Kurt Tikoft

This was my capstone student project, undertaken as a part of Macquarie University's COMP3150 Games Project A and COMP3151 Games Project B units. The core team comprised 7 students in total (myself included), with 3 additional external collaborators (all listed on the Itch page).

As creative director, my responsibilities on this project included:

• Conception of the initial concept and design materials.
• Programming the character controller, shooting, camera, and UI.
• Collaborative design of core mechanics through agile development and team discussion.
• Guiding design goals and player experience with other designers.
• Guiding the direction and development of the art style, art assets, and audio in formal art and audio passes.
• Creating and maintaining detailed documentation to support a creative vision for game design and aesthetics.

I undertook this project as an experiment parallel to (but separate from) my university work. It began as an experiment in narrative design, but has since become a fully fledged indie RPG.

My responsibilities on this project include:

• Acting as the sole designer, writer, and programmer.
• Designing and implemented an original take on turn-based combat mechanics.
• Producing the majority of the project’s art assets.
• Working with external collaborators for music, cultural consultancy and character design.
• Managing publishing activities including the Steam submission process and assets.
• Implemented promotional activities such as social media engagement, press outreach, and showcasing.
• Producing the pitch deck and media kit.
• Sourcing playtesters and managing test operations, including automated testing throughout development.

Your Holy & Virtuous Heretic has been featured on WellPlayed and GamesHub. It has been showcased at Powerhouse Late Gaming, SXSW Sydney, Noble Steed Games Exchange, Sabby Gally in Melbourne, and various Serenade events.

My collaborators on this project are:

• LORESPINNER aka Alex Tullet (music)
• Lord Diana (guest character design and sprite art)
• Lucky Smith (guest character design and sprite art)
• Jacques Roberts (supporting prop models and textures)

As part of my Macquarie University Professional and Community Engagement unit, I formed a development team with 5 other students that developed a virtual reality experience for the Liminal Platform, targeting Meta Quest 2 headsets. At time of writing, this experience (Asteroid Blast) is under consideration from Liminal VR for distribution on the Liminal Platform.

As producer and generalist developer on this project, my responsibilities on this project included:

• Converting features and design goals into agile development tasks, and designating them in collaboration with team members.
• Maintaining active communication with team members to effectively manage and complete tasks.
• Communicated with our project client, Liminal VR, and used their feedback to inform project management.
• Ensured compliance with the Liminal Platform's technical guidelines.
• Created custom 3D assets, textures, animations, and materials and integrated them with licensed assets.
• Assisted in programming, including fixing bugs and implementing software architecture.