Elusive Core: Zero Trace

ECZT is a stealth-platformer, initially conceives to during the DES 315: Professional project Module at Abertay University
to address a brief from Gary @ Pocket Sized Hands. The team proceeded with the project and took it to the finals of DARE Academy 2025. As of 26/03/2026 ECZT has been submitted to BAFTA

EZCT was commended for it's initial elevator pitch: Metal Gear Sonic

It features Fast momentum-based gameplay and quick reaction based gameplay abilities combined with puzzle orientated stealth gameplay.

During development I acted as the Lead Designer working alongside our Systems Programmer and Gameplay Programmer to design the movement, enemy and puzzle mechanics.

One of my primary responsibilities was Level Design, designing maps in Inkscape and building them in-engine using Unity's Tilemap system.

Alongside this work, I organised and carried out playtesting, taking notes and passing on feedback where necessary across disciplines. To help work within the inter-disciplinary team,

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Project Takeaways

Elusive core was one of my longest projects, iterating across 18 weeks to suit external client needs and feedback. While challenging, the experience pushed me to learn new workflows and tools on the fly and ended with some of my proudest work. I showcased this project at Abertay Open Days and at the DCA Drop in and Play event, networking with other game devs and presenting the project to members of the public.

Keywords

Discipline Lead

Level Design

Systems

Mechanics

Balancing

Teamwork

Retro-Inspired

Unity

Honours Project

My university Honours project focuses on how game designers can represent disabled people in video games. It does this through research into 3 key areas; Representation, Accessibility and Lived Experience.

The practical side of the project is a first-person walking sim developed in Unity. The player is tasked with getting from their flat to work while navigating real-world scenarios that negatively impact disabled people.

Throughout the gameplay experience players are presented with pop-up prompts explaining real-world concepts and suggestions for game designers to take into their practice based on the knowledge generated through the broader research.

This was my first solo 3d project, which helped me pick up a lot of skills regarding workflows and 3d tools. I learned lots about my personal best workflows and the tools to help support them while navigating life challenges that hit mid-development.

I will be taking lots of the knowledge generated from this project forward into my future practice, helping make better games for everyone.

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Project Takeaways

At it's current state, the prototype acts as an example of the answer to my research questions. It showcases ways designers can represent marginalised people and how to help studios better their practice while also answering what challenges designers may have doing so. The challenges I learned aren't different to other projects, The prototype struggled with scope and real life challenges hurting development So while I wish the prototype be in a better state I find that it's rough edges answer the questions better than writing.

Keywords

Accessibility

Scripting

Level Design

Mechanics

Systems

Multi-Discipline

Unity

Documentation

Production

R* Mod Jam 2025/26

The R*Mod Jam was an event hosted by the Abertay Game Development Society in Collaboration with Rockstar Games

I worked in a small 2-person team as the primary designer to create 2 mods using the FiveM tools for GTAV to meet Game Jam style Briefs given by rockstar

After a short development time, Members of rockstar reviewed the submissions with our Mod's being chosen for group showcase at both opportunities

Development tasked me with using tools I had never used before and as such reviewing and learning documentation. This meant creating clear and concise Design Documentation to communicate across disciplines to communicate my vision, using Google Docs and Figma.

I also built the Itch.io pages for both submissions working with basic HTML and CSS to make the pages stand out, While also researching and developing a colour palette for use in marketing materials.

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Project Takeaways

This was my first time using Five M and while some aspects of the framework proved frustrating, the experience pushed me to work on my foundational skills, being able to design out of engine and communicate that design to the team working on the code. I got to pull heavily from inspiration in other media and this shows in the final release.

Keywords

Narrative

Scripting

Level Design

Mechanics

Systems

Multi-Discipline

FiveM

Marketing Materials

Documentation