I'm Natan! 

Thanks for checking out my page. Below you can find a range of my game development related work.

If you have any questions, please don't 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. 

Project Type: Student, Solo

Genre: Racing

Engine: Unreal Engine 4

"Absolute Track Racing" is a vertical slice developed in tangent to my final year honours project research. The game informed my enquiry, to further explore the concept of replaybility and the methods that can be used to increase replay value. 

Some of the explored systems:

• Quick yet robust track building system

• Fun arcade driving model 

  • Unlockable cars with each having a different setup (Drift, high grip etc)

• Adaptive AI

  • Explored implementations to balance difficulty in accordance to player skill level. 

  • Ensuring AI can handle any track setup.

• Ability to save progress and created tracks across multiple game sessions

• Satisfying game feel via Feedback and VFX.

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.

My Contributions/Implementations:

• Finalising Game polish via Game Design assistance

  • Creating a diegetic point of view in order to invoke more tension from player actions

• Radar System

• Improving game feel via VFX and implementing a VFX trigger system into the main framework of the game.

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 environment 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: 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: 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:  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