Passionate Game Designer looking for opportunities to develop professionally within the videogame industry with companies around the world, while offering an array of communication, documentation, design and development skills.
Written/ Spoken Language: Japanese (Intermediate proficiency) .
Organizational Software: Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio, Trello.
Creative Writing.
Public Speaking.
Data Management.
Professional Experience
Technical Designer – Atooi LLC (May 2018 – June 2021) Unity Engineering Services, UI Design, Planning, and Development services for Mobile & Nintendo switch titles in development.
Developed multiple game prototypes for Nintendo Switch platform.
Development support for early prototype of Petadachi. Current UX heavily based on this prototype's design and playability.
Released Projects:
Knight Fright : Acted as sole programmer of the game and released on iOS platforms. Supported, was consulted about and executed features such as animation work, microtransaction system flow and character design.
Pictooi: Planned, discussed and executed UI Animations, as well as took part in the planning and execution of the overall design centric-decisions for all of the systems within the game. Playtested and refined repeteadly in order to attain a solid game feel.
AlmaUQuest – Self-Developed (September 2015 – January 2016) Game Design, Development, Localization (Unity)
Worked on designing a mobile application for Android platforms designed to market educational programs for Almaty, Kazakhstan’s Almaty Management University.
Worked on the background photography using the university’s locations to take shots with high quality cameras.
Implemented sprites, sound effects, backgrounds, music, interactive menus using a visual scripting Unity-based tool called Fungus.
Tested each iteration of development builds in order to clear bugs, grammatical mistakes, graphical glitches, etc.
Implemented Russian localization text simultaneously as a part of the game’s development.
Wrote the main dialogue, while also doing editing and translation of Russian source material
Playable Mobile Prototypes - Tanooky (2016) Game Design, Development, Motion Capture Generalist (Unity, Motive, Motion Builder)
Worked in the design and implementation of playable prototypes for various mobile platforms such as Amazon Kindle Fire, smartphones and others.
Used motion capture equipment and software to implement various animations within playable prototypes.
Trained students in the use of Motion Capture technology, the use of hardware and software required for capturing animations.
Implemented various User Interface elements into playable builds through Unity’s development platform.
Implemented models, sound effects, backgrounds, music, interactive menus using Unity’s development platform.
Tested each iteration of development builds in order to clear bugs, grammatical mistakes, graphical glitches, etc.
Age of Booty (iOS & Android Tablets) - Certain Affinity (April 2013) Play Tester:
Playtested core game turn-based combat mechanics.
Playtested usability through touch control interface, in-game user interface.
Communicated effectively feedback inquiries and documentation to the Test Leads and Test Managers.
Starlight Inception – Escape Hatch Entertainment (January 2014) Localization:
Worked on doing language translation on the dialogue found inside the introduction movie using Microsoft Word.
Militant (PC & PlayStation 4) – Xibalba Studios (February 2015) Play Tester
Playtested platforming mechanics, level design and boss behaviors.
Playtested user interface.
Offered feedback on shooting mechanics as well as movement design.
Academic Experience
Elementum - Academic Project (September 2013 – March 2014) Level Designer & Play Tester (Unity3D)
Created design layouts and prototypes through Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Word.
Applied designs into the Unity Engine for prototyping using software integration.
Play tested levels and builds for project revisions.
DownBeatDown – Academic Project (January 2014 – August 2014) Lead Game Designer & Producer (Unity3D)
Created core documentation (Game Design Document, Art and Animation reference documents).
Maintained creative direction among the development team.
Worked on schedule creation, listing priority-based dependencies using Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project.
Participated on Game Engine Asset implementation.
2011 Global Game Jam (January 31- February 2) Game Designer
Participated in the 2011 Global Game Jam at UDEM University in Monterrey, Mexico. An event which consisted of developing a game (Digital or otherwise) within 3 days based on a keyword given by the organizers.
Worked on the character property balancing on our Card game Project “Extinction of pop culture”.
Stardust Voyager - 2015 Global Game Jam (March 28 - February 2) Game Designer (Unity3D)
Participated in the 2015 Global Game Jam at UDEM University in Monterrey, Mexico. An event which consisted of developing a game (Digital or otherwise) within 3 days based on a keyword given by the organizers.
Worked on character and prop collision placement.
Implemented stock title screen HUD.
Implemented music loops and sound effects.
Education
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León Physics and Mathematics Faculty, Multimedia y Animación Digital (2011 – 2011):
Took classes related to the basics of programming languages, circuit construction and soldering, as well as communication classes, all using Spanish terminology.
Austin Community College Visual Communication Associate's Degree - Game Design Specialization (2012-2014):
In this degree program, I learned the basic skills needed to have a successful understanding of the game development process as a designer. Completed several assignments which challenged me to compose proper industry-standard documentation, such as Game Design Documents, Level Design Documents, Test Suites and Production Tables.
DeVry University Bachelor of Science Degree – Technical Management (2015 – 2016) - Summa Cum Laude:
In this degree program, I learned business and management techniques in order to increase my knowledge on how to work and create businesses, as well as modern marketing techniques for software development.
Became part of 2016’s summer Dean’s list for high academic achievement.
Graduated as Summa Cum Laude Honor Student with a 3.9 GPA.
Instituto de Estudios Superiores Spenta Mexico Master's Degree – Videogame Production and Development (2016 – 2018) - Summa Cum Laude:
Graduated as Summa Cum Laude Honor Student.
Publications
Abreu Noriega, José Luis. 2017. Videogame Development & Online Education: A Critical Connection Daena: International Journal of Good Conscience. 12(1)186-199. March 2017. ISSN 1870-557X. http://www.daena-journal.org/
Abreu Noriega, José Luis. 2016. Online Video Game Production Master’s Degree: A Formal Product Proposal Daena: International Journal of Good Conscience. 11(2)214-223. November 2016. ISSN 1870-557X.http://www.daena-journal.org/
Abreu Noriega, José Luis. 2016. Game Studio Ethnographic Study. Daena: International Journal of Good Conscience. 12(1)189-195. April 2016. ISSN 1870-557X. http://www.daena-journal.org/
Hobbies
Playing Videogames.
Traveling (I have traveled to: Venezuela, Mexico, United States, Russia, and Kazakhstan).