Ethan Erickson-Lucas' Portfolio
Nog Nightmare
I this week long game jam, I and seven other teammates worked to create a holiday horror game. My role in this project was to create and maintain a Game Design Document, as well as help design mechanics. the majority of my independent work was in creating the hiding spot mechanic. Allowing the player to hide from the enemies, limiting the players viewing range, making it dynamic to allow players to lean in some spots, etc. As well as creating the player interaction system collectable items, and the win condition.
I also had a hand in setting up the scenarios to allow a different enemy set each run, implementing 2d and 3d assets, and helped set up the random spawn locations for enemies and items.
poltergeist party
Over a five month period, using Unreal Engine 5, Perforce, Jira, Confluence, and Discord, Team EelSuit and I created Poltergeist Party. A Collectathon Platformer where you navigate through a trashed mansion as a ghost in order to get back to your body.
My contributions to this project are as follows... I created and implemented the proof of concept and final iteration of the possession system. Blockmeshed/Designed the initial appearance of the collectables, as well as programming the mechanic in it's entirety (along with the view collectable menu). I also created the win zone and player HUD collectable tracker. Additionally I block meshed the wine cellar, and front entrance/win area of the level. I also had a heavy hand in implementing the main menu, working off of an initial iteration created by my teammate. There was quite a bit more that I took part in creating, however it didn't make the final iteration.
Clean up crew
A simple blockmesh project where I created NPCs and dialogue trees, collectable notes and items, pressure washer mechanic that cleaned materials (Video showcasing this mechanic in a finished state is still being completed), doors that open and close, custom player interactions with some NPCs, tracked player stats and objectives, and of course designed the level's layout.
Turnamental
Over the span of a month, I worked on designing mechanics for a tile-based game named Turnamental. In the initial week, my efforts were dedicated to extensive research on mechanics from other games within the same genre. During this research I aimed to look for ideas that are both fun and unique. After finding a magnetic mechanic in an old flash game, I decided that would make for a fun puzzle mechanic. So for implementation, I crafted a detailed design document to outline the steps needed to implement it into the game.
After I had my mechanic documented, my goal was to implement the chosen mechanic and document the process within a tight one-week timeframe. I had quite a bit to implement for my chosen mechanic. I wanted the player to be able to use their magnet tool to traverse and solve puzzles, I also wanted multiple ways for that magnet to interact with the environment. so I chose to create a magnetic anchor that the player can move towards, or by changing their polarity to launch themselves away from the wall.
As this sprint concluded, I was worked to implement a mechanic devised by a peer within the same condensed week. Where the documentation produced during the previous week served as a valuable reference guide to help implement their mechanics into the game.

Wrecked (Board Game)
A board game I designed under the restrictions of: Be made for 2 players, have rules that fit on a single printed page using the template formatting, and have one additional single printable page that contains the game board, among other restrictions. If you'd like to read the full list of rules and restrictions, you can read them Here.
Walking sim Blockmesh
I created a blockmesh of for level of a walking simulator. With the restrictions of it has to be based in realism and void of any other characters. After the block meshing phase we then were put into teams and combine our levels together seamlessly, by replacing the blockmesh with assets, to create a cohesive and playable game. My level involves an abandoned mineshaft that once held a secret government office space, but it is now left uninhabited due to a mysterious and chaotic event. The player must traverse the mineshaft and barricades of desks, chairs, and office supplies in order to find their way to the lodge.