Portfolio
Here are some examples of the notable pieces of work I have been involved with including game jams, University projects and industry work.
September 2024: Cosy Cleanup
This was my entry into the Brackeys 2024.2 Game Jam. As the name implies, this was a cosy game for me to work on, despite the theme of this Jam being ‘Calm before the Storm’. The aim of this game is to clean up your toys before your mum gets home. This was a nice solo project as it allowed me to revisit the design framework I used for Hooky, but change the it so that there is ultimately a win/lose state as well as multiple difficulty options.
Great little learning experience and something I’ll have to build off of in the future.
Itch.io Link: https://tommyack102.itch.io/cosy-cleanup
June 2024: Ameriquest
Riding on the successful team up on the previous game jam, I was happy to work with the same person again with another jam. This time it was an NES Themed Jam. The only thing we had to keep in mind was that the game had to make sure that the resolution of the game was 256 X 240 and the control scheme had to work on an NES controller (only using D-pad, Select, Start, B,A).
Even with this limitation, we could make any kind of game that we wanted and so we decided to make a classic Side-scrolling platformer as we wanted to go for something that was a bit simpler than our previous Game Jam but would still be in the spirit of the types of games you would find on the NES.
My responsibilities of this project were; Gameplay and UI Design and Level Layout planning.
Itch.io Link: https://parkerstraus.itch.io/ameriquest
May 2024 : Venusian Abandoned
This was the entry for the Mini Jame Gam #30, where the theme was “Lost Signal” and needed to include a special item, which was a Balloon. I worked on this project as part of a 2 person team and was a great way for me to get back into the swing of games development as part of a team as well as make a new friend and fellow games developer.
This was a pretty cool project to be a part of and it was nice to try a genre of game I’ve never worked on before.
My responsibilities of this project included: UI/UX design, 2D art, Gameplay and Interaction Design.
Itch.io link: https://parkerstraus.itch.io/venusian-abandoned
Aug 2023 : Stick-Figure it out!
This was a great project for the ‘So Bad it’s Good’ game jam, where I joined a remote team to create this wacky puzzle game, here’s the tagline from the game: ‘WarioWare meets Scribblenauts! Draw silly solutions to solve comedy fueled puzzles while trying not to make things even worse for anyone in your way.’
I was responsible for the art found in the game as well as assisting with the design of some of the puzzles.
Itch.io link: https://urbanzero.itch.io/stick-figure-it-out
Jul 2023: Hooky
This was a nice little solo entry to a the GMTK 2023 Game Jam. The theme of it was ‘Roles Reversed’, so I made this little click and drag game, where you collect fish hooks and drag them into the big fish mouth in order to steal them from the anglers.
Itch.IO link: https://tommyack102.itch.io/hooky
May 2019: You’re Screwed!
This was a group project that I took part in for the Tentacle Jam, hosted at Payload Studios. The theme was ‘No upgrades, only downgrades’. In this game you have to fight off waves of gooey enemies, but your weapon degrades the more you use it. We were able to create a prototype that shows the gameplay loop that we were aiming for. I helped with creating art for the UI and for some background elements.
Itch.io link: https://salvago.itch.io/yourescrewed
2017-18: FootGolf
A 2 player comedic hybrid of football and golf set in the 1960's which has the players compete to kick their footballs into the goal hole before their opponent. I was responsible for the User interface including the main menu layout and artwork as well as the in-game UI.
2016-17: Neonatal Resuscitation Training Game: the game for neonatal resuscitation staff training
I worked on this project during a work placement in Milan, Italy as a consultant games designer. This involved working with the client to determine what Neonatal Resuscitation practises need to be converted into gameplay mechanics as well as the lead developer to implement the required functions into the product and then testing them throughout the development of the product.
2015: Project Gyro - The Gothic Manor
The following is a University of Greenwich 2nd year 2 week games project using gyroscope and accelerometer based input. I was responsible for the Room Layout, Gargoyle model and recording and editing the ghostly butler voice.