AUTEUR GAME DEVELOPMENT
AUTEUR GAME DEVELOPMENT
Video Game Art Installations & Pop-ups
About:
In addition to studio work and more commercial efforts, I also make personal games as an indie developer.
A series of video games and narrative VR projects designed to both pay homage to classic first-person shooter games and subvert the genre's expectations to discuss social issues.
In order of gifs:
Here Comes The Neighborhood
A satirical game exploring the economic and cultural impacts of gentrification. Players switch back and forth between 2D and 3D layouts/maps to navigate small neighborhoods in search of where they "fit in." Along the way, obstacles arise, requiring players to fire wads of dollars, populating the area with big brand parodies, changing the landscape completely and impacting your journey to "home" and those who were already home… before you showed up.
Because I F*ckn ❤️ U
A game about both surviving a food desert and overcoming the self-harm of binge eating as a coping mechanism for depression. The messaging is conveyed through a battle arena where players must blast through hordes of demonic-mutant fast food from my fictional mega-chain “GG’s BORGER.”
Rory & Maddie VR
A VR experience/short interactive narrative about realizing you're not in love, you just do psychedelics together—more so, it's about projection and the characters we create for people before getting to know them fully and complexly. The importance of seeing people as they are, whether with the help of funky fungi or just good ol' mindfulness.
‘Because I F*ckn ❤️ U’ and ‘Rory & Maddie VR’ were made in collaboration with Edgar Castro of Fabraz Company (studio behind ‘Slime-San,’ ‘Demon Turf’ on Nintendo Switch).
The job:
Complete ideation, prototypes, and testing.
Conceive and write the game’s stories, characters & events.
Developing core mechanics, and level design.
Coding in C#, Unity Game Engine.
Create in-game assets/game art.
All animation.
Project management.
Running an exhibition/live maintenance/troubleshooting.
My games were exhibited at:
Babycastles Expo/Popup
One of my favorite installations, Babycastles ‘Game Environments’: we set up a limited edition Arcade Cabinet for ‘Because I F*ckn ❤️ U,’ customized by Babycastles’ artists.
We hooked the cabinet up to my beat-up Asus, and I loved every moment of sweatily troubleshooting and bug-fixing on the fly. People had a blast with the game, discussing the themes or just reveling in the DOOM/Adult Swim nostalgia.
Babycastles is a piece of NYC-game-punk-gallery history.
Microsoft NYC Games Expo
Showcased games to Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto), Avalanche Studios (Just Cause) and received 1:1 feedback.
Playtech Games & VR Exhibition
2nd video is of ‘Project: Endall’ — see more below!
Watch: Rory & Maddie VR Narrative
Watch some gameplay moments of the VR experience (what people were interacting with in the video to your left), exhibited at Playtech & Microsoft Technology Center.
Irrelevant
About:
Irrelevant is a branching narrative “influencer culture” satire (prototype) for Android/Google Play.
Demon Lord Meglocks offers your squad fame and fortune if you provide him with souls and a hefty % of that sweet, sweet brand-deal cash.
Your influencer crew is faced with choices that will either boost their clout or see them fall into “irrelevance.” Should you have a boxing match with a rival influencer? Maybe drop a merch line? Rap battle a mainstream celeb? Flex your pet T-Rex?
Each member of your team has stats that give them an edge in certain scenarios; it’s up to you to manage their personalities and maximize followers.
In collaboration with Jose Deschamps (Niantic’s ‘Pokémon GO’).
The job:
Ideation of core mechanics.
Conceive and write the game’s stories, characters & events.
Plotting/mapping and maintaining a branching narrative.
Player choices change the story path.
Writing flavor text & game dialogue.
Art direction.
Illustrate all of the game’s art.
‘Irrelevant’ was the project that first attracted the attention of Simple Machine, the studio where I’d land a position as Narrative Designer in 2019-2020. My work on this branching narrative game prepared me to take on development of ‘Infinite Jonathans.’
Hellirrelevant
Various Game Art Assets
Characters, enemies, items, and environment.
The art style is eclectic but highly specific. I want the game art to feel like a curated gallery — think a walk through Chelsea Galleries or Brooklyn Museum meets an imploding NFT “conference.”
