Game Design Portfolio
Alex Way
About Me
I’m graduating spring ’26 from the University of Southern California with a B.F.A. in Game Development & Interactive Design and B.S. in Business Administration.
In my free time, I enjoy consuming K-dramas and grapes in large quantities. I also enjoy adding new games to my Steam backlog—never to be completed for the same reason.
If you’d like to get in touch, feel free to reach out!
Los Angeles, CA
alexway@usc.edu
+1 (650) 229-4881
Games Showcase
These are the projects I’m most proud of to date. Click for more details!
Local PVP Dodgeball Bullet Hell
Roles: Lead Engineer, Designer
Complete Project (7/13/25 – 8/9/25)
GDD | Video | Play Game
My Contributions
- Implemented a flexible ball spawner system with configurable probabilities and patterns
- Developed player controls using Unity’s new Input System, including controller pairing and local multiplayer support
- Programmed ball speed state behaviors
- Built cinematics and VFX sequences using coroutine-driven event systems
- Engineered an instant replay system to capture and recreate the winning shot
- Designed and coded the project’s complete UI framework, including menus, HUD, and in-game overlays
Comedic Sniper Tower Defense
Roles: Lead Engineer, Designer
Game Jam (8/10/25 – 8/17/25)
GDD | Video | Play Game
My Contributions
- Tuned sniper scope controls, wiping mechanic, and movement smoothing to achieve responsive aiming and satisfying game feel
- Programmed caterpillar AI using NavMeshPlus, including random wandering and targeted flower pathfinding
- Built a modular enemy system with ScriptableObjects, allowing easy configuration of health, armor, speed, and attack patterns across multiple caterpillar variants
- Implemented flower growth and state progression (closed → bud → bloom) with health, timers, and sprite masking to simulate depth in 2D
- Balanced enemy spawner logic with randomized delays, spawn points, and probabilities to enhance replayability and difficulty scaling
Shotgun Physics Rage Platformer
Roles: Lead Designer, Engineer
Prototype (11/6/25 – 12/4/25)
GDD | Video | Play Game
My Contributions
- Prototyped the original softbody physics system, using spring joints and bones to create a bouncy ball with fluid-like motion
- Implemented core shotgun recoil mechanic, including charge-based launch force, rotational aiming, and sensitivity tuning
- Balanced player input variables through extensive iteration and playtesting
- Designed and iterated level layouts to refine the difficulty curve, using playtest data to place spikes, ceilings, and reload pickups strategically
- Facilitated scope management decisions, helping cut non-essential features like leaderboards in favor of polishing the core loop
Tools & Languages
Coursework
Game prototyping, C#, level design, game design theory, game production, publishing, 3D modeling, and more!
Game Design Workshop (USC)
Game Prototyping (USC)
Game Development Principles (USC)
Sound Design for Games (USC)
Intermediate Game Design and Production (USC)
Digital Media Workshop (USC)
Character Development and Storytelling for Games (USC)
Fundamentals of Procedural Media (USC)
Advanced Games Crew (USC)
Games Publishing (USC)
Anatomy of a Game (USC)
Business and Management of Games (USC)
Game Development Fundamentals (USC)
Marketing in the Gaming Industry (USC)
3D Digital Studio 1 (UW-Madison)
Indie Game Academy Level 1 & 2 (IGA)
Videogames and Learning (UW-Madison)
Tools for Game Design (UW-Madison)
Unity C# Scripting (Udemy)