Professional Work

City Destruction

Broken Bytes - Mobile - UNITY - 1/2022 - 9/2022

Client
Broken Bytes

Year
01/2023 - 9/2023

A City Destruction game made for the android market. Received a rating of 3.2 on the android market and had over 10k downloads at the end of its lifetime.

  • Designed and modeled a multitude of weapons to be unlocked and used by the player. Enhancing Engagement.

    • This adds engagement because it gives the player more to explore and something to work towards. Furthermore, who doesn’t want to see how it would look for a nuke, comet, or UFO to destroy a city (in a digital world that is) ?

  • Designed controls for the players to earn more currency and fire power by releasing the controls at the right time adding engagement and depth.

    • This adds engagement and depth by giving the player more to do then to just spam weapons. Accompanying this with “Feel Good” sounds really sold the feel of hitting the mark.

  • Designed and modeled the destructible building and level tiles adding immersion.

    • You cant have a city destruction game without a city or buildings to destroy ?

  • Directed level transitions that created smoother gameplay flow.

    • Cities are destroyed relatively quickly in this game. Bogging the player with loading screens would just make the entire experience aggravating. Very much like an fps where the objective is to deal damage and move to the next target. I wanted to recreated that adrenaline pumping feeling.

  • Designed UI/UX enhancing engagement

    • UI and UX is very important for informing the player of what is exactly going on in the game. You can earn all the money you want but it means nothing if you cant accompany it with the satisfying feeling of looking at the acquired amount and spending it.

  • Worked with 1 other individual on this project. We communicated on a game that we wanted to create and we ended up going with his idea.

    • Developing a city destruction game wasn't my initial preference, but I value my teammates' input and am adaptable. I'm ready to pivot as needed and contribute to realizing a shared vision.

Completed Personal Projects

FreeState

College - Board Game - Table Top Simulator - 2022

Designed as a project for a college final, Freestate is a post-apocalyptic adventure game. Lead a band of survivors through a ravaged world where danger lurks at every turn. Battle hordes of zombies, scavenge for loot, recruit allies, and construct a fortified outpost to stand against the zombie hordes. Your mission is to unite your party, rebuild society, and uncover a cure to end the zombie plague.

  • Designed and modeled the cards, tokens, play board and outpost board. Creating immersion and interaction for the game.

    • Interaction is act of entering an action. If the player has nothing to perform an action with then they can not interact with it. For instance, your stomach can not digest food if there is no food in it.

    • Having a cohesive art style helps with building the world. You cant be in a room that doesn’t exist and if the room is in shambles then you wont want to spend much time in it.

  • Designed Location cards and events cards adding depth and engagement.

    • Location cards and event cards are in the same deck creating a feeling of uncertainty for the player. One turn the player is taking down a hoard of zombies and the next they are discarding a party member due to an infection.

  • Designed combat mechanic that add strategy and engagement to every action.

    • Example Mechanic: (Combat)
      Combat Is based off of power levels. Location cards (which are pulled on every turn) indicate how many zombie cards a player has to pull from the zombie deck. Every zombie card has a power level. The power level of all zombie cards that have been pulled are added together for a total power level amount. If this power level exceeds the players party power level then the player loses and must discard a survivor.

Rule Book : GOOGLE DRIVE

Niko Newman:

The Legions Lagoon

Nazarus Studios - PC - GODOT - 2 Week Game Jam - June / 2024

Niko Newman The Legion's Lagoon is a top down shooter that won 1st place in a game jam, beating 50 other submissions. With an assortment of holy water weapons, the player must explore a beach overran by hostile entities and fight to reclaim its shores.

  • Designed and crafted all sprites for the game jam, ensuring a cohesive visual style.

  • Programmed core game mechanics, delivering engaging gameplay.

    • The biggest mechanics behind this game is the shooting mechanic. Adding a little shake when the player shoots adds a feeling of power. Combining this with a shake when the player hits an enemy delivers the same feeling. Clamping the shake for shooting and hitting a target allowed me to deliver that “Feel good” feeling without disorientating the player.

  • Composed original music and created sound effects, enhancing the immersive experience.

    • Fast tempo, and a simple score, allowed me to create an adrenalin rush without making the game too much about the song.

    • shooting sounds, monster noises, these all help to sell the world. Interactions need a reaction to sell the act.

  • Developed animations, adding fluidity and polish to the game's presentation.

    • The animations helped with the vertical slice. If your getting hit and there is nothing to communicate that exchange with the player then its only going to annoy and upset the.

  • Authored the narrative design, crafting a compelling storyline that plays well with the mechanics of the character and game.

    • Trying to make a compelling story that’s based around Christian theology is difficult but fighting demons are cool and who in Christian theology does that ? that’s right, an exorcist. Making the character young and cute may seem contrary to selling this idea but my demographic is young Christian viewers and i was trying to appeal to their archetype.

Download Project Here : Niko Newman : The Legions Lagoon

Current Personal Project

Judah Run

Nazarus Studios - Mobile - Unreal Engine / C++ & Blueprints - 2025 - Present

Judah Run is a bible study infinite runner that I am creating for free for Christians. Its a game about a lion who is on a mission to restore the bible after the evil slitheon race has tried to destroy it. He must run endlessly through different biomes to collect them and solve puzzles to place them back together.

Development Videos : Youtube Channel

Contact Me.

RNolenJ92@Gmail.com
(951)515-9153

2216 Oak Haven
Simi Valley, CA 93063