Game jams are something special. I love the chance to be creative in a way completely different from my game job, whether that's just working in a different UI style or trying out a different field altogether. You build such a bond with your team, and no matter how janky and buggy the end project might be, you have a completed little game at the end of it. I try to do the Global Game Jam every year and hop into others whenever I get the chance.
GAME: Apothecrazy
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2025
THEME: Bubble
TIME GIVEN: 48 hours
TEAM: Ilya Hlushko, Callum Holland, Ben Wheatley, yours truly.
MY ROLE: Someone who was definitely there.
You're a wizard with a flair for potion-mixing, and so the world demands potions of you. Fulfil orders by burning off the wrong ingredients and adding ones with the correct properties to your cauldron.
I was responsible for the logo design and a couple of in-game graphics.
I can't claim to have had the largest impact on this project, as unfortunately I failed to take the time off work and thus had 8+ hour shifts on every day of the jam. I did, however, manage to create a logo, the itch page, & a couple of elemental icons for the project that I am nonetheless pleased with. I was also asked to figure out the best way to present a small bit of information to the player, so I did some quick UX wireframes too & chose our in-game fonts. The logo was fun to do and the graphics fun to draw, and with this jam I feel like I'm starting to come a little more into my own as an artist with an established style.
GAME: Apothecrazy
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2025
THEME: Bubble
TIME GIVEN: 48 hours
TEAM: Ilya Hlushko, Callum Holland, Ben Wheatley, yours truly.
MY ROLE: Someone who was definitely there.
You're a wizard with a flair for potion-mixing, and so the world demands potions of you. Fulfil orders by burning off the wrong ingredients and adding ones with the correct properties to your cauldron.
I was responsible for the logo design and a couple of in-game graphics.
I can't claim to have had the largest impact on this project, as unfortunately I failed to take the time off work and thus had 8+ hour shifts on every day of the jam. I did, however, manage to create a logo, the itch page, & a couple of elemental icons for the project that I am nonetheless pleased with. I was also asked to figure out the best way to present a small bit of information to the player, so I did some quick UX wireframes too & chose our in-game fonts. The logo was fun to do and the graphics fun to draw, and with this jam I feel like I'm starting to come a little more into my own as an artist with an established style.
GAME: Puff
EVENT: GMTK 2024
THEME: Built to Scale
TIME GIVEN: 7 days
TEAM: Ross Everson, Ilya Hlushko, Callum Holland, Ben Wheatley, yours truly.
MY ROLE: 2D artist, UI artist
It is a known fact of the world that every pufferfish will one day nurture a dream to see the world above the treetops. Lucky for Puff the Pufferfish, his society of pufferfish have spent centuries constructing a path up the great tree for every young fish to one day ascend. Help Puff see the sky by jumping your way up platforms and making use of his small and large forms to puzzle your way to the very top.
I was responsible for the UI art, logo, 2D art, and itch.io page. This jam resulted in what remains my favourite piece of art I have ever created. I'd just spent 30 days drawing an environment every day to get some practice with it, and successfully applied a lot of those 2D art techniques (especially my beloved lasso tool) to create a gorgeous sunset scene I'm sitll very pleased with.
GAME: For Your Entertainment
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2024
THEME: Make Me Laugh
TIME GIVEN: 48 hours
TEAM: Ross Everson, James Hellman, Callum Holland, Ben Wheatley, yours truly.
MY ROLE: UI Artist, 3D Artist
There are stickmen in your computer. Your computer thinks you should slaughter them and has provided you with a variety of tools to do so with. Sandbox game with no defined end goals intended to provide a few minutes of light amusement.
I was responsible for the UI art, branding, introduction writing, and the itch.io page, doing 3D modeling for the first time in a while to create an immersive UI.
This game jam came during a very dark time in the industry, in a January where approximately 6000 developers were laid off across various companies. As a team, we opted to take the theme as a chance to do something light-hearted and try to distract ourselves. (It worked, to a point.) I wanted to get back to grips with UI after being out of the industry for a while, so I used Figma to quickly mock together an intro and interface, and to keep with our theming, dusted off my 3D skills and learned Blender on the fly to create UI models.
GAME: Puff
EVENT: GMTK 2024
THEME: Built to Scale
TIME GIVEN: 7 days
TEAM: Ross Everson, Ilya Hlushko, Callum Holland, Ben Wheatley, yours truly.
MY ROLE: 2D artist, UI artist
It is a known fact of the world that every pufferfish will one day nurture a dream to see the world above the treetops. Lucky for Puff the Pufferfish, his society of pufferfish have spent centuries constructing a path up the great tree for every young fish to one day ascend. Help Puff see the sky by jumping your way up platforms and making use of his small and large forms to puzzle your way to the very top.
