Ben Townsend        Game Designer

Puzzle Designer & Game Master | Operation: Sentinel -  June 2024 to Present

• City Escape game where players explore the city of Montreal and solve puzzles to take down the evil organisation Sentinel
• I designed all the mechanics, the story, ran advertising and operated the game sessions myself
• Constantly evaluated and iterated design to optimise the game
• Strived to deliver a unique experience that is not currently provided in Montreal

Puzzle Designer -  July 2024 to September 2024

• This product is yet to be announced, so I cannot yet reveal its name or the studio I worked with
• Designed a series of web-based puzzles for the marketing campaign to launch a new ancient Greek themed IP
• Researched ancient Greek history and the lore created by the product owners, to design puzzles that were thematically relevant
• Created many puzzle concepts, then after talking with the product owner, developed the ones that we through would work best into complete puzzles in a GDD

Puzzle Designer | ArsenalFX - Who Shot The Boss? - April 2024 to May 2024

• Online series of puzzles where the player has to solve a series of challenges for an ongoing narrative

• Designed puzzles, game mechanics and narrative for multiple games, iterating on the designs to deliver the optimal gameplay experience

• Communicated designs with the art team, developers and producer via GDDs, ensuring clear instructions for the further development of the game

Lead Game Designer | Final Boss Games - Chicken Derby - May 2021 to January 2024

• Web3 chicken racing game with NFTs and a GaaS model, where players buy, trade, and race chickens
• Sold 33,000 NFTs to fund beta development, generating approximately 3 Million USD
• Designed game mechanics that motivate players to engage with the game
• Regularly engaged with the community to determine their wants, and balance these with the company’s goals

Level Designer | Impact Theory - Merry Modz - August 2023 to December 2023

• Third-person platformer/shooter built-in Unreal Engine 5 for 8 to 12-year-olds
• Designed levels with clear objectives, a sense of progression, and opportunities to explore while rewarding discoveries
• Regularly liaised with the project leads and other designers, ensuring consistent design practices and an appropriate difficulty curve for the players
• Consistently iterated on all level designs to deliver the highest quality end product

Game Designer | Fantasy Mesa - Trading $aga - November 2020 to October 2021

• A mobile game designed to help people intuitively trade on the stock market using historical data in short gameplay sessions
• Researched the stock market and stock histories and devised several potential gameplay concepts
• Ensured clear UI and controls over several iterations for an optimal user experience 

Level Designer | Adventure Box - Adventure Box (now KoGoMa) - May 2020 to July 2021

• First-person voxel-based platformer where players build their own levels and design quests
• Designed and built levels and quests that demonstrated to new players the creative opportunities of the tool
• Ensured easy accessibility, demonstrated the innovative possibilities of the game’s quest and level mechanics, and exhibited best design practices

Game Designer | Freaks United - Do U Copy? - January 2021 to March 2021

• Asynchronous cooperative heist game for two players, with one in VR robbing a bank, and the other on mobile hacking the bank’s security
• Created concepts and designs for game mechanics that work for both players using the two different devices simultaneously
• Designed and tested levels that required communication between the players for an optimal gameplay experience

Puzzle Designer | Fresh Puzzles - November 2019 to September 2020

• Twitter and Instagram channels featuring unique puzzles on topical subjects posted daily
• Self-motivated project to refine my puzzle design skills
• I posted a unique puzzle each day, requiring math, language, geometric, logic, observation or reasoning skills to solve

Developer | Film Magik - Rate & Speed - November 2019 to April 2020

• Development of an educational game for the Ministry of Education in Singapore teaching various fundamentals of physics
• The project was over 80% completed when I began and I was required to finish tasks and fix errors that the previous programmer was unable to
• Dramatically optimised the existing code and delivered product with all features complete

Concept Designer | beActive, S.A - Adventures of a Young Pirate Queen -  January 2020 to February 2020

• A 2D & 3D puzzle platformer based on the childhood of Grace O’Malley, a clan leader from 16th-century Ireland
• Researched the history of Grace O’Malley, created the outline of a narrative, and designed game mechanics to fit her character
• Wrote the requirements for a minimum viable prototype that showcased the game and its unique requirements

Game Designer and Developer | Fuzzy Duck - Gir Forest -  July 2019 to September 2019

• A 2D touchscreen game for Chester Zoo teaching visitors about Lions, their habitat in Gir National Park, and the effect that they and nearby residents have on each other
• Designed a clear UI that is easy for visitors to quickly understand and be able to engage with the game
• Created a world for the player to explore as a Lion or as a resident near to the park and how they each perceive the environment differently

Game Designer and Developer| Fuzzy Duck - Meliden Mines - July 2019 to September 2019

