This semester I had the opportunity to work with a team of seven other students to create our very own game design studio. Inspired by Elons tradition of Oak themed names, my team and I birthed Lithocarpus Studios. We wanted to be creative in our naming approach so we chose to use the scientific name for the acorn, Lithocarpus.
With four years of Game Design studies and development experience, I create fun, unforgettable, and visually appealing gameplay. As a hardworking, team-oriented designer, I specialize in original, streamlined graphics and logos. I am always eager to learn and apply my skills to enhance gameplay and visual engagement.
My History with Video Games
My interest in video games began at a very young age. The first game I remember playing was Super Mario Galaxy on the Nintendo Wii. The ability to escape into different worlds and immerse myself in the story was incredibly appealing to my younger self. What truly connected me to the game was the use of motion controls with the nunchuck attachment, making the experience feel immersive and as if I were part of the game.
My hand-eye coordination didn't develop from playing catch but from endless attempts at mastering challenging platforming levels until I finally succeeded. While some people get easily frustrated when stuck in a game, I relish the challenge because the satisfaction of overcoming it is unmatched. Despite being seventeen years old, its gameplay and graphics hold up remarkably well, and I still enjoy playing it every now and then. To this day, I consider Super Mario Galaxy my favorite video game and the game responsible for developing my interest in game design.
GAM4100 & GAM4200 Final Project
Introducing Mausoleum of Memories
developed by Lithocarpus Studios
This semester, Lithocarpus Studios developed and released their first game, Mausoleum of Memories. The game is a first-person 3D puzzle adventure game based on Egyptian Mythology. You play as the ghost of a man named Aaru who has been denied entrance to the afterlife and now must reflect on his human existence and any lessons he may have learned so he can finally rest in peace.
Game Tags: Puzzle, Dungeon Explorer, Strategy
Team Role
My role on the team was as the main Graphic Designer, responsible for creating all necessary logos and other digital assets. I designed four main variations of our studio's logo, which you can see below. In addition to logos and graphics, I also designed the loading screens between levels and created the scene that appears once you have beaten the game.
I was the sole member of our development team responsible for creating and managing our studio website —click here to visit. Every few weeks, I wrote development updates to track the team's progress over each sprint and address any issues that arose. The cover story briefly outlined our accomplishments during the sprint before delving into the team breakdowns in the development journey section. I also collected pictures, screenshots, and gameplay videos to document the game's improvement each sprint.
Additionally, I assisted with PR and advertising, helping Caleigh create and get our Steam store page approved. For this, I created various art assets to showcase what our game has to offer. Finally, I produced both the poster and promotional slide to showcase our game in the Duke building.
Skills
• Graphic Design
• Web Development
• Digital Art
• Communications & PR
Software Used
• Adobe Photoshop
• Canva
• Adobe Illustrator
• Procreate
• Unity
• Adobe InDesign
• Microsoft Office & Google Docs
Studio & Game Logos
Steam Page Assets
Lithocarpus Studio
Webpages
Loading Screens
Final Scene: The Field of Reeds
Gameplay Trailer
In-Game Screenshots
Brainstorming & Early Development
The work below from GAM4100 shows just how much progress we made as a team, developing the game since J-Term. After forming our studio and throwing lots of rough ideas around, we worked together as a team to solidify our vague ideas and concepts into a coherent game and narrative. Below are pictures of the planning process, initial development stages of our game, and early art assets.
Early-Stage Art Assets
Previous
Game Design Projects
Palace Atop the Frozen Peak
Level Design Final
for GAM3100
2021
For this project, I knew from the start that I wanted to create a winter-themed level, inspired by my lifelong love of skiing and my fondness for the winter season. My goal was to evoke the emotions winter triggers in me, designing a town that feels eerily empty and abandoned, with an underlying sense of something being slightly off.
I focused on achieving exceptional detail in my game design. From scratch, I built a navigable area filled with intricate details, rewarding thorough exploration. Using the ProBuilder tool, I created every object in the level, including buildings, trees, rocks, torches, docks, a boat, rope, fences, a bridge, a stable, castle flags, and more. The level is deliberately sparse in certain areas to convey a sense of overgrowth and abandonment, as if it has been a long time since the town was bustling with life.
To enhance the atmosphere, I created three particle effects: fire for the torches, smoke from the chimneys, and precipitation rolling off the ice in the bay. I also included a cutscene and applied post-processing effects to further immerse the player in the environment.
While I aimed to add more fine details like doors and windows, I had to limit some elements due to my computer's processing limitations. Despite this, I believe I have achieved an exceptional level of design, successfully capturing the essence of a haunting, wintery landscape.
Murder at Midnight: Elon Edition
Board Game Final
for GAM2100
2022
Game Overview: You and your team have to figure out who was killed, who's the murderer, the murder weapon, where did it happened, and why. If you flip over all the time cards before figuring out who did it, the murderer will get you too…
Set Up: Players begin by choosing which side they would like to be on: the detective or the mystery man.
The mystery man begins by choosing the murderer, the victim, the weapon and the room. They will place these cards face down or hidden behind a board.
The detective begins after. The player chooses one suspect, victim, place, and weapon and places the cards on the board. If the player guesses one or more of the right cards, the mystery man tells the detective how many they got right but not which card(s) they got right. It is up to the detective to figure out which card was right. If the detective gets one or more cards right, they will flip over a card from the bottom of the board. If they turn over a time card, the time to complete the game becomes limited. Once all the time cards are flipped over, the detective is out of time. There are 5 why cards mixed into this pile. The detective must find all the why cards before time runs out or they must find the why card that applies to their known suspect and victim.
Bonus: Character/Creature Designs
