Sean Kennedy

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Featured Work

Headmaster: The Lost Lessons

The first DLC level pack for the hit PSVR launch title Headmaster.

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Varises

VR training tool for the Conformis knee replacement surgery.

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Eden and OVR Vignettes

VR projects for OVR Technologies. Smell your surroundings in VR!

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Pet Rock: Weapon of Mass Destruction

Destroy everything! 1st place winner at RPI GameFest 2017.

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Other Projects

One Medical

• Oculus Quest training simulator for One Medical

• Teaches medical providers best practices through dialogue and agenda creation with a virtual patient at a physical exam

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Varises

*Above clip does not show final product

Frame Interactive was contracted by Varises to create a virtual reality surgical training and practice/reference tool. The project was designed to be a proof of concept for a larger platform, using the Conformis custom knee replacement procedure as an example. In the simulation, a virtual avatar of Dr. Bryan Huber, a real life expert on this procedure, guides you through an interactive knee replacement from start to finish, teaching you about the steps, tools, and important details.

The final product takes the user through a section of the surgery, where they are placing jigs on the knee, drilling holes, resecting bone, and more. For many of the steps, the user has the option watch Dr. Huber provide additional explanations, and they also sometimes have an option to watch a video about the current step. At the end of the procedure, there is a scored assessment mode (not featured in the video on this page), which tests the user's retention by asking them to identify jigs and answer multiple choice quiz questions.

I designed and implemented most of the systems and logic in the simulation, including the assessment mode, UI, interactions, and more. I spent the most time on the overall game flow architecture and content, that being the systems which control the progression of surgical steps, the data assigned to said steps, and the movement of tools and jigs. For a surgical simulator like this, accuracy is extremely important. I had to create multiple Unity engine tools to facilitate quick and easy adjustment of object animations and positions. Each "Step" in the surgery is a scriptable object data structure which contains information like tool positions, UI text, virtual avatar animations and audio, and much more. The engine tools that I worked on throughout development were vital for me to be able to quickly flip to and tweak different sections of the procedure. I also had to meticulously study real life videos and documentation of a complex surgical procedure and make sure the steps, information and visuals in the procedure were 100% accurate, as this simulation was designed to train real surgeons to operate on real patients!

The Varises project also marks the first of several times I have directed a real life actor to capture animations and voice in VR. Doing this required a whole different set of engine tools to facilitate the recording process, with features like displaying scripts to the actor while they are in VR, the ability to watch playback past takes to the actor without having to remove the headset, and lots more. Working with an actor who had no knowledge of game development and directing them while they were in VR was a really cool and unique experience, and I'm really proud of the way this project turned out!

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Eden

Eden was a project contracted by OVR Technologies while I was working at the Champlain EMC. OVR was had developed their first prototype for a device that could attach to a VR headset and receive signals to disperse scents, so that a person in VR could smell their surroundings. They needed a simulation to showcase their device, and Eden was born. The game was demoed with the scent device prototype at several events around Vermont.

I developed Eden with a small team over a single summer while I was in college. For most of us, it was our first real VR project. Our goal was to create a casual experience with minimalistic gameplay and high-fidelity environment art and audio. We wanted to create a super immersive experience which used environmental storytelling and became even more immersive and profound when scents were added into the mix.

In Eden, the player arrives at a bar in the middle of night and is drawn in by a mysterious voice. The player explores four unique types of environments, each with their own different scent. There are also certain objects in the game that are smellable with narrative significance.

OVR Vignettes

Several years later, while working at Frame Interactive, OVR contracted our studio to create a new experience to demo their updated scent device. The new device was compatible with the Oculus Quest, had updated scent dispersal features, and communicated over WiFi.

OVR wanted a more compact, streamlined experience to show off their new device. Collaborating with OVR, we created a simulation which takes the player through three short interactive "vignettes," guided by a talking virtual avatar. Each of the vignettes featured different types of scents. The experience also collected user analytics and feedback in the form of mood ratings and audio testimonials.

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Pet Rock: Weapon of Mass Destruction

Pet Rock: Weapon of Mass Destruction is a game I created as lead designer during my junior year at college, over a single semester. Our team started with just myself, an artist, and a programmer, and added a few more members later after passing the first round of cuts.

In the game, you control a pet rock in a 3D child's room, and your goal is to cause as much mayhem as possible while also earning stickers for completing challenges. Pet Rock is a casual, open-ended physics-driven experience. Certain players will simply enjoy causing destruction and creating emergent situations, while completionists will try to discover and complete every challenge.

At the end of the semester, we brought Pet Rock: Weapon of Mass Destruction to RPI's GameFest, where the game won 1st place in a competition judged by developers from Vicarious Visions and Velan Studios, beating out over 20 other games from colleges across the Northeast.

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Headmaster: The Lost Lessons

Headmaster: The Lost Lessons is the first DLC for the hit PSVR launch title Headmaster, by Frame Interactive. In Headmaster, you must escape from prison by heading virtual soccer balls (and other things) with your actual head! This DLC adds 10 new single player levels with brand new mechanics, a new party mode level to play with friends, and a look inside Carl's Workshop.

For this DLC, I designed and implemented 5 of the 10 new single player levels (Trampolines I, Trampolines II, Color Mixing I, Color Mixing II, and Garage Sale). It was a blast creating levels that lived up to the quality of the original game while also adding new creativity and challenge.

In addition to creating those levels, I also worked on the new party mode level, performed extensive QA and bug fixes to update the game to a modern version of Unity, and carried out many marketing and publishing requirements to ensure the game had a successful, multi-platform launch.

If you are curious to see more about the levels in the DLC, check out these videos created by fans of the game:

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About Me

I am a multi-disciplinary developer with proficiency in many areas, including C# scripting in the Unity Engine, game architecture patterns, gameplay programming, tools programming, game feel, user experience design, level design, systems design, rapid prototyping, documentation, agile-scrum production and management, and more. I have a wealth of experience working in small teams and taking on many different responsibilities to bring a product from conception to launch.

My portfolio includes video games developed for many different platforms (console, PC, etc.) as well as many virtual reality projects that were contracted by various tech and medical companies. I love working with clients because the projects are often very unique and it's satisfying to take someone's passionate idea and collaborate with them to make it a reality. Satisfied clients I've worked with include OVR Technology and One Medical.

I graduated from Champlain College, a top ranked school for game development by the Princeton Review, in 2018 with a Bachelor's of Science in Game Design. I also studied abroad for a semester in Montreal, where I was able to study under industry veterans.

Throughout Champlain's rigorous design program, I developed many games in scrum-based team development process designed to mimic those in the AAA industry, and I learned to collaborate with people of other disciplines. A game I designed with a small team over a semester in my junior year took first place at RPI Game Fest 2017.

Post-graduation, I worked for 2 years at a small indie studio called Frame Interactive. There I was mentored by a multidisciplinary AAA veteran who had also released his own indie game. While I was at Frame, I created prototypes for many different internal game projects, took on VR contracts for clients, and shipped the studio's first DLC for the game Headmaster.

Most recently, I worked as a Game Designer at Level Ex, a studio that creates video games for doctors.

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Contact Me

Shoot me an email if you want to talk!

Feel free to check out my LinkedIn if you'd like to see more of my history.