rock Band - XBOX 360
• Rock Band 2 - XBOX 360
• Lips