I am a video game designer, BAFTA member and was awarded the MCV Develop 30 Under 30 Award!

I’ve been working in the video game industry since 2017 and so far have shipped sandbox stealth puzzle game HITMAN 2 and BAFTA award winning platformer Sackboy: A Big Adventure as an animator. This, alongside having spent over three years working on a few incredibly exciting unannounced projects as a game designer, has given me a broad range of experiences across multiple game genres. I have also gained an understanding of the challenges involved that come with working with intellectual property and how to delicately handle it.

My game design ethos.

Using my background in game animation and in TV working as a compliance officer, I have a dialled in perception of game feel, pacing and understanding of my target audience. I love thinking outside the box and bringing about new ideas, occasionally taking risks and earning buy-in from others to elevate my designs. However, learning to work inside the box - getting the most out of a design with limited tooling or resources is just as much fun (if not more fun) than a blank canvas. Across the projects I have worked on, I have experience with both mindsets.

I love being automatous when working and strive to drive and empower my feature teams, regardless of the feature. Whether it be First Time User Experience, Game Objects or Boss Battles, working with a fresh new intern or an experienced lead, taking the time to get to know, understand and motivate the people I work with allows the team’s imaginations to flourish and for us to produce amazing games together. Which means we all win!

Getting involved in the games industry is part of my passion!

This industry is my passion and I love contributing to the future of game developers, working towards making the games industry a better place to work in for everybody. I am a very proud full time BAFTA Member, where I am a reader for the BAFTA Young games Designer competition annually. I have also previously having the privilege of being a juror at the 2020 BAFTA games awards for the animation category.

Additionally, I was nominated by my peers and was featured in MCV Develops 30 Under 30 awards in 2019. I am extremely humbled and proud that my colleagues would ever put me forward for an award like this - let alone actually be on the list.

I am comfortable representing the studio at various events and love interacting with the public with demos and doing talks about working in games. I have been to EGX as an industry representative and did a talk the Yorkshire Games Festival, alongside an internal a design-driven talk about designing boss battles at Sumo Digital Conference.

I have really cool hobbies :D

Outside of working in games, I am a huge roller coaster enthusiast - my spark for roller coasters was reignited after I went to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, riding one of the most historical roller coasters in the word - Rutschebanen after the HITMAN 2 wrap party. I always have a plethora of fun facts to share during the queue for my next ride!

I also play Dungeons and Dragons, both as a player and as a dungeon master where I run an entirely homebrew campaign, where my players are moments away from a cataclysmic disaster as they unpick a island-sized mystery. One week they might be fighting crazy bosses such as a 12ft swan made of knives then the next week wasting all their gold gambling on a Gnome Racing simulation I made in the Unreal Engine. There’s never a dull moment!

It goes without saying that I love video games and I have a particular fondness for the Nintendo GameCube. Over the years I have built a large collection of over 1000 physical games, which helps when I am offering examples! (No better way to explain something than to play it - we’re making video games after all!) My coolest game is a recalled version of Mario Party 8 which I know is very rare!

I am also a huge lover of crafts and building LEGO, so you will often find me complaining that I need more shelf space and needle-felting lil guys that I don’t know what to do with!

Would you like to get to know me more? Grab a cup of tea and let’s have a chat!

If you like what you see and would love for me to share my enthusiasm, then it would be great to hear from you! The easiest way to get in touch with me is at gamedevabbie(at)gmail.com - I would prefer email correspondence to get the ball rolling as I find this easier to keep track of. However I can provide a phone number on request.

I live in the United Kingdom, but I am happy to relocate - including moving internationally to pursue new adventures!

Thanks for reading!