Elliot Cox

Game Designer

I’m Elliot, a Game Designer based in NSW, Australia. I have experience as a game designer and a programmer using both Unity and Unreal, and various platforms such as PC, consoles, mobile, and VR.

I have previously worked for the Sydney based Blowfish Studios, and TAFE NSW Digital Lab.

Projects

Sometimes

Team Size: Solo Project

Roles: Design, Programming, Art

Engine: Unity

SOMETIMES is a small game focussed on exploring emotions through a collection of simple and short vignettes.

This project was made for myself as a way of exploring my own mental health journey and trying to express the feelings and convey how they twisted and melded together.

I initially concepted the vignettes based around the associated emotion, then prototyped each one. Based on feedback received I iterated or completely shifted the vignettes. Over the course of development I tested different visual styles and presentations to try and fin the best fit both for my skill and the themes present, eventually landing on the very simple 2D characters and elements present in the final product.

SOMETIMES was a finalist in the 2023 AGDAs for Excellence in Impactful Games and in the 2024 Freeplay Awards for Micro Game.

SOMETIMES is available for free through itch.io

A breakdown of how I approached designing and creating Sometimes can be seen here

Phantom Galaxies

Company: Blowfish Studios

Role: Junior Game Developer

Engine: Unreal Engine 5

PHANTOM GALAXIES is a third person mech shooter where players pilot their own mech, manage their equipment, and navigate through the open world fighting enemies, completing quests, and explore the distant reaches of the galaxy.

I joined while the project was midway through a pivot from a singleplayer game into a multiplayer game, and begun contributing to the project quickly. I wrote new documentation and specs for designs, maintained and updated documentation and balance spreadsheets, and worked in engine to implement designed systems using tools provided by the engineering team.

My work on the project includes defining mech class fantasy and designing abilities, weapon attributes and archetypes, daily and weekly repeatable quests, levelling and gear progression systems, ambient enemy systems, player movement, and control schemes.

Further details of my design work on Phantom Galaxies can be seen here.

Plumbing Safety

Team Size: 11

Roles: Junior Unity Developer

Engine: Unity

PLUMBING SAFETY is a VR Application to teach users about the process of electrical safety for plumbing in a safe environment and then test them on that knowledge.

The app was adapted to a new VR interaction system with improved user experience and feedback designs implemented in the process of the development.

I implemented several VR based interactions, the training and assessment sequence, and worked on an existing codebase.

PLUMBING SAFETY is available on the Oculus App Lab.

Reorient

Team Size: Solo Project

Roles: Design, Programming

Engine: Unity

REORIENT is a small platformer where you can rotate which direction is up. REORIENT was made for Kenney Jam 2021.

The theme for the jam was "Rotation", with the added restriction of only using art assets available from kenney.nl. I was drawn to one of the platformer art packages, and I then designed the core rotation mechanic.

I designed and programmed player movement, the rotation mechanic, buttons and keys, scene transitions, and UI functionality.

REORIENT is available on itch.io

Buzzy Bee

Team Size: Solo Project

Roles: Design, Programming, Art

Engine: Unity

BUZZY BEE is an endless runner where you play as a bee as you go about helping the pollination process.

This project was made for some friends of mine who wanted a game based around bees. I had a lot of fun doing the research (or beesearch) for this project as it showed me how important bees are. Through the research I connected with the role that bees have in the pollination process, and through that decided to make an endless runner.

Over the course of a few months, I made a prototype, and iterated based on the feedback received from several testers, eventually producing the final product. I also integrated a system in which players can alter different aspects of the game, from the speed of the stage to how far apart the obstacles are and even whether or not there were enemies. This system was integrated after feedback from the users indicated different preferences for difficulty.

BUZZY BEE is available for free through itch.io

A breakdown of how I approached designing and creating Buzzy Bee can be seen here

Spacebender Sam

Team Size: 2

Roles: Programmer, Design, VFX, Character Design

Engine: Unity

SPACEBENDER SAM is a game where your point of view determines where you can move.

This project was created over the course of 3 months, as the major work of the final semester. It was a collaborative effort, including people outside the team, and created to fit a brief.

Through iteration and discussion, we developed this over the 3 month period, with feedback from a small number of testers, as well as the course advisers, acting in place of the client who gave us the brief.

SPACEBENDER SAM is available for free through itch.io or gamejolt

Electric Sheep

Team Size: Solo

Roles: Design, Programming, Art, Music, SFX

Engine: Unity

Electric Sheep is a hack and slash game, inspired by LEGEND OF ZELDA and HYPER LIGHT DRIFTER.

This project was created over the course of 6 weeks, and was my introduction into a lot of the systems available within Unity. I also included an alternate ending in the game, where the player can choose a non-violent path through the game. 

ELECTRIC SHEEP is available for free through itch.io