Other Projects
During my time at Seoul National University and the University of Southern California, I had the privilege to develop skills and design philosophies by working on many game projects with various people.
These projects helped me build one of my biggest strengths as a designer — turning ideas into runtime gameplay.
Here are a few favs.
544: Along Came a Tiger, 2015, Unity3D. Project lead, gameplay scripting and level design
This was my masters “thesis” project for USC that I made with a handful of other students. It’s a survival escape game where you can switch between two characters that have different abilities. Jin can reach things up high and can see through walls if standing still. Nami can squeeze through tight spaces and use echolocation to navigate in the dark. The player must combine these two characters’ skills to find a way to escape a secret laboratory, while sneaking past a monster referred to as “the Tiger.”
The premise of this game is largely fictitious, but the historical setting is loosely based on the tragedy of Imperial Japan’s Unit 731 and their war crimes during WWII.
Anamnesis, 2013, Unity 3D. Gameplay scripting, level design, sound, and art
Anamnesis was a school term project with a classmate, Scott Stephan, under the name Studio Guts. At the time, the Oculus DK1 was all the rage and we came up with a mechanic to use both the flatscreen and the headset. The player is a FEMA agent investigating the disappearance of a group of residents, using special goggles. What is shown in the flatscreen would be the real world, but when the player brings up the VR goggles to their eyes, the game would detect that and would render a different world filled with the memories of the residents.
This game was shown at several Indie game shows, including the IndieCade Showcase at E3 2014. Full playthrough video by eVRydayVR.
Never did we think that in the setting of this game (Jan 2020), the world would actually go through a deadly pandemic and widespread quarantine.
Dreadnoughts, 2009, Proprietary engine and editor. Level design, environment art, 2D art
Dreadnoughts is a local network 2v2 mech shooter. During college, grew an interest in making video games. I sought out 4 other students — one graphics design student and three computer engineering students — and this was my very first fully 3D video game with them. The engineers took on an impressive feat of programming our own engine and game editor that I used to import 3D assets and create the maps.
In a team, one player plays as the big ground unit, and the other plays as a small aircraft. The big mech’s goal is to use its weapons to destroy the other big mech. The small aircraft can aid by gathering energy for them, repair the big mech, and also do some damage with their weapons.
I knew nothing of level design and was barely starting to learn 3D modeling — and it shows — but nonetheless this project has a special place in my heart as the very start of my journey.