I was responsible for the UI art, logo, 2D art, and itch.io page. This jam resulted in what remains my favourite piece of art I have ever created. I'd just spent 30 days drawing an environment every day to get some practice with it, and successfully applied a lot of those 2D art techniques (especially my beloved lasso tool) to create a gorgeous sunset scene I'm sitll very pleased with.
GAME: For Your Entertainment
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2024
THEME: Make Me Laugh
TIME GIVEN: 48 hours
TEAM: Ross Everson, James Hellman, Callum Holland, Ben Wheatley, yours truly.
MY ROLE: UI Artist, 3D Artist
There are stickmen in your computer. Your computer thinks you should slaughter them and has provided you with a variety of tools to do so with. Sandbox game with no defined end goals intended to provide a few minutes of light amusement.
I was responsible for the UI art, branding, introduction writing, and the itch.io page, doing 3D modeling for the first time in a while to create an immersive UI.
This game jam came during a very dark time in the industry, in a January where approximately 6000 developers were laid off across various companies. As a team, we opted to take the theme as a chance to do something light-hearted and try to distract ourselves. (It worked, to a point.) I wanted to get back to grips with UI after being out of the industry for a while, so I used Figma to quickly mock together an intro and interface, and to keep with our theming, dusted off my 3D skills and learned Blender on the fly to create UI models.
GAME: Dragon Daycare
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2023
THEME: Roots
TIME GIVEN: 48 hours
TEAM: Callum Holland, Ben Wheatley, yours truly
MY ROLE: UI Artist, Writer
Your wizard friend has asked you to petsit their dragon while they hop off to Malibu. This should be all fine and dandy, but the dragon has an unfortunate penchant for setting the uber important magical tree you're taking care of on fire. Use your water magic to keep nature safe until your friend returns from vacation.
I was responsible for the UI art, writing, logo, and itch.io page. My UI goals were to create a clean, simple, friendly and modern interface in a style that was quick to execute and easily polished in the 48 hours we had. A member who unfortunately had to drop out wanted to write, so I made the wireframe with a focus on allowing a space for narrative while communicating necessary information.
Unfortunately, not all of the writing was implemented, as in typical game jam fashion I designed a UI system that was a little too complicated to implement in the time we had, but you can see the cutting room floor below.
GAME: Dragon Daycare
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2023
THEME: Roots
TIME GIVEN: 48 hours
TEAM: Callum Holland, Ben Wheatley, yours truly
MY ROLE: UI Artist, Writer
Your wizard friend has asked you to petsit their dragon while they hop off to Malibu. This should be all fine and dandy, but the dragon has an unfortunate penchant for setting the uber important magical tree you're taking care of on fire. Use your water magic to keep nature safe until your friend returns from vacation.
I was responsible for the UI art, writing, logo, and itch.io page. My UI goals were to create a clean, simple, friendly and modern interface in a style that was quick to execute and easily polished in the 48 hours we had. A member who unfortunately had to drop out wanted to write, so I made the wireframe with a focus on allowing a space for narrative while communicating necessary information.
Unfortunately, not all of the writing was implemented, as in typical game jam fashion I designed a UI system that was a little too complicated to implement in the time we had, but you can see the cutting room floor below.
GAME: Vlad's Descent
EVENT: Epic Megajam 2022
THEME: Descent
TIME: 7 days
TEAM: Neil Goodman, Illya Hlushko, Callum Holland, Beth Reed, Callum Wagstaff, Ben Wheatley
MY ROLE: UI Artist
You play Vlad (not short for Vladimir, thank you), a vampire hungry to kill the Demon King. But be careful: His castle lies on hell's outskirts, and the roads ahead are infested with monsters.
I was responsible for the UI art, logo, and itch.io page. I was struggling a little bit at the time, so I took the chance to do something fun and indulge in art that was as delightfully gothic as possible. The game has a surprising amount of complexity, and it was a challenge to figure out how to convey to the player the four abilities they had, what resources they needed to be able to use those abilities, the day and night cycle, and what the controls were.
GAME: Vlad's Descent
EVENT: Epic Megajam 2022
THEME: Descent
TIME: 7 days
TEAM: Neil Goodman, Illya Hlushko, Callum Holland, Beth Reed, Callum Wagstaff, Ben Wheatley
MY ROLE: UI Artist
You play Vlad (not short for Vladimir, thank you), a vampire hungry to kill the Demon King. But be careful: His castle lies on hell's outskirts, and the roads ahead are infested with monsters.
