~Resume~
Email: [email protected]
Game Development Experience
Snap & Grab [ June 2019 - Present ]
Senior Level Designer
Designed layouts for several large sandbox style maps, providing many early paper-map iterations.
In charge of extensive R&D for each level location during early and late project development.
Pitched and implemented a vast variety of fun and creative photo challenges and plannable heists that can each be approached in different ways based off player choices.
Iterated quickly on gameplay loops in tandem with large core system design changes for Heists.
Bridged communication between design and art teams in order to effectively resolve and delegate issues in tandem with production.
Handled a variety of tasks throughout the project including: Level design, behavior trees, UE Blueprints, voice/audio integrations, lighting, early cutscene block outs, simple VFX, environment art, and set dress.
Environment Artist
Understood the overall artistic direction of the game to help steer concept and 3D artist in the right direction when asked for feedback and critique.
Oversaw 3D artist's work and handled upgrading assets so that they would be designer friendly, gameplay ready, and fully match the game's style accordingly.
Polished the overall 3D visual look and feel of several levels including color palettes, geometry shape language, texture/materials, and lighting.
Worked with artist’s trim sheet and material library to bring together a cohesive yet sustainable art direction for the team size and capacity.
Took ownership of 3D Art assignments when role was left unfulfilled, completing necessary art-based tasks while still meeting the level design workload.
Craftloveian [ Feb 2022 ]
Served as the primary designer and environment artist over the course of 2 weeks for Kaijujam 2022.
Concepted a game pitch quickly and efficiently delegated assignments to production partner.
Created cohesive art theme that worked flexibly for the skillset of my partner and the time allotted for the project.
Scout's Honour [ Jan 2018 - Dec 2020 ]
Worked with a partner in developing a stylized & gameplay packed experience for Senior Thesis.
Was the primary designer of the gameplay loop and concept. Served as Lead Concept, Environment, Character, and Texture Artist for the project while overseeing gameplay programmer.
Designed and modeled a modular character that allowed flexible character creation in-engine.
Created a wide array of hard surface and organic sculpted assets that rendered efficiently in the game's day and night scenario maps.
Sarasota Game Jam [ Aug 2018 ]
Worked with a small team of students to create a playable and appealing 3D side scroller within 48 hours.
Served as an environment artist and lead texture artist for the team.
Was required to work quickly and efficiently in order to meet tight deadlines.
Skills
Software Proficiency
Unreal Engine
Autodesk Maya
ZBrush
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Premiere Pro
Substance Painter
3D Coat
Nomad Sculpt
Clip Studio Paint
Tools
Perforce
Jira
Figma
Notion
Microsoft Office Suite
Professional Skills
Hard Surface Modeling
Organic/Foliage Modeling
Texturing/UV Mapping
Modkit Creation
Visual Development
Level & Game Design
Gameplay Prototypes
Onboarding/Mentoring
Documentation
Fluent Languages
English
Spanish
Accolades
Ringling Professional Development Grant [ Dec 2018 ]
Best of Ringling [ April 2017, 2018 ]
Intel University Game Showcase Exhibition [ March 2019 ]
WOHS Art Department Student of the Year [ May 2015 ]
Most Outstanding Student Volunteer - Winter Garden Art Association [ May 2015 ]
Other cool thingsâ„¢
Presenter at events such as Indie Game Awards, Summer Game Fest, and GDC
History of working as a mentor or teaching assistant for a wide array of ages
Past experience organizing community driven events
10+ Years experience in costume and prop fabrication
Experience in manufacturing merchandise including: Charms, Stickers, Shirts, and Stationery.
I have a really cute dog (invite him over and he will sleep all day)
Nico in a crab headband
Nico on a Hike
Education
Ringling College of Art and Design
Bachelor's Degree in Game Art - 2019
Game Design
Fully designed gameplay and physically fabricated a professional quality board game which was on exhibit at Best of Ringling 2017.
Created successful layouts and gameplay through advanced skills in visual scripting for Unreal Engine for a variety of genres including: FPS, platforming, racing, and battle arena levels.
Applied skills and experience to teaching students the principles and intricacies of game design during Ringling’s Precollege Program in 2017 & 2018.
Environment Art
Worked on a large team to construct and develop a cohesive modular game environment where I was responsible for creating specific assets from concept, adapt to feedback, and complete assignments within a timely manner.
Worked alongside a partner to concept and produce an FPS level utilizing a well optimized modular kit.
Developed and created a forest biome and interactive workshop environment focused on encapsulating a compelling atmosphere and composition.
Mentored students during Junior and Senior year, giving guidance and critique in both environment art and game design disciplines.
Concept Art and Visual Development
Created and developed visuals for environments, characters, and props for future 3D modeling.
Had concept art for creature character and Ghost Cafe workshop featured at Best of Ringling's exhibits in 2018.
Used skills and experience to teach students visual development in games during Ringling’s Precollege Program in 2017 & 2018.
RCAD Teaching Assistant [ 2017, 2018 ]
Worked alongside Ringling College professors and fellow teaching assistants to teach high school students the art of Game Design and Visual Development for Games.
Required patience and communication skills in order to serve as a counselor for the attending students in both their academic and personal growth.
In charge of in-class assistance and after-class tutoring in understanding software such as Unreal Engine, Visual Scripting, Photoshop, ZBrush, and Maya.
