Elias' Portfolio

DIVE (2024)

DIVE is a cave diving game for the thick-skinned.

The player explores underwater caves, dealing with environmental hazards and learning to use tools which make navigating the confusing labyrinth more manageable.

I was inspired by "The Darkness Beckons," a book about the history of British cave diving. I wanted to capture the look and feel of being submerged in this one-of-a-kind place.

It's common to put the player in a man-vs-environment situation, slowly giving the player opportunities to get an edge over their initially harsh condition. DIVE takes this trope to the extreme, punishing the player for their mistakes and training their navigational prowess.

TICKETS (2024)

TICKETS is a casual physics game made for the Hackfort 2024 game jam.

During the development I had working in a parking garage. I knew that many people visiting Hackfort would be parking there, so I wanted to give players a game that humorously depicts this shared frustrating experience.

It may remind some of casual mobile games and rage clickers because of the isometric untextured style. This is exactly what I'm going for!

Since the jam was only 2 days long I only had time to make 2 levels. I have a lot of ideas for it and I will make more if the game gets the attention.

POLYFIGHT (2023)

PolyFight is a 2D fast-paced shooter where up to 8 players compete to be the last standing. Randomized levels keep each round interesting. I co-developed PolyFight with Alan Tucker.

BLOCKSMITH XR (2017 - 2023)

Blocksmith is a 3D game making tool for students. Imagine if Scratch and Unity had a child!

I spent 6 years working as a game designer and quality assurance. I leveraged my experience with level design software like Hammer Editor to improve the tool.

I published several games to promote the Blocksmith brand.

My biggest hit was an educational coding game called "Bot Is Sus." It garnered hundreds of thousands of plays from students across the country and placed front-page on hourofcode.org. The Blocksmith team continues to make spinoffs of the game annually.

I also wrote educational curriculums teaching game design to K-12 students.