Everything I ever worked on
… or, almost anyway
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t working on some project or another. Whether it was between classes or after work, I’ve always had a drive to create something that I could call my own.
Despite extremely varying levels of quality and completeness, I’ve always thought it would be a waste to let my many projects fall by the wayside, forgotten forever. So, here’s every side project I’ve worked on that I can still find.
Games are sorted by the date when I stopped working on them. Think of this as an archive, rather than a CV.
Note that this doesn’t include things I’m currently working on. For that, check my twitter.
Last updated 12/09/2023
2023
Man with a Hammer: A personal piece of interactive fiction about creating video games while a massacre occurs on the other side of the world. It’s not enough, but I hope it’s something. Made solo in two weeks for the Seattle Indies Slow Jam 2023.
Wizard With a Gun: Gather resources and perfect your spells while trying to break an apocalyptic timeloop. I was on this project as an engineer for three years of its four-and-a-half-year development cycle, and it was a wild ride. It is my first release of its magnitude, and I learned innumerable lessons on collaboration and leadership.
I worked on many diverse systems, from spell mechanics, to multiplayer, to tech art. If you see something in the game, it’s likely I had some part in it. I’ve written some articles on my work for the game.
2022
The Stars Drift: A piece of interactive fiction about purusing your dreams at the end of the world. A reflection on personal responsibility amidst the impending apocalypse, and my first try at writing a full-length written piece. Made in two weeks for the Seattle Indies Slow Jam 2022.
Stupid Racing: Made in 48 hours for Global Game Jam 2022 made with Brad Kraeling. Become the best racer and fulfill your desire. Truly one of the games of all time.
2021
This year, I joined Galvanic Games and started working on Wizard with a Gun full-time. I did notably fewer side projects for the next few years because I was focused on Wizgun.
Our Shadows: A narratively driven adventure game exploring themes of death and guilt. Made with a small team in two weeks for Seattle Indies Slow Jam 2021.
Was it Even Worth it?: A personal exploration of anxiety. One of the first “artsy” projects I’ve attempted. Made in a weekend for Global Game Jam 2021.
2020
Cryptozootography: An isometric tactics game with cryptids that go crazy during the nighttime. This was a collab with Andrew Goodenough and a few others in a custom Javascript engine. I did a bunch of tech art work in that engine, as well as some systems work to help out the artists.
Breakpoint: An arcade-y top-down action game with pumping neon lights. This is my first commercial release as an indie studio, alongside Nick Amlag. I’m very proud of what we managed to accomplish; even though it wasn’t a tremendous financial success, we got a large amount of positive reviews (nearly 70, at time of writing) and a few hardcore players.
I wrote two articles about the tech behind the game: a breakdown of the explosion VFX, and an explanation of the replay implementation. and It was originally made for the Seattle Indies Game Jam 2019.
Runner’s Creed: A concept trailer for a freerunning game. Made for Hype Jam in 2020.
Sky Drifter: A 2D dogfighting arcade game made for the GMTK jam in 2020. We made it into the top 100 and a very short cameo in Mark Brown’s final video.
Work In Progress: A comedy game about an unfinished game jam game. Made for Global Game Jam 2020.
2019
Alchemicraft: A mini-survival game. Created for Ludum Dare 45 Jam. I’m proud of this one as a game that you can really have fun with for about an hour, all made in 72 hours.
Obelus: An isometric action game with a focus on fast paced, frenetic gameplay. Prototyped in 6 months in Unity.
This was, originally, the game that I was going to take to market with Nick Amlag. We quickly realized it was too much for us to be able to finish. However, I still think that what we created is something special. The combat is extremely fluid and hard-hitting; we brought it to several spaces where folks got into it so much that they ended up playing it for an hour or two.
Rift Core: An action RTS about a squad of mechs on a suicide mission. We then went on to polish it for about three months before releasing it on itch. We made a whole $40 on it!
Nick Amlag and I originally created Rift Core over two days for Ludum Dare 43. You can still find that version of the game on itch.
Billed To Order: A silly, colorful game about building birdhouses. We showed it several times at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle and all the kids loved it! Made in Unity for Global Game Jam 2019.
2018
In this year, I was mostly collaborating with Andrew Hung and Robert Ackley. I’ll call us the “GPL gang”; no relation to the GPL license, but rather because of Gridpulse Legions, the biggest project we worked on.
FLY2K: A corporate espionage game starring a quadcopter.
The GPL gang’s original plan was to release the game commercially after three months. Unfortunately, the project ended up as a hard lesson in overscoping instead. I still think the result is pretty cool, but it would take quite a bit more work to actually release it.
Dead Signal: A short horror game with PS1-style graphics.
Dead Signal was the first time I worked with Nick Amlag, and it met immediate success. it was played by both Vinny Vinesauce and Markiplier, and both liked it. I chalk this up to it being a short, contained experience with an immediately recognizable style.
Gridpulse Legions: An RTS prototype, complete with multiplayer.
This was the GPL gang’s big project. It was an amazing crash course in collaborating with others in Unity. We made the demo over a year and change, and before making this I had no long-term experience working with others on a game.
