I'm Natan! Thanks for checking out my page. Below you can a range of my game development related work.

If you have any questions, please dont hesitate to get in touch...

Personal Achievements

• Nominated for the TIGA Graduate of the year, designer category award 2022. 

• First Class Honours Degree in Game Design and Production, Abertay University. 

Team: Build a Rocket Boy

Date: 2022 - Present

Iam currently working as a Associate Technical Designer at Build A Rockey Boy on project EVERYWHERE. 

EVERYWHERE seamlessly blends gameplay, adventure, creativity and discovery in an all-new multi-world gaming experience that redefines how players connect with one another and with the digital world around them. 

Project Type: Student, Team (Size 8)

Genre: Puzzle, Adventure

Engine: Unreal Engine 4

My Role(s): Technical Designer/ Programmer

Project Scrapped is a puzzle-adventure game aimed at younger audiences in which they are intended to gain an understanding of basic programming concepts. Players are onboarded and gradually introduced to solving logic puzzles using a custom built visual scripting language. 

During this project, I worked on systems such as NPCs and NPC interactions through dialogue as well as implementation and refinement of tutorialisation within the starting area. I also explored technical art in the form of VFX to enhance the ''game-feel'' aspects of our core mechanics. This project underwent development with the mentorship of Hyperluminal Games. For a more indepth overview on my contributed work please click here or take a look the project page below!

Achievements

• The project went on to be featured in the “Third Year Showcase” by Abertay in the  Abertay Graduate Show as an example of successful interdisciplinary groupwork in the 2021/2022 programme and is continuing to be showcased at the university open days for course promotion. 

• Won the TIGA Student game of the year 2022, awarded by Creative Assembly. 

Project Type: Student, Solo

Genre: Racing

Engine: Unreal Engine 4

"Absolute Track Racing" is a work in progress gameplay prototype currently in development in tangent to my final year honours research. The game is functioning as a conduit of my enquiry, in an effort to further explore the concept of replaybility and methods that can be used in order to increase replay value. 

ATR strives to offer a dynamic, open and fairly competitive arcade racing experience. The player is able to create, save and race on their own tracks with a small choice of different cars. Each car is setup uniquely, providing a different driving feel while retaining the same driving model. 

With this project, Im consistently working on my design and implementation skills, along with balancing of proprietary mechanics in regards to overall game difficulty and sychronising systems together. 

The overall design is in reference to games such as Trackmania or Hotwheels Unleashed. 

Project Type: Team, Dare Academy

Genre: Turn Based Tactics, Roguelike

Engine: Godot

Mankind’s March is a roguelike turn based tactics experience set in space which also incorporates elements of realtime game mechanics. You play as a commander on board a spaceship, taking charge of an elite team tasked with an extraction mission.

The player has to continually manage character stats and use their abilities to navigate around a dynamic terrain, shaping the combat space turn after turn which results in unique and unpredictable scenarios that reflect your playstyle. The world is unstable, changing each turn. With the Datapad the player gets access to Narrative Storylets which allows them to gain personality traits based on their choices, unlocking new and unique storylines that will making each playthrough that slightly different from the previous one. By design, the game is intentionally difficult. Playstyle and choices determine the outcome of a current situation generated by previously made decisions. The player has to use all tools at your disposal to make the best of it.

My key responsibilities were focussed on the final polishing stages of development as well as implementation of certain gameplay mechanics that would aid the player along their playthroughs. Majority of my work centred  around the design and implementation of game feel through VFX and other similar visual languages. These would give weight to gameplay actions and brought out the desired atmosphere. I also assisted the team in the general game design direction.

Achievements

Won 2nd place (Runner up) at Dare Academy 2022 chosen at EGX London. 

Project Type: Student, Solo

Genre: Puzzle, Mechanic Prototype

Engine: Unity

Lens mechanic is a game mechanics project which incorporates aspects of Game Mechanics and System Design as well as Level Design. 

The purpose of the project was to determine the extensibility of a prototype mechanic in a game-like enviroment while iteratively developing and implementing functionality. 

The mechanic is based on a Red, Green and Blue 'lens', through which the player is able to interact with world objects and complete very simple puzzles. Whenever a lens is enabled, specific objects corresponding to that lens will either appear or disappear. 

For a more in depth overview on the implementation process of both the mechanic and the demonstration level, check out my Development blog as well as a Development portfolio, alternatively have look at my process page below!

Project Type: Student, Solo

Genre: Endless Runner/ 3D platformer, Casual

Engine: Unity

Cowboy Escape is an Endless Runner with a western theme. 

The project was created to gain an understanding on data collection as well as 'Data Driven Design'. The project incorporates telemetry as well as certain network features to gather post-game data automatically from players and store them in a single location. The data was later analysed and utilised to inform further design decisions. 

Project Type: Personal, Team (Size 2)

Genre: Logic, Casual

Engine: Unity

Paper Football is a digital adaptation project of a turn-based grid-paper logic game, intended for 2 players. The rules of the game are to get the ball (end of line) to the opposite player's goal post only moving in 45 degree intervals, without overlapping existing lines and overtime creating long move combinations. 

The purpose of this project was to create a fun and enjoyable digitalisation of a childhood pen'n'paper game by determining and breaking down rulesets, implementing them and refining them iteratively to achieve a seamless experience. 

Project Type:  Game jam, Team (Duo)

Genre: Puzzle

Engine: Unreal Engine 4

Project Mirror was a 48 hour game jam project created for the Global Game Jam 2022.

The theme of the jam was 'Duality'.

Within this quick prototype you engage as a unnamed character who finds themself with an ability to 'flip' between 2 mirrored dimensions. While perplexed by the situation, the player needs to solve a small series of logical puzzles that entangled the 2 worlds together and work to discover a solution to fix the issue at hand. 

The projects brief GDD can be found here: Link

Alternatively, a Miro board which was used to rapidly sketch out and design the game can be accessed here: Link