I was responsible for the UI art, logo, and itch.io page. I was struggling a little bit at the time, so I took the chance to do something fun and indulge in art that was as delightfully gothic as possible. The game has a surprising amount of complexity, and it was a challenge to figure out how to convey to the player the four abilities they had, what resources they needed to be able to use those abilities, the day and night cycle, and what the controls were.
GAME: Koko 'n Dillo
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2022
THEME: Duality
TIME ALLOWED: 48 hours
TEAM: Callum Holland, Callum Wagstaff, Ben Wheatley
MY ROLE: UI Artist
Use the duality of our two protagonists to watch each others' backs! Manage controlling two characters at once: Koko picks up loot while Dillo rolls in and defends. Explore arid temples and defend against enemies, collecting as much loot as possible on your way to escape to the docks!
I was responsible for the UI and 2D art. At the time I was working on Star Citizen, a game with a really distinct clean sci-fi style. I wanted to do something completely different (and we were lacking in any 3D artists), so I whipped out my trusty iPad to draw enemies and pickups for the 2.5d style we landed on and created really illustrative UI lightly inspired by Mexican folk art and the arid desert of our game's environment.
GAME: Koko 'n Dillo
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2022
THEME: Duality
TIME ALLOWED: 48 hours
TEAM: Callum Holland, Callum Wagstaff, Ben Wheatley
MY ROLE: UI Artist
Use the duality of our two protagonists to watch each others' backs! Manage controlling two characters at once: Koko picks up loot while Dillo rolls in and defends. Explore arid temples and defend against enemies, collecting as much loot as possible on your way to escape to the docks!
I was responsible for the UI and 2D art. At the time I was working on Star Citizen, a game with a really distinct clean sci-fi style. I wanted to do something completely different (and we were lacking in any 3D artists), so I whipped out my trusty iPad to draw enemies and pickups for the 2.5d style we landed on and created really illustrative UI lightly inspired by Mexican folk art and the arid desert of our game's environment.
GAME: Raccoon Raid
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2021
THEME: Lost and Found
TIME GIVEN: 48 hours
TEAM: Trinity Curran, Bodeun Hands, Joe Gamble, Scott Perry Redmond, James Benjamin Rudd, Joel Taylor, yours truly
MY ROLE: UI & 2D artist
Raccoon Raid is a top-down adventure starring Albert, a devious little Englishman of a raccoon who has snuck into a quiet house in search of lost food to fill his most terribly empty belly with. Unfortunately for him, the house is not as empty as it seems. Find and collect as much food as you can before being caught by Dave.
This was a fun one! This was the first time I'd gotten to work with pretty much everyone on the team. Game jams tend to result in me doing 2D art, as there's a distinct lack of 3D artists in my circle and the UI demands for a game jam aren't too intensive -- I whipped up the UI in about half a day, and spent the other day and a half creating a myriad of food assets for our loveable raccoon protagonist to chow down on.
GAME: Raccoon Raid
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2021
THEME: Lost and Found
TIME GIVEN: 48 hours
TEAM: Trinity Curran, Bodeun Hands, Joe Gamble, Scott Perry Redmond, James Benjamin Rudd, Joel Taylor, yours truly
MY ROLE: UI & 2D artist
Raccoon Raid is a top-down adventure starring Albert, a devious little Englishman of a raccoon who has snuck into a quiet house in search of lost food to fill his most terribly empty belly with. Unfortunately for him, the house is not as empty as it seems. Find and collect as much food as you can before being caught by Dave.
This was a fun one! This was the first time I'd gotten to work with pretty much everyone on the team. Game jams tend to result in me doing 2D art, as there's a distinct lack of 3D artists in my circle and the UI demands for a game jam aren't too intensive -- I whipped up the UI in about half a day, and spent the other day and a half creating a myriad of food assets for our loveable raccoon protagonist to chow down on.
GAME: Leonard's Time Leaps
EVENT: Jamfuser 2020
THEME: Repair
TIME GIVEN: 72 hours
TEAM: Tragically lost to time, but I can say for certain that Chris Bowler, Jack Bird, and myself were three of the members.
MY ROLE: Artist
leap /liːp/ noun: a group of leopards
You are Leonard the Leopard, and it's your job to destroy the mythological beasts in order to save your Leap! You'll be up against Cerberus, the three-headed dog entrusted with guarding the gates of hell! after that, you must fight Kappa, the mischievous turtle-like creature plaguing the residents of Japan, and your leap.
Jamfuser is typically intended for those wanting to participate in Tranzfuser that year. I didn't want to, but last minute my friends managed to convince me to join them and participate in the jam -- and really, who am I to ever say no to one? I acted as an environment artist on this project, drawing tiling isometric assets for the very first time. I learned a lot, though tragedy struck us when we failed to upload in time for the submission deadline by just a few minutes :(
GAME: Leonard's Time Leaps
EVENT: Jamfuser 2020
THEME: Repair
TIME GIVEN: 72 hours
TEAM: Tragically lost to time, but I can say for certain that Chris Bowler, Jack Bird, and myself were three of the members.
