Noah Findlay - Game Designer and Producer
Currently studying at Abertay University.
A Fourth Year Game Design and Production Student!Specialising in:-Production
-Narrative Design
-Gameplay DesignCurrently Working On:My honours project: Dirty Work!Dirty Work is the combination of a cleaning game and a boom shooter FPS, used to explore how FPS mechanics and aesthetics can be used to explore the lived experiences of working as a cleaner!Begin your shift at the "World Wide Encloypedia Educational Experience!" or WWEEE, for short, after hours as it seems like everything about your job is quite literally out to get you!
NARRATIVE DESIGN
ATHENAEUM - Hungry Snake Studios
"For many years there has been a small religion residing in a library under London. A library of hope, a place to learn and prosper. This library holds your religion, the Gathering of Hope. Something is not right, everyone of your fellow members is gone. It appears the doors are sealed shut by an unrecognisable force, and the only way out it to explore the halls of religion and discover what happened to everyone. Set during the 1910s in London, explore a large library, solving puzzles to unlock your path to freedom. Discover books and letters to read that tell an over-arching storyline. Discover what you truly have pledged yourself to."
I worked as a primary narrative designer and game writer for the project which I created during my second year of university. Athenaeum is a heavy eldritch horror story game inspired by lovecraft, Amnesia and FAITH: The Unholy Trinity.Responsibilities Included:- Creating and designing the storyline in a four-month period creates a creepy atmosphere through lore and characters.- Working with a gameplay designer to design puzzles and intertwine them with the lore.- Write all the text for tutorials, in-game books and puzzles- Creating a narrative design document with all the information and text in it- World built around the gameplay design- Using programs such as obsidian and twine to plan narrative flow and events
UNSILENT NIGHT - Bottle O'Fish
"Navigate an uncomfortable Christmas family dinner following protagonist Robin as they undertake a barrage of invasive prying questions from family members."Unsilent Night is a visual novel short experiences inspired by every awkward family dinner ever.
Unsilent Night was a collaborative effort between two narrative designers. My task(s) included:- Designing a narrative around the prompt 'Child-Free' so that the topic can be explored respectfully and accurately- Designing, planning and refining separate story beats so they can be translated into dialogue-Creating different dialogue choices and assisting in writing dialogue-Navigating problems arising with creative differences and comprising when needed
DIRTY WORK - Solo Development
Dirty Work is a current WIP game for my honors project. It follows the cleaner having to fight his way through a shift as all the dirt, debris and litter come alive to hunt him down. The game uses mechanics similar to Doom, Quake and Duke Nukem to explore themes of work stress, pressure and poverty. At this moment in time, the core mechanics of shooting enemies, movement and some rudimentary AI.Narrative Wise, on the stage:- narrative has been designed around both lived experiences and conducted desk research- The narrative flow is currently being planned out via twine-Research being conducted into sociopolitical presentation in games and media
GAMEPLAY DESIGN
ROCKPOOLS - Bottle O' Fish
Rockpools was a game intended to be played at the Dundee Hooley 2025. Rockpools was developed collaboratively between our team of 5, during a 2-week game jam-style session.Part of my responsibilities during this time included:-Designing the gameplay loop for the event and general gameplay-Running playtesting-Taking on feedback and adapting gameplay based on playtesting-Helping run the game on the day of the event
GIMME A BRAKE - Bottle O' Fish
'GIMME A BREAK' is a spin on the classic arcade racing, with players working together to get the best time together. Our Game intends to show you that no matter where you are in life there are always people there to support you.
Give me A Brake was a response to a brief to explore the theme of men's mental health for Whale Song Park by the V&A. The game had to be accessible and appropriate for all ages.My responsibilities for the project included:-Research visual communication for accessibility-Research Mens mental health and create a gameplay mechanic in response to the research-Create a narrative using procedural rhetoric-Explore how to create communication between players through mechanics
PRODUCTION
THE SEA HAS FISHUES - Hecatoncheires Studio
Note: On this itch.io, it will refer to me as Nerites. My name has changed since then.“The Sea Has Fishues” is a side-scrolling fishing-ish game intended for general audiences and inspired by the casual flash-games of the 2010s. Explore a costal town, get to know its charming residents and help improve their environment."
As part of my third-year professional project. I took on the role of producer and team coordinator.As part of my role, I took a people-first approach during development, prioritized team morale to produce a higher quality of work, which included:-Daily wellbeing check-ups
-Frequent contact with teammates and developers on progress-Adjusting workload based on the indivual developer needs and abilites while keeping it balanced with the project needs-Encouraging out of class teambuildingMy other responsibilites included:
-Facilitated communication between myself, the team, client and our tutor-Tracked tasks using JIRA, Trello and Excel-Tracked progress through, daily and weekly stand-ups-Became familiar with a scrum and agile style of development-Successful met milestone deliverables on time-Facilitated playtesting, tracked bugs and their fixes using JIRA
BOTTLE O' FISH - Co-Producer
During my fourth year modules, I stepped into the role of co-producer. This focused more on the social parts of the role, such as:- Contacting lecturers about progress and concerns- Helped guide meetings during brainstorming, progress check ins and presentation preparation- Kept team on track using Trello as the games were created in two week jam sessions- Picked up other aspects of production to when lead producer had too much on their plate or had to fulfill other roles