GENESIS 2K24
A head-tracked rhythmic rail-shooter that traces the cyberspace aesthetics of Rez ↗ (2001) back to their origins in Chicago's art and technology scenes. In collaboration with Charles Voita ↗ and Bill Derrah ↗, I led development on this remake of my 2023 C.H.A.I.N.G.E.D. entry ↗. The game reimagines the Electronic Visualization Laboratory's (EVL) 3D vector graphics for Star Wars (1977) and incorporates head-tracking from the CAVE system (1992), set to Phuture's genre-defining Acid Tracks ↗ (1985). It was exhibited at the BitBash 2024 ↗ festival.
Related Projects
Genesis
A light-gun game inspired by vector graphics that reimagines the credit crawl sequence from Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001). I developed this game as my submission for the C.H.A.I.N.G.E.D. collaboration. The project was an opportunity to explore motion-captured camera work, gameplay-to-music synchronization, a blocking system for sequencing events, and vector-based rendering.
Soap Soup: Sodium
An atmospheric exploration game created for the 2024 SOAP SOUP collaboration, a modding project where artists create abstract rooms using a fixed set of elements. My entry is a sensory experience that places the player in a sodium-lit parking lot on a midsummer night. I designed a soundscape of cicadas and a distant storm, and used spherical projection mapping for the visuals, focusing on creating a realistic and immersive atmosphere of warm light and deep shadow.
BACKBONE
An immersive horror, first-person stealth exploration game spanning approximately 30 minutes, rendered with NTSC analogue-style graphics that mimic the rainbow iridescence of 1970s television. BACKBONE is my contribution to C.H.A.I.N. 3, a collaborative network where each developer builds a game world connected to others through doors. Continuing directly from the network's starting game, it expanded the exposition and connected to three other games. The game recreates an early 70s midwestern basement—a childhood memory of one of the lead characters—using modular architectural assets to build an atmospheric period environment. Technical features include an inspection system for environmental storytelling, a phone call system for delivering dialogue sequences, and stealth gameplay with enemy AI that uses a finite state machine and procedural, physics-based animation. Within the network, BACKBONE bridges multiple narrative threads and establishes mechanical systems used by subsequent developers.
Córdoba Court
Córdoba Court is a social game I designed and developed as the third iteration of the People's Tree series, modeled after the communal patios of Córdoba, Spain. Players cultivate a shared virtual environment by designing personalized totems from a combinatorial system of parts. The project was released simultaneously through the Haunted PS1 community and as part of the DARIAH Udigish Working Group's survey on Córdoba's communal patios, serving as a social experiment in shared digital space and community greening. A report is also available, which analyzes player content and observed behaviors.