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FALL 2025
Class: Studio 1
Project: CanHopy!
Collaborators:
Claire Lincoln, Stephen Rubino, Prince Wang
Role: Game Designer, Lead Artist
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS:
My first multiplayer digital game - I hit the ground running with this project, immediately presenting my teammates with jumping off points for mechanics and themes. My individual projects thus far have been more conceptual, thoughtful pieces - focusing less on mechanics and more on artistic expression. This was a chance to make something truly fun! I took my partners' previous works into account, knowing they preferred more “gamey”, mechanically driven games over ones that prioritized narrative and theme.
It was time to flex my design muscles!
PROJECT SUMMARY
CanHopy! is a competitive racing game where players, assuming the role of two frogs, ascend a tree in hopes of reaching the top first. More than just a simple race, players must navigate difficult platform layouts, enemies, and devastating strikes from their opponents.
MY CONTRIBUTIONS AND TAKE AWAYs
I had a loose concept for a competitive game that involved a vertical arena. Players would progress by platforming upwards, leaving their competitor behind. I liked the possibility of having in-air combat, allowing players not just to race but to battle as well.
My teammate suggested we have some sort of gun or strike mechanic, something the player could launch. Since the player is hoping upward, I suggested we make the players frogs, using their tongues as weapons.
My teammates, being more familiar with the Godot Engine, took on the majority of the programming and mechanical design from there. I was the lead artist, drawing multiple pixel art assets to create an inviting and cohesive atmosphere.
One of my teammates was very familiar with retro art styles and pixel tiling systems. While I crafted the art myself, I adapted my style and workflow to fit his vision, proving my ability to be a multifaceted and flexible artist.
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FALL 2025
Class: Game Design 1
Project: The Golden Loop (first pass)
Collaborators:
Abhishek Chatterjee, Claire Lincoln, George Eltzroth, Jenny Chen
Role: Game Designer
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS:
Removing the affordances of digital media places more emphasis on the most fundamental aspects of game design. This was especially the case with this project, as The Golden Loop was a very complex and mechanically challenging game to design.
THE DESIGN CHALLENGE:
The prompt for this project was Narrative, i.e. the goal was to create an analog game with mechanics that enhance and serve a strong narrative theme. Because this is a board game, narrative is best served through emergent play, i.e. the narrative emerges from the players’ actions rather than something static and authored.
PROJECT SUMMARY:
“The Golden Loop is a cooperative strategy game for 4 players about performing a synchronized casino robbery within a repeating time loop. Over five rounds, players move through public and private spaces, risking exposure to Guards to uncover Event Cards. While character positions and the Alert Level reset with every loop, the knowledge of witnessed events persists, allowing the crew to learn the perfect sequence of actions needed to "Hit Your Mark" simultaneously. The challenge is balancing high-risk scouting for knowledge against the rising Alert Level that threatens the crew's chance to break the loop.”
MY CONTRIBUTIONS AND TAKE AWAYS:
While unfamiliar with board game mechanics, my strengths in concept, narrative, and thematic cohesion really shined through. I initially brought forward the idea of a time loop game, drawing inspiration from the digital game 12 Minutes. This framework paved the way for an emergent narrative and thoughtful mechanics.
At first, the time loop was a vehicle for character development. Players would assume the role of two characters trapped in a time loop, revealing an emotional and character-driven story. Later in the process, while my teammate was exploring a key and lock system, I realized a time loop story, especially one that demands mechanics and interactivity, lends itself perfectly to a heist.
“Is it just me, or is this starting to sound like a heist?”
In this version, players assume different roles of a fictional crime crew attempting to rob a casino. The time loop gives them multiple chances to pull it off, becoming experts at their craft. While my teammates were more experienced with mechanical systems (and while I also played a major role in designing these mechanics), my strength in ideation and theme allowed us to create a truly unique game:
“Our goal was to make players truly feel the disorienting, iterative struggle of being trapped in a time loop. We achieved this by making the only persistent element knowledge, forcing the crew to spend initial loops scouting and risking failure just to gain information for the "perfect" future run. This setup ensures that while the core narrative remains fixed, the players' discovery path—which secrets they choose to uncover and in what order—makes every session feel strategically unique, capturing the essence of being stuck in a constantly repeating yet ever-changing reality.”