I am a game designer with experience in feature design, level design and QA roles. I am passionate about both creative and iterative design roles, taking a bottom up approach putting player experience at the core.
Experience:
While I have been making card games and board games for friends and family since childhood, my first major experience in games development was a five month games design internship at Ubisoft Reflections. I worked on two titles, The Crew and Grow Home, in a variety of roles including feature design/testing, level design and QA testing. This was a fantastic opportunity that gave me insight into internal processes of games development as well as feedback from experienced developers to improve myself as a designer.
During my undergraduate degree (see education) I worked on personal projects whenever possible. I used these projects to improve skills such as coding, 2D and 3D asset production and (where possible) adherence to project management practices. One of the projects I worked on in this period was Quicksilver, a turn based fencing system created by Michael Ovens (see Project Quicksilver)
Most recently I worked as a game design intern at Hammerhead VR. I worked to produce a prototype game-play mechanic for virtual reality platforms. The prototype was developed in Unity for the Oculus Quest and Rift S. The project is still under NDA but information on my role may be available on request.
Education:
After my internship at Ubisoft Reflections I decided to do a bachelors degree in Psychology, and work on my games development skills in my own time. This course gave me an understanding of psychological processes, particularly in the areas of perception and cognition. This understanding has proven valuable when applied to the refinement of player experience game systems and players behave and interact with these systems. The modular design of the course also allowed me to supplement my personal learning with units in coding, financial management and creative writing.
I have recently completed a masters degree in Computer Games Art and Design at Goldsmiths University. The course included units in games design, 3D modelling, Unity C# coding, Unreal blueprint coding as well as the use of analytics and project/business management. Through this course I have been able to work on multiple teams across different projects, working to a variety of challenging briefs. For my final project I did a research collaboration and design internship at Hammerhead VR. My project investigated whether the application of historical fencing and martial arts techniques could be utilised to improve melee combat systems.
Hobbies/Interests:
Like most developers I have cultivated a passion for playing games as much as making them, and while I do enjoy many of the blockbuster releases I have recently become much more invested in smaller developer’s titles. I’ve found the creative ambition in this genre very inspiring, as well as the sheer variety and palpable ‘soul’ injected into these smaller titles. Recently I’ve been enjoying Hinterland’s The Long Dark, Roll 7’s Laser League and Asteroid Base’s Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime.
Outside of gaming and games development my main passion is HEMA (historical European martial arts). HEMA involves the practice of a range of martial arts that originated in Europe including the long sword, sword and buckler (a small shield), quarterstaff, rapier, sabre and dagger. Unlike traditional ‘Olympic’ foil fencing these systems are practised as closely as possible to the way they were actually employed, with full weight steel weapons and modern protective body armour. I am passionate about HEMA as it’s a sport that also incorporates historical research and room for personal growth and development through the interpretation of the original texts. It also has a small but strong community of enthusiastic and passionate practitioners.
Andrew Stewart - Game Designer 