Hi there. My name is Christian Tuttle.
Thanks for coming to my site. I've got a Master of Science degree in Interactive Entertainment from UCF's FIEA program as a game designer, technical producer, and gameplay scripter. I'm coming from a background in mathmathetics, computer science, and psychology.
Throughout my experience as a game developer and player, I've worked hard to pursue my love of video games from design, scientific, and artistic perspectives. Games are wonderfully interdisciplinary and collaborative by nature, and I love that I am able to consistently challenge myself and continue learning as I build a career.
That's not to say video games are my one and only. I love to cook; one day I'll craft the perfect burger, and I'm pretty sure smoked paprika has something to do with it. I played French Horn for seven years, but now I dabble in vocals, guitar, and composition in FL Studio. I speak conversational Japanese after spending a year abroad in Osaka.
Take a look at a small selection of some of the projects I've lead/designed/developed, and let me know if you have any questions. My email and phone number are listed just to the right; I'd love to hear from you. Unless, maybe you are here for my cooking, in which case my email is open to you all the same.
PORTFOLIO
Shooter. Technical UX Designer for 343 Industries, UIUX Team
Halo Infinite is the most ambitious Halo game ever made, enabling players to explore the epic expanse of a Halo ring for the first time. Focusing on the story of Master Chief, Halo Infinite pursues a “spiritual reboot” of the franchise that both honors the threads and lore that have lead to this point and serves as perfect starting point for new players.
As a member of the UIUX team, I have had the opportunity to work together with engineers and artists to design and implement features in both the front end and in-game. I have worked to streamline the OOBE flow, and I frequently collaborate with other teams to integrate content and UI systems. I support targeting high priority areas for polish and identifying efficient solutions that enhance the user experience.
Halo Infinite is set to release in Fall 2021.
American Football, Sports. Technical Designer for EA Sports, Franchise Team
Madden 20 and Madden 21 introduce a variety of new features into the football experience: the all-new Superstar X-Factor abilities give key players the power they deserve, and radically change the way you play the game. The Scenario Engine delivers emergent content based on the context of your gameplay experiences in Franchise mode. Face of the Franchise: QB1 tells the story of a quarterback who never got a chance to show his potential until the final few games of his college life, and gives him the opportunity to prove that he can compete at an NFL level. Not only are college games introduced into EA Sports football for the first time since NCAA 14, but a fan favorite - the Pro Bowl - makes a reappearance as well. Madden 21 takes it a step further and introduces high school football into the mix.
I had the good fortune to work with the Franchise team, and I was exposed to a much wider variety of design than I expected from the AAA industry. I’ve worked on narrative design to help build out the Scenario Engine, quest design to populate the Scenario Engine with content, cinematics design to bring together the hard work of the cinematic team using the Frostbite game engine, systems design to further develop and balance the “scheme fit” mechanic of Franchise and the personality mechanic of FotF: QB1, and tools design to make all of that as seamless of a process as possible.
One key component to all of the features of Madden is authenticity. Madden isn’t just a football game; it is a simulation of a real-life sport, and it is the responsibility of the developers to ensure that if something happens in the sport, it happens in the game as well. Part of that includes the Play Now Live feature (I helped to maintain the weekly season schedule updates), but it also includes making sure design serves to create a satisfying game experience as well as a realistic one.
As a final note, working on Madden has taught me a renewed appreciation for football. At the end of the day, sports are games too, and there’s so much more depth and strategy hiding under their surface.
Third-Person Action Adventure, Platformer. FIEA M.S. Capstone.
Take the role of Motor Rockwell, the sheriff robot with a bolt to pick. A gang of robot bandits have made off with one of Motor's prized arms, the primary tool of his trade as sheriff, and taken up residence in the once-abandoned mines. Utilizing Motor's remaining arm and his revolver, players must traverse hazardous terrain while dispatching enemy bandits in the quest to return what is rightfully Motor's.
Long Arm of the Law is designed to promote freedom of movement, while challenging players' mental faculties with the simple but open-ended weight mechanics. With the extend and retract feature of the arm, lighter objects are pulled towards Motor, while Motor is pulled towards heavier objects. The additional mechanic of stiffening of the arm allows for advanced maneuvers, such as pole-vaulting over enemies and swinging around elevated objects.
As a technical designer, I worked closely with artists, programmers, and designers to develop gameplay mechanics from conception, to implementation, to polish and bug fixing. A couple of notable personal contributions are the development of the initial gameplay prototype in Unity with character controls, combat mechanics, and level prototypes, as well as the design and development of the mine cart mechanics. I also designed and implemented the energy system for using 'supers' in combat.