2D traditional illustrations, 3D lowpoly PlayStation 1 models, surrealist painting, mixed-media collage — each unique in their formal elements but cohesively ‘HELLIRRELEVANT’ and pointed towards art<>hypebeast crit.
About:
Irrelevant was reworked in late 2020 and is currently in development as ‘HELLIRRELEVANT’ under Thribing Games.
The story now follows four creatives within the intersection of art and streetwear going through the grueling interview process to become the next creative director of Hell—yes, Hell, like eternal damnation Hell, looking for a desperate rebrand to become the cool, edgy realm again.
Which of the candidates will have the right vision and be the right culture fit to bring Hell back from obscurity?
The project still satirizes influencer culture but expands on it a bit further to include the fine art world and even academia.
The game art references and parodies major fashion/creative brands and is a more conscious critique of capitalism and exploration of power dynamics and identity freedoms/self-actualization.
The job:
Ideation of core mechanics.
Conceive and write the game’s stories, characters & events.
Plotting/mapping and maintaining a branching narrative.
Player choices change the story path.
Writing flavor text & game dialogue.
Art direction, character design.
Sick Tub Bros
About:
‘Super Tub Bros’ & ‘Sick Tub Space Shooter’ are Platforming and Endless Runner games for PC.
A collection of meme-y video game projects paying homage to old-school games, with an emphasis on timing and pattern recognition.
Showcased at Parsons Game Jam & Playtech.
The job:
Complete ideation, prototypes, and testing.
Developing core mechanics, and level design.
Coding in C#, Unity Game Engine.
Create in-game assets/game art.
Animation.
Project: Endall
Animation I created using the “Endall” sprite for a brief intro cutscene.
About:
Project: Endall is an asynchronous multiplayer party game for Xbox/PC.
One player controls the final boss, “The Endall,” a planet devouring monster with a plethora of attacks. The other three players control the “Heroes”— characters tasked with taking down The Endall, Contra-style! The game is a chaotic bullet-hell in outer space and top-tier cosmic horror satisfaction.
Shown at Playtech and Babycastles’ Cool Down Games & Art Exhibition.
The job:
Complete ideation.
Developing core mechanics, and level design.
Coding in C#, Unity Game Engine.
Art direction.
Create in-game assets/illustrate the game art — “The Endall.”
All animation.
Project management.
Running an exhibition/live maintenance/troubleshooting.
Attendees bringing big geek sleepover energy to our Endall exhibition and having a rad time.
Process:
Once the core idea/mechanics were locked in, it became about the emotional response. “The Endall” player should feel like an all-powerful, unstoppable force — be the boss. “Hero” characters should feel urgency the whole way through and be incentivized to talk to each other and coordinate their attacks. This means balance is key.
The Endall has a series of attacks: Tentacles, projectiles, spawning swarms of zombies — big, busy attacks. Each hero is specially equipped to deal with one of Endall’s attacks. Everyone needs to assume their role without things seeming unfair, and each round should always feel like a close call for both groups at the end. An epic final battle.
The Endall Sprite
My illustrations were inspired by the works of Junji Ito and Kentaro Miura.
I was definitely blasting the '90s Berserk OST while drawing this guy. Documenting him now, I see some DOOM Cacodemon in him as well.
I wanted something unsettling and oddly childlike. I wanted the creature art to feel like a living painting — and be immediately eye-catching and memorable to anyone walking a gallery floor. A menacing mascot you have no choice but to confront.
“Basement Nostalgia” Exhibit Setup
The concept was an old school gamer basement — the depictions we grew up seeing in '90s films. We sourced a CRT TV and hooked it up to ‘Project: Endall.’ We placed magazines, Magic: The Gathering cards, chip packets, and lawn furniture where there should be a couch to really sell the vibe. The aesthetics of the exhibition and the game came together harmoniously, and the beat-up CRT was the perfect display to enhance our intentionally janky graphics.
We exhibited the game on a modern TV previously, and it was cool, sure, but the CRT really hit. A nostalgic game on nostalgic tech in a party setting — everyone had a blast.
The CRT TV has since become a popular retro display in the indie scene, with many devs choosing to showcase their projects on the older boxes to help evoke the fond memories within their potential player base.
Freedom-Riot!
Illustrations by Quinjao (Joaquin M.), property of Thribing Games.