MY ROLE: Artist
leap /liːp/ noun: a group of leopards
You are Leonard the Leopard, and it's your job to destroy the mythological beasts in order to save your Leap! You'll be up against Cerberus, the three-headed dog entrusted with guarding the gates of hell! after that, you must fight Kappa, the mischievous turtle-like creature plaguing the residents of Japan, and your leap.
Jamfuser is typically intended for those wanting to participate in Tranzfuser that year. I didn't want to, but last minute my friends managed to convince me to join them and participate in the jam -- and really, who am I to ever say no to one? I acted as an environment artist on this project, drawing tiling isometric assets for the very first time. I learned a lot, though tragedy struck us when we failed to upload in time for the submission deadline by just a few minutes :(
GAME: ur gonna be ok babes
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2020
THEME: Repair
TIME GIVEN: 48 hours
TEAM: Adina Dumitrescu, Jay Hargreaves, Adina Mitroi, Andreea Mogosan, Adele Richards, Barbora Smirinova, Elena-Cristina Trimbez
MY ROLE: Writer
an age 16+ visual novel/interactive story where you and your pals are having a rough go of it. sometimes, we need friends to repair the holes in our lives. overscoped and incomplete!
I was a writer for this game! I really love to write, though I don't get the chance to much. We had seven artists on the team, so two of us decided to do something else -- my friend programmed & wrote for the weekend, and I wrote 4500 words in 48 hours.
Tragically, we ran out of time to implement it all, and though we swore we'd finish it by the end of the week, that never happened. Still, I'm convinced I'll finish it one day (the work is done, it just needs implementation) and maybe add some UI.
You can see the first draft of our script below :)
GAME: ur gonna be ok babes
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2020
THEME: Repair
TIME GIVEN: 48 hours
TEAM: Adina Dumitrescu, Jay Hargreaves, Adina Mitroi, Andreea Mogosan, Adele Richards, Barbora Smirinova, Elena-Cristina Trimbez
MY ROLE: Writer
an age 16+ visual novel/interactive story where you and your pals are having a rough go of it. sometimes, we need friends to repair the holes in our lives. overscoped and incomplete!
I was a writer for this game! I really love to write, though I don't get the chance to much. We had seven artists on the team, so two of us decided to do something else -- my friend programmed & wrote for the weekend, and I wrote 4500 words in 48 hours.
Tragically, we ran out of time to implement it all, and though we swore we'd finish it by the end of the week, that never happened. Still, I'm convinced I'll finish it one day (the work is done, it just needs implementation) and maybe add some UI.
You can see the first draft of our script below :)
GAME: Chris Bowler's Night Out
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2019
THEME: What Home Means To You
TIME GIVEN: 48 hours
TEAM: Chris Bowler, Max Boyle, Louis Hey, A.J. Kerr, Raphael Odukoya, Joel Taylor
MY ROLE: 2D Environment Artist
Home is many things: Love, family and Netflix. For some, it's the only thing you want to get back to after a night of excessive drinking. This is Bowler's story.
This was the very first game jam I ever participated in, and as such, it will forever hold a deeply fond place in my heart. We were all uni students and decided to recreate a journey home after a night out in little old Falmouth, Cornwall. This was only a few months into my UI journey, so I opted to do art instead and learned a thing or two about the importance of not implementing several 4k images needlessly into a game. Oops.
I was responsible for all of our environment art, drawing squiggly buildings and an eery moon to reflect that topsy-turvy drunk feeling.
GAME: Chris Bowler's Night Out
EVENT: Global Game Jam 2019
THEME: What Home Means To You
TIME GIVEN: 48 hours
TEAM: Chris Bowler, Max Boyle, Louis Hey, A.J. Kerr, Raphael Odukoya, Joel Taylor
MY ROLE: 2D Environment Artist
Home is many things: Love, family and Netflix. For some, it's the only thing you want to get back to after a night of excessive drinking. This is Bowler's story.
This was the very first game jam I ever participated in, and as such, it will forever hold a deeply fond place in my heart. We were all uni students and decided to recreate a journey home after a night out in little old Falmouth, Cornwall. This was only a few months into my UI journey, so I opted to do art instead and learned a thing or two about the importance of not implementing several 4k images needlessly into a game. Oops.
I was responsible for all of our environment art, drawing squiggly buildings and an eery moon to reflect that topsy-turvy drunk feeling.
copyright miles rodyakin 2025. made by miles using semplice.