Game Dev

Goodbye Volcano High,
KO_OP, 2023

Cutscene Integrator

Winner of the 2023 Tribeca Games Award, Goodbye Volcano High is a cinematic narrative game about the end of an era. Will the students of Volcano High have enough time to figure themselves out before it’s all over? Is it too late to tell their crush how they feel? Are they even ready for what comes next?

  • Implemented cutscenes according to storyboards using pre-existing assets and Unity Timeline.
  • Adjusted timing, framing, animations, and other elements to enhance storytelling.
  • Used understanding of Unity to rapidly track down and fix or report bugs.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker (Console Edition),
Blackbird Interactive, 2022

QA

Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a critically-acclaimed simulation game from Blackbird Interactive and Focus Entertainment. As a Shipbreaker, you are employed by the Lynx Corporation to disassemble decommissioned and derelict spaceships. Will you come together with your coworkers, pay off your debt, and earn your freedom? Or will Lynx trap you in a cycle of death and poverty?

  • Quality assurance and bug testing.
  • Work with engineers to optimize performance on PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.
Who Hacked?,
Micrsoft Learn Cloud Games, 2021-2022

Game Designer

Microsoft Learn Cloud Games are immersive educational experiences created by and for technical professionals. In ‘Who Hacked?’ you and your team level-up your cybersecurity skills while investigating a security breach at one of the largest e-retailers in the nation.

  • Rescoped and redesigned game from scratch.
  • Shepherded new design through approval by top stakeholders at all involved organizations.
Dr. Neb,
The Game Agency, 2019

QA & Asset Implementation

Dr. Neb was developed for CHEST, the American College of Chest Physicians, to teach physicians about the benefits of nebulized medicine for patients with COPD. It presents players with roleplay scenarios in the style of an interactive novel.

  • Created and implemented animated assets using in-house tools.
  • Tested & debugged game state flow, ensuring all narrative hooks lined up.
TBA,
Anemone Hug Interactive, 2019-2022

Writer, Narrative Designer, Game Designer

While at Anemone Hug Interactive from 2019 to 2022, Ryan contributed to the development of an original science fiction IP. Unfortunately, this project currently has no planned release date.

  • Writing, including in-game lore entries, setting development and refinement, a dev-facing timeline, and more.
  • Action-oriented enemy, boss, ability, and systems design.
  • UI & UX design
Shhhhh!

SKILLS

  • 3C Game Design

  • Narrative Design

  • Unity 2D & 3D

  • C#

  • QA

Writing

Sample Available

For a sample of Ryan’s professional writing work, including in video games, comics, and more, please email hello@ryanmcdiarmid.com, or enter the provided password below.

Enter Password to Download:
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Illustration

Ryan is a weapon pointed at your creative problems.

A west coast lifer, he was born in Seattle, WA, and raised in Tofino, BC.

His current career trajectory has seen him into the orbit of the games industry, with experience spanning the indie, triple-I, and corporate educational spaces. During this time his work has involved 3C game design, narrative design, writing, UI design, QA, and production.

The holder of a BA in English Literature from the University of British Columbia, and a BA in Illustration & Design from Capilano University, he has been among other things a cartoonist, a freelance illustrator, an event planner, a barista, a floatplane attendant and a fishmonger. He would prefer not to do that last one again.

He currently resides in Vancouver with his wife Caitlin, and cats Leap (pictured) and Burly.