Stephen Kolodychuk
Game Design Portfolio
Solo Projects
Rogue-like Tower Defense
[NAME] is a short, rogue-like tower defense game I made during my senior year at DigiPen to gain additional experience with game balance and procedural gameplay.
Deckbuilder
[Deckbuilder] is a simple deckbuilding game I made during my junior year to push my system design and technical capabilities.
Project Celidonius
Project Celidonius was an independent resarch project I created at DigiPen to explore using virtual reality as a therapy and recovery tool to help rehabilitate users with non-total cortical blindness. Unfortunately, Celidonius was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and cancelled when I graduated from DigiPen.
BLINK
BLINK is a barebones 2D platformer (splatformer) inspired by Dishonored's teleport mechanic and Super Meat Boy made during my sophomore year at DigiPen.
Experience
May 2021 - July 2021
Associate Game Designer
KooApps
Bring features from conception to release
Write and maintain design documentation
Work collaboratively with game director, other designers, art team, dev team
Plan and manage releases with remote, international teams
Aug 2020 - April 2021
Game Design and Production TA
DigiPen Institute of Technology
Conduct weekly check-ins with assigned student teams to provide feedback and inform professors on team status
Playtest weekly builds to offer targeted design advice on recent changes and project direction
Support teams without designers with creating strong core game loops and multiple engagement arcs
Assist teams with design and production issues as needed
Jan 2020 - May 2021
Game Designer and Producer
Metamorphos (Academic)
Balance combat systems to create dynamic choices and interesting moment-to-moment gameplay using Microsoft Excel to create a simple pipeline and analyze combat systems
Collaborate with programmers to define in-game telemetry and analyze results to allow for data-driven iterations on systems
Work closely with animators and VFX artists to refine enemy and player attacks to create strong signifiers and feedback
Facilitate team by leading weekly meetings, reducing non-development overhead, and refining communication methods
Aug 2019 - Jan 2020
Game Designer and Producer
Mu and the Little Reef (Academic)
Led design meetings to focus gameplay on central systems and reinforce core game loop
Created and tuned movement systems to promote underwater feel and player immersion
Coordinated with designers, programmers, and artists to make sure feature and content deadlines allow enough time for testing
Designed surveys and playtest methodologies to allow for rapid iteration of core mechanics during pre-production phase
Aug 2018 - Apr 2019
Game Designer and Design Lead
Robot Rocket Rumble (Academic)
Collaborated with programmers to define physics-based combat systems and pipeline for rapidly iterating in custom engine
Rapidly prototyped game mechanics during pre-production that led to major gameplay shifts and solved major usability issues
Created heat maps from playtesting to inform level design decisions
Led design meetings to review collected metrics, create design guidelines, assign tasks, and provide feedback