About:
The Endall origins are revealed in follow-up project, ‘FREEDOM-RIOT,’ currently in development under Thribing Games.
Kicking off production in 2020, FREEDOM-RIOT is an epic sci-fi opera. After years of conflict and environmental damage destroying the Earth, humans are forced to migrate to the new habitable planet of Emus. It’s discovered that babies born in transit from Earth to Emus are developing unique powers— a result of displacement/diaspora. These powers, referred to as “Blooming,” allow transit-born humans to spawn organic elements from Earth like plant life. Prolonged use of this ability, however, will cause the user to fall into a deep dream state. Unbeknownst to Emus’ citizens, this dream state is a nightmare. A collective longing for their true home, Earth, slowly spawns an Earth-sized intergalactic threat…
The job:
Ideation of core mechanics.
Conceive and write the game’s stories, characters & events.
Plotting/mapping and maintaining a branching narrative.
Player choices change the story path.
Writing flavor text & game dialogue.
Art direction, character design.
Character Concepts
Spaceship & Environment Concepts
As a lifelong sci-fi and horror fan, growing up and being shaped by these genres, probably much like you, my passion was not gradual. From day 1, I knew I’d be creating mind-blowing space adventures and grotesque, cuddly critters hungry for face meat. You don’t need me to explain the lack of South Asian representation in “the space” — i.e., outer space.
My philosophy is to take ownership of our stories. If the mainstream wasn’t going to showcase Brown characters whoopin’ supernatural butt, then I’d take the stage. My roster of characters features the many diverse faces reflective of my fellow South Asian Diaspora, and immigrant communities. The goal is always the complexity of a character’s emotional mapping, background, interests, beliefs, and the complete dismantling of “tokenization” and boring lecturing in our nerdy art. I’m committed to creating new, unique Brown protagonists that actually excite my people and resonate with the world.
See the consistency of my mission statement in my projects ‘Caz & The Bag’ below and ‘Kase & Thyme: The Manor Rouge’ for Simple Machine game studio.
Caz & The Bag
Caz & The Bag Visual Novel (Test Build)
This project is an expression of my international student experiences in New York, the fears, discourse, and laughs my community shared, and how we built a home while navigating extreme surveillance.
About:
A branching visual novel about international students for PC, set for release in 2024.
Caz loses her lucky JanSport during a flash grenade assault at a protest. One day, the backpack mysteriously turns up at her front door. Caz tentatively approaches, and the backpack latches around her, warping into a demonic parasite, refusing to let go.
The possessed JanSport's magical ability is to constantly and rapidly generate illegal items inside of it, from hard drugs to firearms. In a world where Caz's nationality and skin already put her under scrutiny and at the mercy of "random security checks," Caz is forced to fight her way through a paranoia-fueled nightmare to unlatch the backpack and avoid deportation or worse.
In collaboration with Fernando Cardozo of Studio Victrix.
The job:
Conceive and write the game’s stories, characters & events.
Plotting/mapping and maintaining a branching narrative.
Player choices change the story path.
Writing flavor text & game dialogue.
Art direction, character design.
Caz & The Bag Character Sheets
FAMILY FUN
FAMILY FUN
Sleep Deprivation at Union Sq Staples w/ Marlise & Jose
After a good few days of hustle — from Blick Art Supplies to Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club (I don’t even know, dawg) — working on a party board game prototype titled 'Road Rage,' my friends and I found ourselves at Staples for, like, the fourth time, printing our game tiles and attaching Velcro stickers to present to our peers the next day.
The ‘Road Rage’ game board is actually a cube. Players place their road tiles on the cube to create a clear path for their car, racking up points for specific tile combos, while obstructing other players’ roads.
The cube would turn out to be cursed with unspeakable evil, impacting the lives of the creators and all who played. I’m talking Lament Configuration levels of evil that we had to survive for me to be typing this right now.
But that’s a story for when we’re trusted colleagues…
Project Endall Tests: Learning Motion Capture w/ James
Prototyping Card Games w/ The Boys at KBBQ
‘Holy Magnificent Monster Mash’ was a comedic deck-building game where players raced to collect monster body parts, each with different attributes, to “mash” together a monster strong enough to defeat their opponents. The project was a great exercise in balancing a game with many stats.
