LUMINOVA

Game Director & Design Lead

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​This game was a sophomore year-long project on a team of four programmers, four artists, a sound designer, and another designer. 

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The main mechanic of Luminova was these bioluminescent plants that the player could absorb into their lantern gun. The light could then activate abilities in other plants. Such abilities were the Platform Plant that acted as an elevator, the Bounce Plant that could launch the player, and the Curtain Plant that acted as an obstacle.

 

With these three plants, we created puzzles for the player to try and maneuver as they escape the planet they are stranded on.  

 

The Team:

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Peyton Froemming - Producer

Kaitlin Baird - Art Director

Zachary Logsdon - Technical Lead

 

 

Grace McClintock - Level Designer

 

 

Sawyer Goodsel - Graphics Programmer

Chyler Morrison - Programmer

 

 

Salvatorre Yazzie - Environment Artist

Wayde Scott - Character Artist

Yaroslavia Cherkashina - Environment Artist

 

 

Ian Brey - Audio Lead

 

 

Aaron Damyen - Engine Programmer

Jeremiah Deckard - Graphics Programmer

 

 

Roles: 

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Director​​​

• Kept the project to the established vision and pillars with constant team communication

• Decided what mechanics needed to be cut when the scope of the project became unattainable

• Assisted the team producer in prioritizing mechanic implementation for the project

• Listened to the team's ideas and checked to if they could fit in the game's pillars

 

 

Design Lead

• Managed both physical (scrum board) and digital (HacknPlan) task managers for the design team

• Wrote Game Design Documents to convey mechanics to the team

• Made wireframes for artists with Photoshop & NinjaMock to define menu layouts

• Lead monthly design presentations to update the team

• Conceived and pitched game mechanics that would help players achieve their goals and solve puzzles

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Game Designer

• Researched similar mechanics to understand how they were successful and how to improve

• Built game prototypes in Unity to show potential game mechanics

• Constantly playtested the latest game build to test engagement with players

• Structured a full narrative with character-driven dialogue scenes to enhance the game experience

• Developed multiple possible endings for the narrative based on the player’s actions

• Devised a series of moral decisions for the player to make that would influence the narrative

• Planned a meta-narrative about environmental responsibility and taking responsibility for past actions

• Constructed backstories for all elements of the narrative in preparation for potential expansion

• Scaled-down the initial narrative to fit the limitations of established systems in a custom game engine