PORTFOLIO
INDEPENDENT
I've self-published more than 25 free games and pieces of interactive fiction on itch.io since January 2016. Some projects are no longer downloadable, but their pages remain up as an archive of my work and game jam submissions. The majority of my games can be played within your browser of choice and/or downloaded to play without an internet connection.
For more info about my freelance work, visit this page.
For more info about my freelance work, visit this page.
EXCALIBUR
Welcome to the Excalibur Wiki.
This hypertext simulation of a fan-run encyclopedia preserves the details of an obscure television series from the 1970s. The psychedelic science-fantasy series Excalibur was wiped by the BBC, but it lives on in the memories of its fans.
A collaboration with J.J. Guest and Duncan Bowsman. PLAY ONLINE |
THE TWINE GRIMOIRE
Learn to customize TWINE!
The Twine® Grimoire is an introduction to customizing the appearance and behavior of projects made in Twine 2.0 using CSS and HTML. Volume 1 is an 84-page, 100% free PDF containing 6 tutorials, and Volume 2 is a 63-page PDF containing 6 more tutorials. FREE DOWNLOAD |
IN DEVELOPMENT |
SUB-Q MAGAZINE
YOU CAN'T PAUSE NOW.
Manipulate an eerie videotape and confront a dangerous infatuation. Unmaking, Unmade was selected as Judges' Choice in the Sub-Q Love Jam and was published in the February 2019 issue of Sub-Q Magazine. It was also exhibited at WordPlay 2019.PLAY ONLINE |
GAME JAMS
I founded and ran two series of game jams from 2017 to 2019.
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Organizer of MytholoJam, with 4 jams, ~400 entrants, and 60+ games from Fall 2017 to Spring 2019 |
Organizer of Cryptid Jam, which drew over 450 entrants and more than 60 games in October 2019. It was a month-long game jam about cryptids, which are creatures "presumed [...] to exist on the basis of anecdotal or other evidence considered insufficient by mainstream science,"¹ with many entities being identified only in folklore, rumors, and urban legends. Some of the most well-known cryptids are Bigfoot, the chupacabra, and the Loch Ness monster. Others you may have heard of are the Jersey Devil and Mothman, but there are many, many others. |
JAM ENTRIES
I've also participated in a number of game jams: [ My First Game Jam ✦ Who Do You Think You Are? (Demo) ✦ January 2016 ] [ Correspondence Jam ✦ The Livid Emissary ✦ February 2016 ] [ Magic Realism Jam ✦ Like Blowing Out A Candle ✦ March 2016 ] [ Public Domain Jam 3 ✦ O, Attic Shape ✦ May 2016 ] [ International Love Ultimatum (ILU) 2 Jam & Fairytale Jam ✦ June 2016 Sweetwater (Demo) ✦ June 2016 ] [My First Game Jam Summer Edition ✦ ever/After ✦ July 2016 ] [ Fermi Paradox Jam ✦ 1181 with @notgojira ✦ September 2016 ] [ Bitsy Breakfast Jam ✦7AM ✦ May 2017 ] [ Grow Jam ✦ Horticouture (Please Be Seeded) ✦ June 2017 ] [ Bitsy Archaeology Jam ✦ Sôphrosunê ✦ April 2018 ] [ Bitsy Ocean Jam ✦ Deep Dweller ✦ June 2018 ] [ Bitsy Sublime Jam ✦ XVIII. ✦ August 2018 ] [ Gothic Novel Jam ✦ Only This ✦ August 2018 ] [ Ink Jam ✦ The Dead Don't Pay ✦ September 2018 ] [ EctoComp (Le Grand Guignol) ✦ Night of Nights ✦ October 2018 ] [ sub-Q Magazine Love Jam ✦ Unmaking, Unmade ✦ December 2018 ] [ Mech Bitsy Jam ✦ The Embrace ✦ February 2019 ] [ Emotional (Digital) Mecha Jam ✦ The Embrace ✦ February 2019 ] [ Bitsy Tooth Jam ✦ Root of Wisdom ✦ April 2019 ] [ Bitsy Bees Jam ✦ Misbeehavior ✦ May 2019 ] [ Divination Jam ✦ Augur & Haruspex ✦ May 2019 ] [ sub-Q Jam 2019 ✦ Habeas Corpus ✦ December 2019 ] [ Bitsy Egg Jam ✦ Hatchling ✦ January 2020 ] [ Bitsy Cursed Book Jam ✦ The End of Decay with Freya Campbell (@spdrcstl) ✦ June 2020 ] [ Twine Survival Guide Jam ✦ HARBINGER.html ✦ August 2021 ]
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UI, ART, & GRAPHIC DESIGN
I create custom stylesheets, artwork, and design elements for my own work as well as clients' projects.