I also worked on the game’s mission design, I designed and implemented game environments that utilize the game’s mechanics in interesting ways and to capitalize on the game's charm and world story. I built the Shanty Tower game environment from the ground up and structured it around reaching the lever at the top of the level. I implemented features that made this mission possible with custom camera controls and interactable objects.
Role: Technical Designer Team Size: 18 When: December 2017-August 2018
Gamified Driving Simulator and Training Application.
Industry Outreach Project with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC).
Speed Limit was created as a demonstrative prototype for the positive impact of gamification on traditional simulation and training practices. As is too often the case, officers in training fail to observe hazards far enough ahead of their vehicles to react in time, and Speed Limit showed that even limited exposure to a set of game mechanics targeting this behavior can alleviate the negative effects. A full description of the game is available here.
As project lead of Speed Limit, I organized and directed a group of 12 interdisciplinary developers from conception to completion of the project. I worked closely with subject matter experts from FLETC to determine design needs, and then communicated ideas with my team effectively and efficiently. I presented the game on a monthly basis in front of an audience of subject matter experts of various fields, local media, and students.
Furthermore, I designed the procedural generation of the game world to support replayability and the training needs of the project, as well as the UI for the game. I also designed and implemented audio management for Speed Limit.
Role: Project Lead Team Size: 12 When: January 2018-May 2018
Night of the Zobbo
First person Puzzle Platformer
Night of the Zobbo was designed around the "Purification Orb" that the player can pull towards them and throw. I created a custom shader that can swap between textures depending on the world space of pixels. Objects in the environment close to the orb draw the "pure" texture, while other objects draw the "corrupted" texture.
In addition to the visual transformation of the environment, the texture of objects also determines gameplay properties. Metal mushrooms that are normally solid platforms become bounce pads, purified lanterns draw enemies towards them, objects that don't exist in one state become collide-able platforms in another, and so on. The object of the game is to find and reveal hidden seals in the environment, opening the way to the final room. Upon placing the orb on the final pedestal, the textures of all the objects in the world are slowly transformed to their pure state.
Dungeon Simulator
Strategy Card Game
Dungeon Simulator was designed to showcase how a simple set of systems can give rise to interesting and complex strategies and decision making. As the Dungeon Master, the player is responsible for defending their loot from adventurers using minions, traps, and support tiles. The player pays for new cards at the end of each round, and based on their type, placement, and anticipated adventurers, implies a different amount of value for the card.
From a development perspective, Dungeon Simulator was made with obeying design patterns and extensibility in mind; creating new cards and effects are easily achievable with minimal coupling between classes, promoting cooperation between multiple developers. I created the assets used in Dungeon Simulator using Maya, Substance Painter, and Photoshop, and I animated objects using a combination of vector math, splines, and physics.
Denchi
mobile platformer
Denchi was a project developed in Unity for iOS. Players assumed the role of an alien creature determined to reclaim his world from the industrial human race. By storing energy in his body, Denchi collects energy from the city, and then returns it to the wilds by touching flora.
Denchi's world was closely tied to the music of the game. I designed and implemented the procedurally generating world, and I developed a framework for coloring and modifying texture maps on objects according to the intensity of the music, allowing windows on buildings to scale like sound bars, and flora of the forest to pulsate with the beat.
Robobuds Workshop
2d Action-platforming advergame
As a demonstration of advergaming done right, Robobuds Workshop features a fictional eponymous toy line that allows children to piece together their own fantastical robot friends. The game lets players create their very own Robobud, and then use their Robobud to fight an evil robot boss. I designed and implemented the boss fight to challenge and reward players' various building strategies. As players succeed in dealing damage to the boss, the boss' difficulty ramps up to maintain an appropriate state of flow.
Sleepless in Desert Bus
Charity game jam submission
Sleepless in Desert Bus was created as a two-man team as part of the 2017 Desert Bus for Hope Game Jam, as featured here. Following the provided theme "sleep deprivation", the game takes the form of an infinite runner in which the desert bus is progressively falling asleep at the wheel. The player must collect coffee in order to stay awake, while trying to level up as much as possible by chopping down and blasting cacti with their laser cannon. In honor of the original Desert Bus by Penn and Teller, the game ends by jumping as far as possible from Tuscon, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Writing Sample: The Forge
A two-page writing sample featuring elements of character dialogue and world building. Click here for the PDF.
Résumé
You can view the PDF version of my résumé here.
