About Me
I am an indie games developer with a background in UX (user experience) design and a passion for creating games for everyone, with intuitive experiences and player-centred design at the core. I am currently Senior Accessibility Designer at Rebellion where I have been able to enhance the accessibility of Sniper Elite 5 and direct the accessibility initiative at Rebellion; from internal education and accessibility testing to external advocacy and knowledge sharing. I am a BAFTA Games and Develop Star Nominee, two-time DARE finalist and one of GDC 2023’s top rated speakers.
Game Credits
Skye Tales, 2023
Puny Astronaut (UX Designer)
Sniper Elite 5, 2022
Rebellion Developments (Accessibility Designer)
Experience
2022-Present – Senior Accessibility Designer, Rebellion
Leading the Accessibility initiative at Rebellion, starting as a one-person department that covers accessibility consultation on designs, developing educational resources, delivering accessibility training, growing a champs network, building an accessibility community for our players, and supporting public advocacy through talks, articles and resources.
2019-2022 – UX Designer, Puny Astronaut
Leading the UX Design and UI Art & Programming in a typical jack-of-all trades indie developer role. This covered everything from wireframing to testing, concepts to high-fidelity UI assets, and implementation to maintenance in Unreal Engine through widgets and visual scripting. This is where I first implemented accessibility in a games role, leading the work and testing of our accessibility features including a highly customisable series of visual filters.
2016-2019 – Graphic Designer, Abertay Students Association / Freelance (part-time)
Alongside my studies I was able to grow my skills and experience through a graphic design role at Abertay Students Association which also led to freelance opportunities. I produced assets for web and print including logos, social media assets, infographics, posters, brochures and merchandise. I was the graphic designer for Abertay’s “Securi-Tay” conference, which was the largest student-led Ethical Hacking conference in Europe, for five years.
Awards & Nominations
Personal:
Nominee: MVP Award for Unsung Hero, GAConf Awards 2024
Nominee: Design, Game Dev Heroes 2024
Nominee: Diversity Star, Develop Star Awards 2023
Nominee: Design, Game Dev Heroes Nominee 2023
Nominee: Finalist, DARE Academy 2018
Nominee: Ones to Watch, BAFTA Games 2016
Winner: Runner-Up & Audience Award, Dare to be Digital 2016
Games:
Skye Tales: Nominee, Innovation in Accessibility, MCV Develop 2024
Sniper Elite Winter Warrior: Nominee, Innovation in Accessibility, MCV Develop 2024
Blind Bake, ReadSpeaker Accessibility Award, Global Game Jam 2024
Sniper Elite 5: Nominee, Innovation in Accessibility, MCV Develop 2023
Sniper Elite 5: Nominee, Accessibility in Games, PlayStation Blog 2022
Other:
Rebellion: Nominee, Most Dedicated Publisher, GAConf Awards 2024
Rebellion Accessibility Test Brief: Nominee, Best Resource, GAConf Awards 2024
Rebellion GAAD Accessibility Data: Nominee, Best Resource, GAConf Awards 2024
Speaking Experience
Develop: Brighton 2019 "Successful Crowdfunding: A Kickstarter Post-Mortem"
SGDA Micro Talks in May 2021 “10 Reasons Why You Should Make a Board Game at Your Next Game Jam”
Develop: Brighton 2021 "Skye Tales: Creating a UI that couldn't be happier to see you"
Games UX Summit 2021 (Panellist) "Doing More With Less"
GAConf EU 2022 "An Indie Approach to Accessibility"
Develop: Brighton 2022 "Accessible Accessibility"
EGX London 2022 (Panellist) “Accessibility and Games”
IGDA Webinar 2022 (Panellist) “Leveraging Text to Speech as a Game Dev”
GDC 2023 “Implementing Accessibility Across a Studio: Year One”
GAConf EU 2023 “Project Black Kat: A Sightless Stealth System“
UKGE 2023 (Panellist & Moderator) “Accessibility in Tabletop Gaming“
EGX London 2023 (Panellist & Moderator) “Accessibility at Rebellion: Including Everyone”
GAConf EU 2024 & GDC Online 2024 “Weaving Accessibility into Workflows“
GAConf EU 2024 “Baking Audio Navigation into Level Design“
iGGi Conf 2024 (Keynote Speaker) “Advancing Accessibility in Games: A Research Wishlist“
Life, The Universe & Everything
Beyond my job, I am a human who enjoys other things, some related to games and some not so much.
I’m a Theme park enthusiast and I’ve visited more than 20 theme parks worldwide and my favourite coasters are Icon at Blackpool and Flug der Damonen in Heide Park, Germany.
I really enjoy baking and in high school I had a cupcake business!
When not at a desk you will usually find me in a forest, at a graveyard or in the ocean. I love escape rooms, and will go see at least one theatre show every time I visit London.
I have a black cat called Toothless, named after my favourite film series How To Train Your Dragon.
My biggest hobby is crafting, usually around tabletop rpgs like making and painting minis, crafting dice from resin, creating terrain and dice trays, or making Halloween costumes.
As for video games, three of my favourites include Planet Zoo (my most played game, overtaking Skyrim), Pokemon - my favourites are Skitty and Frosmoth, and Jedi: Fallen Order. Among friends I famously don’t like Star Wars or Dark Souls, but Fallen Order made me feel good at the game and didn’t overwhelm me with too much content.
I enjoy “stealth exercise”; things like horse riding or kayaking; something where you can go on an adventure and there’s a chance of getting lost.