Lochlan Shea Belford
Narrative Design | Game Design
Lochlan is a narrative designer and game designer with experience in Unity, Ink, and Game Maker Studio 2. His dual background in computer science and theatrical performance makes him adept at working in teams and communicating across disciplines.
Lochlan attends the the Carnegie Mellon Entertaiment Technology Center, a fast-paced and team-based interdisciplinary game development program, where he will graduate with a Master’s of Entertainment Technology degree in May 2023. Below are samples of his work over the two years of the program.
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Narrative Design
Writing Samples
The Basilisk — Read Sample — View Design Documents (Main Mechanic and Story Outline)
Format: Ink Interactive Fiction
Role: Solo Author and Designer
Time Frame: 14 Weeks (In progress, ending May 2023)
Description: A 1-hour interactive fiction piece written in Ink, featuring a character trait mechanic designed to control story branches and connect players to the story's central relationship. Semester-long independent study project.
You Will Be Healed — Read Sample
Format: PDF TTRPG Campaign Book
Role: Showrunner of 3-person writing team
Time Frame: 7 Weeks (Fall 2022)
Description: Horror-themed TTRPG campaign set in the Dragon Age universe using the Dragon Quest game system. Final project for an RPG Writing class. I led a team of three writers in developing this project, and personally wrote Act 3 and the character Rowan.
Dragon Age Action Scene — Read Sample
Format: Screenplay
Role: Writer
Time Frame: 1 Week (Fall 2022)
Description: An individual assignment earlier in the semester, writing a 5 page action scene set in the Dragon Age universe. This scene later became the basis for my team's overall campaign story.
The Vault — Read Sample — View Character Flowchart
Format: Ink Interactive Fiction
Role: Solo Author and Designer
Time Frame: 80 Hours (Summer 2022)
Description: A choice-based Ink game I used to explore technical narrative design. The story involved assigning companion NPCs to different jobs based on skills, and the companions’ trust in the player character would go up or down based on the outcome of these jobs. I wrote a function library in Ink to support these systems, which you can view here.
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Game Design
Current and Past Projects
Liubo Lab: Recreating an Ancient Game — Download on Itch
Role: Game Designer, Tutorial Writer, Programming Support
Time Frame: 14 Weeks (In progress, ending May 2023)
Skills: Board Game Design, Tutorial Design, Paper Prototyping, Playtest-based Iteration, Researching Similar Products
Description: Recreation of a board game played in China from 500BCE to 500CE. I led development of the capturing and blocking mechanics over several iterations and paper prototypes, based on extensive historical research into Liubo’s components and other games of the same time period. I also wrote our in game rulebook, helped run playtests for over two dozen players, and assisted with programming in Unity. 6 person team.
More Links: Watch Trailer, View Project Website
Duet: Game Pre-Production Project — View Project Website
Role: Lead Designer
Time Frame: 14 Weeks (Spring 2022)
Skills: Team Management, Cross-Discipline Communication, Pitch Development, Presentation Skills, Rapid Iteration
Description: Pre-production project to develop a game concept for a future production team. Final deliverable was a pitch deck and design documents for a 3D platformer in which the player plays music to both communicate with and magically heal a giant whale. I was in charge of two other designers, and helped lead them in designing mechanics and levels. I personally developed and delivered our final pitch presentation, which involved presenting new versions of our pitch to test audiences for feedback daily for multiple weeks. 7 person team.
More Links:
— View Pitch Deck (My section of a larger final presentation; I created, iterated, and presented the slide contents and pitch script; Art and slide theming by other teammates)
— View Introductory Level Design Document (I created this storyboard of our first game level to help guide the design team and explain our mechanics)
Genscape: VR Lucid Dream Art Experience — View Project Website
Role: Level Designer, Game Designer, Game Scripting
Time Frame: 14 Weeks (Fall 2022)
Skills: Level Design, Virtual Reality, Hand Tracking Interaction, Designing to Emotional and Visual Art Goal
Description: Experimental VR visual art experience for Quest 2, themed on lucid dreaming. I designed two of our main levels, the Cemetery and the Lake. I also designed and implemented many of the visual changes that occur in the levels as the player is guided through emotional stages from “curiosity” to “fear.” I also worked closely with an artist on the team to recreate a screen-wide “oil painting” effect from a flat-screen experience in VR. 4 person team.
More Links:
— Watch Playthrough (I designed Cemetery and Lake levels)
— View Design Summary and Postmortem (Just my sections of a larger, end of project summary and post-mortem document. Describes some of the game’s main mechanics, as well as lessons from several of our 14 weeks of iterations.)
The Keys of Obliteration: Multiplayer Battle with Real Piano — Watch Playthrough
Role: Game Designer, Programmer, Piano Owner
Time Frame: 3 Weeks (Fall 2021)
Skills: Local Multiplayer, Mechanic Balancing, Alternative Input (Piano), Live Audience Considerations, Playtest-based Iteration
Description: A 2 player soccer-like arcade game controlled by a full size MIDI piano keyboard. I led design of how to use piano input in our game, as well as working closely with our artists and sound designer to make sure everyone’s assets were implemented correctly. I also balanced and iterated a number of our mechanics, such as the shield and the player rate-of-fire, based on frequent playtest feedback about visual clarity and usability. 5 person team.
Say Hello!
If you have a question or want to talk, please reach out! You can use the form below, or just send an email to lochlan.belford@gmail.com