Michael Swedo

About Me

Since the first time I booted up my Nintendo Entertainment System at the age of 3, I've been incredibly passionate about games. My life has been driven toward the career of game design; I want to create experiences that give people the same feelings of joy and wonder as I first experienced playing Super Mario Brothers.

I am developing a skillset that combines the creativity of crafting gameplay with analytics and scripting languages. I am currently employed as a Game Designer for SGN, where I am focused on data-oriented systems design and content refinement for the game "Cookie Jam."

My passion for design lies in creating and refining visceral, satisfying mechanics and gameplay, and a constant endeavor to improve myself and learn new things.

Experience & Projects

Cookie Jam

Since May 2015, I have been working for SGN on the game Cookie Jam. I created, tuned, and balanced over 150 levels that are currently live in the game. Once my skills in content creation were refined, I switched to tuning other designers’ levels, and balancing live levels based on gathered analytics. I have trained new designers, wrote specifications for new game features, and learned an outstanding amount about game design philosophy and analytical game design for the casual / puzzle genre.

Lacuna Reaver

Lacuna Reaver was my introduction to game development - it is a 2D top-down RPG in the style of Final Fantasy made by a large team of students from CSUSB. More information is available here.

Bubble Shot

BubbleShot Alpha is a bubble shooter puzzle game developed by students at CSUSB. I composed music and programmed features in C#. It is available on the Apple and Google stores.

Reignite

Reignite is a story-driven rhythm game based around a high school orchestra, with the player assuming the role of a violinist named Therese. It features a hybrid keyboard-and-mouse control scheme to emulate the two-handed nature of playing a violin. Reignite was born out of a desire to create a rhythm game with classical music, tell a character-driven story, and feature an instrument not yet used in a rhythm game. Reignite was my focus in college, and is currently on indefinite hiatus.