• A bilingual 2D multiplayer platforming game about 19th-century mining, for a Welsh mining museum
• Designed and built levels that offered players an opportunity to explore several dangerous mines, while delivering on the client's educational requirements
• Ensured the game design was suitable for a museum installation, requiring quick-to-learn mechanics for an experience that would last approximately 5 minutes
• Programmed the game using Game Maker Studio 2, using best coding practices to ensure legacy

Concept Designer | beActive, S.A - The New Guardian - December 2018 to January 2019

• A 2D puzzle platformer dealing with bullying, set within a school and a fantasy world created by the protagonist
• Researched bullying, the effects it has on children and the fantasy worlds they sometimes create
• Wrote a concept document detailing the narrative of the game, its mechanics, art style, and requirements for a minimum viable prototype

Game Designer | Planet Spark - Planet Spark - April 2018 to December 2018

• A series of educational games, that taught Math and English skills to children aged 7 to 11
• Designed 25 games in total, each focussing on a different learning goal
• Each game teaches, reinforces and then tests its learning goal while presenting it in a manner that is engaging to children

Game Designer | Tipsy Chicken Games - Tipsy Chicken - September 2018

• Adult party game consisting of a single deck of cards with dares, challenges and drinking punishments
• Wrote dares and challenges for the game, creating a humourous nature and many puns
• Made the game suitable for inebriated players, so that the experience was safe and fun

Game Designer | Maguss - Maguss - January 2017 to April 2018

• Augmented reality MMORPG for mobile, where the player is a wizard, roaming their city for potion ingredients, treasure chests, and monsters to battle
• Designed a variety of quests and daily challenges for the players that provided them with regular objectives and challenges to drive engagement
• Contributed to game balancing, player progression, and monetization in line with the game’s objectives

Narrative Designer and QA | Thousand Realms - Fire Gate - November 2016 to September 2017

• A Mobile choose your own adventure narrative with RPG battle mechanics
• Initially worked on QA, testing the narrative for spelling errors and the battle mechanics
• Later I began writing my own narrative. enemy designs and combat scenarios

Systems Designer | AffirmedIT - FitConnect - January 2017 to June 2017

• A fitness tracker that gathers the user's data from all their fitness apps
• Designed a rewards system where the user would earn points based on the exercise they have done and their own personal goals
• These points could then be converted into physical rewards such as gym memberships or sportswear

Developer | Ice Peddler Games - Riddle Hack - November 2016 to December 2016

• A question-and-answer game that was funded through a successful Kickstarter game
• Coded the game to best standards, delivering on all the client's requests
• Was my first professional job within the game's industry :)

Game Design | PlaygroundSquad UK

• At PlaygroundSquad, now an academic partner with Epic Games and Unreal Engine, I learned the principles of great game design, with additional skills in programming, art, animation and project management

CIT with Education Studies Ba(Hons) 2:1 | University of St. Mark and St. John

• Studied programming, video editing, animation, art, teaching methods, and problem-solving. For my dissertation I created a a game that taught first-aid skill

Unity, Unreal Engine 5, Game Maker Studio, Maya, Photoshop, Mercurial, Github, Axosoft, Pycharm, Slack, and Asana.

I am a game designer with over 7 years of experience, working internationally as a freelancer on over 50 titles in various designer and programmer roles.

My diverse career experience has equipped me with the skills to excel as a game designer. For example, while working on level design for Merry Modz with Impact Theory, I honed my ability to tell a story through engaging gameplay and design. To guide the player on their quest and take them on an experience, without resorting to heavy dialogue or massive glowing arrows.

My most recent game, Chicken Derby with Final Boss Games, has been in live development since we raised 3 Million USD from the initial sale in 2021, and from then onward I have consistently engaged with the community. This has allowed me to understand what motivates players and why they enjoy the game. Playtesting and gathering feedback from a diverse player space is an essential part of my work process for crafting an optimal gaming experience.

Collaborating with a wide roster of clients over the past 7 years, I have elevated my knowledge in a variety of game business models and the creative considerations they entail. While we want our players to have the greatest time ever, considerations for the company to thrive have to be made, and balancing these aspects ensures longevity. I am confident that I can make difficult creative decisions while holding the team together and keeping the spirits up.

Complementing my career, I’ve was an ambassador for the charity Everyone Can, who provide gaming sessions to children and adults with disabilities. During these sessions, I saw a wide variety of children with different wants and needs play, and noticed what they found enjoyable or challenging. This has made me hyper-aware of the accessibility needs for all players. I was honoured to be named as an ambassador for Everyone Can from 2019 to 2021.

I’ve been active in performing improv comedy for many years, which has let me sharpen my creative senses, listen to others, take ideas and run with them. I channel this energy into my work and am not afraid to innovate, however unconventional an idea may seem at first - whatever helps my collaborators and me to kick that creativity tumbleweed.