My interest in game design focuses on how mechanics, narrative, and player experience work together. This page highlights design-oriented analysis rather than visual production alone.
A full written analysis examining how Cry of Fear uses atmosphere, mechanics, and narrative design to shape player emotion, tension, and immersion.
A short narrative game built in Bitsy — exploring storytelling through simple movement, dialogue, and hand-crafted pixel environments.
You Had to Be There grew out of something personal: I didn't have access to social media growing up. While peers were building MySpace pages, setting up Snapchats, and texting each other, I was completely outside those spaces — not by choice, but by circumstance. Friends stopped inviting me to things. By the time we were teenagers, everyone had a snap score and a streak, and there was no real way to reach me outside of school or athletics.
I wanted the game to reflect that feeling. You play as a young character moving through different social spaces without ever fully understanding them. NPCs reference inside jokes you'll never learn and drama you were never part of. The game ends where it started — back in your bedroom, now with a phone, but too late. Everyone has already moved on to a new joke without you.
The assignment asked us to connect our work to technology and pop culture. Social media felt like the obvious direction, but my relationship with it is complicated. I've learned that a good game is one a player can relate to — and I think a lot of people know what it feels like to be on the outside of something everyone else already understands.