Light House
A short first-person narrative puzzle game.
Light House sees the player explore an abandoned lighthouse while completing six puzzles across five levels. The puzzles represent their journey as they turn the light on and discover where they are and why they’re there. Each puzzle is built around finding a relevant word and has a unique format that ties into the environment and level design.
Game Page Project Breakdown
Artist Simulator
An early prototype designed in consultation with working artists and user testing.
Artist Simulator gives players the virtual tools to explore traditional art mediums and create new works of art. Then provides a gallery for players and artists to display their work in and receive comments back.
Project Breakdown
Education
TopMA User Experience Design
Falmouth University Games Academy
A part-time program focused on the iteration of game design empowered by the formal application of user research to guide innovation.
BSC(HONS) Games Technology
University of the West of England
A First-Class technical education, including Unity, Unreal, C/C++ and C#, systems architecture, gameplay logic, AI, UI & optimisation.
UX Mentor
Limit Break
Helping junior designers explore the field of UX as it relates to user-centred game design through research, iteration, playtesting and accessibility.
Mentor Training
Limit Break
A CPD accredited course in mentoring and allyship to guide the development of emerging and existing talent in the games industry.
Level Design Mentorship
with Shane Conroy
Covering level design fundamentals from analysis of existing games to research, layout & blockout approaches and documentation techniques.
Environmental Puzzle Design
with Joel Beardshaw
A directed three week course in progressive puzzle design with feedback sessions, group work & live case studies from UsTwo Games projects.
Accessible Player Experiences®
The AbleGamers Charity
Practitioner certification in accessible experience design and disability advocacy built around The AbleGamers Foundation’s APX design system.
Games User Research
with Steve Bromley
A 14-part course covering professional approaches to survey design, playtesting and research synthesis with practical examples.
Professional Credits
TopAssociate UX Researcher
Alan Wake 2
I supported the publishing production team at Epic with usability reporting for pre-release builds and helped to prioritise design towards release.
Associate UX Researcher
Alan Wake: Flashback
Epic Games with Remedy Entertainment,
Spiral House, and Zen Creative
I organised and conducted user testing to confirm the usability and narrative comprehension of the design ahead of release.
Associate UX Researcher
PC Building Simulator 2
I supported the design with usability reporting and produced user surveys to guide the game's development from pre-release to live service.
Associate UX Researcher
Touch Type Tale
I supported the developers with sensitivity, usability reporting and script reviews to guide the development and reception of their game.
Associate UX Researcher
Going Medieval
I supported the developers in live service with the design of their character creator, focusing on the user experience and reception of the design.
Associate UX Researcher
KID A MNESIA EXHIBITION
[namethemachine] x Arbitrarily Good Productions, Epic Games Publishing
I supported the production team with usability reporting and general feedback on the design and presentation of the pre-release project.
Associate Producer
PC Building Simulator
I assisted with milestones, organised meetings, coordinated porting and managed the educational release while collaborating on branded DLC.
Game Designer
BMO: Play Along With Me
I distilled the Adventure Time lore into puzzles and mini-games that honoured the conclusion of the series while engaging a young audience.
Unity Programmer
England Originals
Hex Digital, England's Historic Cities
and Visit London
I implemented UI, interactions and content that augmented museums and historic landmarks around the country with AR/VR visualisations.
References
TopMarcin Lella, Senior User Researcher and Mentor while on the Insights Team at Epic Games
“Sami and I worked on numerous research studies assessing unintended points of friction in the design of prototypes and early builds of games. Sami observed users interacting with various designs, and was quick to identify aspects in the designs that influenced users to behave the way they did. After identifying issues, Sami would work to have them fixed. Sami understood that design involves tangible human effort: the recommendations they made in reports and team presentations were feasible and sensible for the UX design team to implement.”