Team Legato & ThunderEgg (Collectively The Vanguards)

Collaborators: Sudhanshu Aggarwal, Chih-Wei (Jerry) Chen, Chong Hu, Christian Karrs, Michael Lee, Rahul Nagarkar, Xin (Zinc) Ning, Xinyu (Lillian) Qian, Akshay Ramesh, Jimin Song, Goksu Ugur, Meng-Hua (Julia) Wu, Wanyan (Aurora) Zheng

Timeframe: January 2015 – May 2015

As my final semester project at the Entertainment Technology Center, I worked with Electonic Arts’ Office of the Chief Creative Officer under the direction of Richard Hilleman. Working as two remote teams, we created a cooperative, a-synchronous, shoot-em-up for players who don’t fall in the category of “core gamers”. Using simple mechanics that allow for an easy-to-learn and fun experience, we designed the game to appeal to children ages 8-12, as well as their parents. Through this approach we created a game that offers fun for the whole family! For more information, please visit our website.

Roles: Game Designer, Sound Designer, Producer

My contributions:
– Designed game with 3 others (including creation and maintenance of design documents)
– Design document can be viewed HERE
– Composed original soundtrack
– Created and curated all sound effects
– Integrated all audio assets into Unity3D using Audiokinetic Wwise™
– Production, e.g., tasking, scheduling, support, communications (internal/external), etc.
– Remote team management
– Wrote and published weekly newsletters, as well as maintained a team blog
– Created promotional video content
– Created and maintained project website

Team Transcendence
Collaborators: Eric Chang, Seungsuk Cho, Vivek Kotecha, Bing Liu, Hannah Turner & Yan Zhang

Role: Creative Director

Timeframe: January – May 2014

Traumatic experiences often leave negative after-effects in children. This can cause recurring negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Our client, the Allegheny Singer Research Institute/Disruptive Health Technology Institute, takes these children through a program called TF-CBT, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, to inform and help them recover.Team Transcendence assisted the TF-CBT treatment process by creating a game to augment the therapy. TF-CBT: Triangle of Life (formerly Project Savannah) is a mobile game that teaches traumatized children about the Cognitive Triangle of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, as well as how to replace their negative thoughts with positive ones. For more information, please visit our website.

My contributions:
– Wrote the story and all game text/dialogue
– Composed original soundtrack
– Created and curated all sound effects
– Directed art style
– Wrote and published weekly newsletters
– Created all project videos
– Created and maintained project website

As part of Carnegie Mellon University’s Master of Entertainment Technology first-semester curriculum, Building Virtual Worlds is a course where students work in interdisciplinary teams to create interactive worlds every two to three weeks.

Collaborators: Sandra Camara, Gabriel Burgess, Chong Mingxun & Peng Jing

Given 2 weeks and a 5-person team, we created a memory game about a geriatric man suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease trying to remember a lullaby with his granddaughter. The game prompts the player with motions to follow; and the Kinect platform reads and checks their motions.

My contributions:
– Original soundtrack composition using GarageBand
– VOX recording and voice acting using Pro Tools, edited in Audacity
– Narrative creation

Timeframe: September 2013
– Soundtrack composition completed over a period of 10 hours
– VOX recording and voice acting completed over a period of 3 hours
– Narrative conception completed over a period of 1 hour