Hello, I’m Zach Phillips!
I’m currently working as a Publishing Tech Lead at Serenity Forge on a few very interesting prototypes and ideas 🤫
I’m a Systems/Technical fella who loves making tools and getting into the code. I love doing a bit of everything, and as such tend to wear multiple hats on a team. I graduated Champlain College in May 2020 with a B.S. in Game Design and a minor in Game Programming. As well as making games, I love to learn new things!
I have released games for iOS, Android, and PC and published tools on the Unity Asset Store. I am currently working on even more Unity tools and game prototypes in my free time.
I previously worked at Frame Interactive as a Design and Tools intern and as a Lead Designer at the Emergent Media Center, a game studio run by Champlain College. I love board games, playing various TTRPGS with my friends, and falling deep into strategy and roguelike games.
Projects
Homestead Arcana
Engineering Lead, Serenity Forge (2020 – 2023)
Become an adventurous spell-wielding Witch and venture into the frontier corrupted with Miasma. Discover the secret behind its mysterious appearance, build your homestead, and power up your spells with nature to heal the land.
EZPZ Branching Dialogue – A Node Based Branching Dialogue Tool
Solo Developer (Spring ’20)
Published on the Unity Asset Store. Inspired by my old Branching Dialogue tool, I wanted to make an easy to use Branching Dialogue editor. Given my recent time spent in Unreal, I decided to make it visual, specifically node based. And after adding variables and logic, I ended up with was a fantastic tool that was even better than I initially envisioned. I’ve been documenting my process in a series of blog posts. If you want to see the how this tool has progressed, take a look here!
Guilded
Lead & Systems Designer, Product Owner. Team of 13 (Fall ’19 – Spring ’20)
Guilded is a procedural generated game about characters, groups, and their stories. You take on the role of the leader of your town’s Adventurer’s Guild, and it’s up to you to respond to the various quests that the neighboring towns and villages have. You’ll be sending out adventurers on these crazy and unconventional quests while accounting for their skills and how well they work together, since all of your adventures have varying personalities and opinions of each other.
Systems Design – Grapple Hook, Grenade Shop, and Avatar VR
Sole Developer (Spring 2019)
These three prototypes were created for my Systems Design course. Since I am a Systems/Technical Designer at heart, this class was a perfect way to explore new ideas and things that interested me. The course was divided into 4 projects, three 3 week projects and one 3 week continuation. For each project, it focused on a different section of design; Physicality – Grapple Hook, Strategy and Logic – Grenade Shop, and Altered States – Avatar VR.