RCAD Game Art and VR Lab Monitor [ Aug 2018 - May 2019 ]
In charge of handling and reporting any hardware or software problems in the labs with faculty and IT staff.
Required communication and problem solving skills when addressing students or technical difficulties, especially after class hours.
Snap & Grab
Senior Level Designer & Artist
Overview
Nifty Nevada is the world's most famous fashion photographer. She’s also the mysterious mastermind behind the world's most brazen unsolved heists. What’s her secret? Her loyal crew of henchmen keep her from ever lifting a beautiful, important finger!As Nifty, you'll travel to exclusive and exotic locations, using your fashion photographer skills to take pictures of anything and everything you want to steal - as well as any complications or threats in the way.Then, instead of committing any crimes yourself, assemble your photos to plan the perfect heist for your crew to execute! They are going to do a great job. Your plans won't cause complete chaos or have any problems. Don't worry about it!
The Apartment
The Scenery
Bustling dancers, loud music, several corgis, and oh yeah the guy who's party this is Erik Pop.The Apartment level is the 80s bachelor pad washed in neon light and flaunting gold accented marble. After it's been stolen by Nifty, it's Pop-inspired color scheme of blues and pinks swaps over to Nifty's more elegant purple and wine palette.Personal contributions for the level included: Map layout revisions, Heist ideation and implementing/iteration, Photo Opt puzzles, Set dress, 3D asset creation (Modkits and Hardsurface)
Personal Asset Gallery
- More assets from future levels available on request and more to be uploaded soon -
Designing Snap, Plan, Grab!
Stealing items requires creating a masterful plan.
As Nifty in Snap-phase we task the players to use their camera to identify potential threats, find interesting objects of use as distractions, and of course snap the valuables she wishes her henchmen to grab for her!Fun and silliness was my number one priority when it came to designing stealables, obstacles, and the interactables within this sandbox world for players to complete satisfying heists. The goal was always to push humor into the script, one day Nifty is set on stealing a diamond key that happens to contractually come with a guy's entire apartment and the next she's trying to find the best way for her team to steal a tiny shark living in the toilet pipes without getting her henchmen bitten.((Anything shark related in the game was definitely my own doing))Grab-phase took many forms, originally requiring to watch the henchmen walk in real-time to each step and swapping between up to 5 running at once, occasionally radioing in telling them to stop during patrolling threats. Identifying that more often than not this loop kept the player from actually spending time meaningfully playing, we switched gears to the snappy action-by-action replay of the events.Our trial and error gameplay loop now rewards the player with intel and easily identifies blockers to success, making Grab-phase enjoyable and seeing the hijinks linearly is rewarding when stealing items.
Planning the Perfect Shot
As the greatest photographer there is, Nifty is always on the hunt for magazine worthy photo opportunities.In addition to heists players can pursue a number of Photo Opts. These quests in Nifty's day planner focus on setting up the perfect picture according to a guideline example that she's drawn. These require having the player place things in certain locations, causing chain reactions or behaviors, gathering intel, or timing world objects to be in the right place at the right time.Originally we had written guides to help the player reach these objectives, but quickly found a better balance providing a visual sketch of the goal. Including major landmark representations felt less like giving the answer to players and we noticed overall more player satisfaction in solving puzzles this way.
Text based guides felt too "hand-holdy" and the change overall was a good break away from the how the heist guides are presented.
Snap & Grab's first episode was released via Steam on April 2026, with more episodes planned to release later in the year.
Scout's Honour
Lead Artist and Gameplay Designer
Overview
Scout's Honour is a 3D sandbox experience where you play as a young scout at summer camp. Graduation is a few days away, and somehow you've managed to collect no patches during your time at Camp Evolent. Race against the clock and decide whether to gain patches through good deeds or mischievous acts. Will you use your time to graduate in top honours, or will you unveil some malicious camp secret? Every action counts, so it's time to get patching or get packing!The game features day and night scenery for three main areas in our world: The Main Campsite, The Cliffside, and The Activities Field. In between the Cliffside and the Activities Field lies a Small Outlook.All assets for the game were hand painted through a combination of Photoshop, 3D Coat, and Substance Painter.Scout's Honour was a two person senior thesis created by Cessia Castillo and Dana Lee at Ringling College of Art and Design from 2018 to 2019.✰
The Campgrounds
Hero Assets
The Cabin and Camper Character
My main role in the project involved the majority of look development, asset creation, and texturing. The overall gameplay loop and pitch was my own concept which took shape to final with thesis partner's collaboration in programming.During our first semester, the camper's cabin was my key asset for establishing future visual development. This hero prop helped solidify the overall art direction path for the rest of the project.The modular character was my central asset assignment created for the purpose of getting the most out of one character model and skeleton inside Unreal Engine.
Through detachable facial and hair assets there are in total up to 288 variations of the camper. If we include texture modularity in skin tones and outfits the variation increases exponentially to nearly 500,000!Additionally, I was able to add height variations in engine through animation blueprints used for the NPC campers. This allowed us an even larger scale of camper variation to chose and customize from without needing to spend time modeling more characters.
Modular Scout Character
Main body skeleton allowed adjustments to height via blend shapes in animation blueprint
Interchangeable socket assets included: Hair, Nose, Eyebrows, Eyes
Material Instances were made for customizing hair, skin, eye, and uniform color through texture masking.
