Coreborn: Nations of the Ultracore is a social survival game set in the world of Ultracore, prevously only a tabletop RPG actual-play podcast series. Players work together in a PvE environment to gather resources, build towns, and then defend them from the demon hordes of Sorgoth, the world destroyer.

I joined the team in August 2021 as the first full-time hire, tasked with building an online 4-player prototype in Unreal Engine 4’s blueprints with Epic Online Services. Over the next six months, I led the prototype’s development and we delivered a fully functional multiplayer prototype that ultimately secured us funding to start production on the full game in earnest.

At this point I transitioned into a more classic designer role to construct our GDD/design wiki from the disparate documents and Miro boards we had cobbled together during the prototyping phase. As the team grew, I became the de-facto Lead Designer (never officially, I did not manage any direct reports, among other things) and worked closely with the Creative Director to try and balance vision with scope. I played a major role in designing most of the game’s systems, such as gathering, building, crafting, skills, inventory, equipment, and combat, as well as guiding the UI style and development with our UI/UX artist. On July 18th, 2023, we finally released Coreborn in early access on Steam. I stepped away for a few months to explore other projects within the company but returned in January 2024.