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(2019) Independent: writer, developer, UI designer, artist I wrote, designed, illustrated, and programmed Heretic's Hope in 2019. I created bespoke UI assets, painted character portraits, manipulated a set of images in the public domain (including assets from Open Game Art and artwork by Gustave Doré), and combined all assets using CSS and HTML in order to build a wholly customized and unique interface entirely within Twine. |
(2018/2020) Independent: writer, developer, UI designer, artist I wrote, designed, illustrated, and programmed DEVOTIONALIA in 2018. I used a combination of my own art and UI assets as well as images in the public domain (such as Victor Hugo's "La tour des rats") to create an immersive atmosphere spanning all of the game's screens and routes. In July 2020, I revisited DEVOTIONALIA and updated its artwork as well as several of its UI elements to improve them; the screenshots below reflect those changes. |
VARIOUS PROJECTS 2018-2022 Screenshots below, in order, are from Unmaking, Unmade, Habeas Corpus, Eleutheria, and an in-progress experimental project created to familiarize myself with Twine's Chapbook format. These Twine projects were customized using CSS and HTML. All of the titles listed can be found and played at itch.io. |
GRAPHIC DESIGN 2018-present Promotional graphics, ads, posters, game UI for clients, and more. |
PDF & LAYOUT DESIGN 2019-present Design for downloadable projects including 3 Twine® Grimoire PDFs and an upcoming microfiction zine. |
REVIEWS
"This game gave me rabies and leprosy"
Brian Rushton, praise for Night of Nights
Brian Rushton, praise for Night of Nights
[...] it was the sense of being alone in the dark on the still silent water, with the sense of an unseen roof far above and unknowable things swimming deep beneath. Music, darkness, melancholy, the unknowably alien, and the space to absorb them. That’s the mood which Devotionalia is after, and it skewers it like a moth on a specimen-board. In a way, [Devotionalia] reminds me of the works of Chandler Groover and Phantom Williams. It has a similar rich aesthetic. A surreal, haunting feel. A sense that there’s more hidden below the surface. |
G.C. Baccaris closes out the issue with the fairy-tale flavored "Vows Writ in Scrimshaw," which centers royal siblings as different as night and day, as land and sea. For all their differences, though, they are close, connected, and the story follows as they grow, change, and begin to drift apart. But there are common waters running through them, and I appreciate the way Baccaris captures the bond between the siblings with care and skill. Starting off, I became high priest of a religion I didn’t believe in, and improvised a prayer to crowd of enormous insects. [...] I fist-fought a bee. I … enjoyed this game. A ton. [...] It’s one I could see myself playing again in the future, making different decisions, for the hell of it. Also, I got to give a benediction to some maggots at the behest of a face-stealing bugman. What more could I ask for in a game, I tell you? — Last Pylon, reviewing Heretic's Hope
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"Sending to friends to help them stay up at night." "Well, I'm cursed now. Thanks a lot" "This is illegally good. You have definitely broken some laws to make this, and when I work out what those are I will be contacting the appropriate authorities. Good day." — assorted praise for The End of Decay
Compelling work of cosmic horror with Judeo-Christian overtones [...] The type is well-designed, and the overall effort feels polished, with a nice use of imagery and visuals. [...] Overall, I'd give this piece high marks for atmosphere and tension, particularly in the second act, when physical danger is introduced. — Streever at IFDB, reviewing 1181
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© 2022 G.C. BACCARIS