Overgrown: A overcooked clone where you must grow the food you cook with. Made in Unity for the Games for our Future jam in Seattle with the GPL gang.
Dog Walk: A funky local multiplayer game where you play a thought in a dog’s brain. It’s funky and somewhat silly. Made in Unity for Global Game Jam 2018 with the GPL gang.
2017
Odd Office: The GPL gang’s first jam. A funny little first-person shooter about an office worker who’s been working just a little too late. Made with Unity.
Fervor: A top-down game about brainwashing aliens. Made in Unity for the Seattle Indies Game Jam in 2017.
Spider Game: A first-person shooter I completed solo with no engine.
The original reason I started Spider Game was to prove to myself that I could complete a game with no engine. I’m super proud that I managed to accomplish that goal, and am now content to never do it again.
Wasteland Dogs: A solo project which attempted to recreate a Starfox 64-like experience in a local multiplayer setting. This was my first extensive foray into Unity, and a great learning experience.
Subverge: A crew management game about piloting a submarine through a monster-filled trench. Made in Unity for Global Game Jam 2017.
2016
This was the year I joined Microsoft and moved across the country to Seattle. Most of this year was just me getting settled in. I also worked on and off on Wasteland Dogs until putting it down the next year.
Coming Soon: A game which pokes fun at E3 hype presentations. Try to keep your cool on stage while presenting someone else’s game. Made in Unity as part of Cool Jams Inc in Seattle.
Habitual Sacrifices: A minigame collection based around the theme of rituals. Made in Unity as part of Global Game Jam 2016.
2015
In most of 2015 I created one game a month as part of this old challenge.
Reflex Tester: A tiny “game” I made for the last month of one game a month. I was feeling a bit burnt at this point. Made with pure JS.
SCOM: Aftermath: My take on what would happen after an alien invasion is repelled. Enforce an uneasy peace among the nations until they can be quelled into submission. Made with pure JS for Ludum Dare 32.
Megaman Sprite Comic: The Movie: The Game: A dumb local multiplayer game inspired by Megaman sprite comic. Made with Unity.
Tic Tac Tower: 3D tic-tac-toe. You were able to play it multiplayer, across the internet, but the server is long dead. You can still play against the AI if you enter “local” as the room name. Made with pure JS.
Crash Landing: A short & silly FPS (seems to be a recurring game I make). This was the first game I made in Unity, as well as my first FPS game.
Spaec Invaedrs: A space invaders clone I made to try out Unreal Engine 4.
Pulse: A prototype for a rhythm game. Sadly, I never got around to adding music to it, but I still think the concept and style are neat, even if the execution is a bit lacking. Made with craftyjs.
Pocket Tactics: A small, procedurally generated, not-very-well-balanced tactics game. Despite it not being a lot of fun to play, I was proud to be able to make so many complex systems in a short time. Made with craftyjs.
☢☣♨: An abstractly-rendered adventure game created by Jeremy Neiman and I. Made using crafty.js as part of Global Game Jam 2015.
2014
Square Dance: An arcadey box slasher played only with the mouse.
Despite how simple it is, Square Dance is extremely memorable for me because it was the first game I’d ever made that was fun. Not coincidentally, it was also the first game I made using an engine - craftyjs - as well as my first game jam ever - Ludum Dare 31.
Navmesh Test: An implementation of 2D navmesh generation and pathfinding in C++. It… mostly works? Click once to place the origin and once more to place the pathfinding destination.
Project Z: An attempt at making an ECS-based 2D engine. It’s written in C++. Notable features: I embedded the Squirrel scripting language, and entities are described through data using JSON files.
Soul Collector: The initial version was my final project for my bachelor’s degree at Pennsylvania State University, created with the help of some other students. I improved some of the tech after graduating. It’s not very fun, but it is a complete, playable game, all in its own engine.
2010-2013
College years.
Orb Assault: An infinite-runner type game where you jump and punch your way through enemies. Created for the Pennsylvania State University game design course. Unfortunately I can’t find the full version, but the version here is a demo of the final boss - the professor of the game design course.
Spaceship: Another attempt at making an ECS-based engine. This one used Artemis-cpp at its base. There’s nothing more here to see than a spaceship flying around a starfield. Used C++ and SFML.
Terrain Generator: A 3D terrain generator using the diamond-square algorithm, inspired by Shamus Young’s experiments. Written using C++ and OpenGL.
JAGS: “Just another generic shooter”. First game I ever completed. This was written in DarkGDK, and was my final project for Penn State’s Data Structures class. Features functional multiplayer and some banging tunes from ParagonX9 on Newgrounds. Does not feature working collision detection.
Before that…
There were many old abandoned projects that I had written before university. Some of the ones I remember:
- A flash prototype for a turn-based RPG
- An animation in which a fantasy-style map is drawn
- A paper-based, DnD-like, super freeform tabletop game which my school friends would play asynchronously between classes
- A console-based game in which you attempt to cover the planet in farms, thereby achieving world peace
But alas, they are lost to time.