Hello!
I'm a game programmer from Nova Scotia, Canada, with 4 years of work experience in Unity Game development. I've always been passionate about games and I enjoy the process of bringing creative ideas to life! Below are some of my favorite projects that I've worked on, including some of my work at Gopokyo Inc., game jams, and some small projects and prototypes.
Past Work
We Broke the Fairy Tale
By Gopoyo Inc.
Unity/C#
A currently in-development co-op action platformer where players must unite to solve mysteries and defeat enemies to escape from a broken fairy tale.
While I was a part of the team I was involved in various key aspects of the gameplay, including character controls, combat, enemy behaviour, and environmental mechanics as a few examples.
Follow them on TwitterX:
Game Jams
Cat King's Long Journey
GMTK Game Jam 2024
Godot
This was my entry to the 2024 GMTK jam with the theme "Built to Scale". It's a grid puzzle game where you stretch cats to get their king to the goal in 8 different levels. The game was solo developed over the course of 96 hours, though some public assets were used (Credits in the Itch.io page)
As of the end of the jam, my game placed 243rd out of 7636 entries and was within the top 4% of entries.
Try it in the browser:
Fog Force
Global Game Jam 2021
Unity/C#
A low res shoot 'em up where you lose your vision due to a fog and need to search around for enemies.
Solo developed and I was responsible for the art, music/sound, and gameplay.
The theme was "Lost and Found", I loosely adhered to the theme by having the player lose their sight and giving them an alternate way to find enemies.
Try it in the browser:
Space Robots Connect
Extra Credits Jam #4 (2019)
Unity/C#
Take control of two robots as they try to collect floating cubes scattered around their ship. The bots are connected by a wire, so you will need to get them to work together to find them all. Both bots can grab onto walls, floors, or ceilings to allow the other to use the wire to swing around.
I was the sole developer on this game and was responsible for the art and programming and sound.
The theme for this jam was "Connect"
Try it now in the browser or for Android:
https://jamie-spruin.itch.io/spacerobos
Step Ahead - NSCC Jam 2019
Unity/C#
For 2019's NSCC jam I worked with 2 artists and 3 other programmers to create a mini game collection. The theme was "Aesthetically Pleasing" so we each tried to make mini games based on what we thought looked cool for a game. The best part of the game is that it is entirely dance pad compatible and was built with dance pad controls in mind.
I was responsible for some animations, the score and mini game selection screen, and a minigame where you dodge obstacles on a skateboard.
Try it now for Windows:
https://jamie-spruin.itch.io/nscc-jam-step-ahead
Hamster Power - Extra Credits Game Jam #3
Unity/C#
This was created for Extra Credits Game Jam #3. I was the sole developer on this game and was responsible for the art and programming though I did not create any of the audio. The theme was "Cycles".
Protect the city from giant lizards by taking control of a mech, which just so happens to be powered by a hamster wheel. Any action from the mech costs energy, so you will have to manage how much energy you spend compared to how much you generate.
Try it now for Windows:
https://jamie-spruin.itch.io/hamster-power
Personal Projects
Xmas.exe has Stopped Working (Prototype/Ongoing)
Godot
This is an ongoing casual project I'm working on with the intent to finish before Christmas 2025. The plan is that it will be about an elf diving into the digital world of a broken toy machine to figure out what stopped it from working.
Though it's early in development, I plan to make it a rogue-like where each run you play as a randomly generated elf and can gain various upgrades and downgrades as you progress.
Currently I just have the character movement, where you can move, jump, and dash in any direction, a selection of toy and Christmas themed weapons that will appear throughout the game, and a few basic enemies.
Greedy Getaway (Prototype/Paused)
Godot
This is a single touch speedrun platformer for mobile I currently have on the backburner and plan to restart development after my current project. The main goal of the project is to make a fun, easy to use platformer with no on-screen buttons. You can drag your finger on the screen to jump or move in that direction and the character will run automatically to avoid extra inputs.
The game is designed with imprecise controls in mind. Since it's touch controlled I included slowdown when aiming the screen for more than a few frames to allow players to line up jumps easier. I also made sure to have lots of room for the player to land their jumps to add more room for error. While there are spikes chasing the player throughout each level, there should be enough wiggle room for most players to be able to complete it.
To make sure it's fun for more advanced players, I included a speedrun timer and a combo system that multiplies points based on how many rooms you completed without dying.
This game is still very early in production, It's just a couple test levels and placeholders for now, but I plan on revamping the audio and visuals and turning it into a complete game!
Bounding Boxes
Unity/C#
For a self directed college game project, I created a proof of concept for a game similar to Super Smash Brothers that only uses single touch controls.
Players can swipe the screen to jump or double jump, they can tap to do a weak attack, tap and hold to guard, or tap hold and swipe to do one of three special attacks based on which direction was swiped.
Try it now for browser or Android:
https://jamie-spruin.itch.io/bounding-boxes
Completely Accurate Fish Simulator
Unity/C#
A small game where I tried to see if I could make a decent game out of an intentionally terrible idea.
It's a game where the only thing you can do is feed fish to try to keep them alive. Fish can last for about 2 minutes at best without food so make sure to feed them regularly. Overfeeding them will end badly so make sure not to give them too much food.
I created the gameplay and art, though I used a royalty free track for the music (link in the video)
Try it now for Windows:
https://jamie-spruin.itch.io/fish-simulator
Mr. Jam's A-maze-ing Adventure
JavaScript
This was a small prototype I made quite a few years ago(don't remember exactly when), but it was one of my favorite games to make. This was my first attempt at making a JavaScript game from scratch and my first game using mobile inputs. It was a lot of fun making a game without an engine for the first time!
You take control of Mr. Jam as he tries to navigate through a maze. Once he starts moving he can't stop or change his direction until he hits a wall. Special tiles can change his direction and these tiles can also turn on and off to add a bit of challenge to the level.
Pokemon Bingo
HalCon Fan Panel
JavaScript(Card Generation)
Unity/C#(Calling program)
Designed and helped present a popular interactive panel at HalCon (a fantasy and sci-fi convention) where participants played a custom-developed version of bingo which used Pokémon instead of numbers. We have presented it once a year at the convention since 2014 (with the exception of 2020 due to the pandemic)
I developed the software for generating the cards to print and I created an application for displaying called numbers. The examples here are from one of the years we ran it.
This is entirely fan-run, we are not affiliated with Pokémon in any way.
Contact Me
If you need to get in touch with me, you can send me an email and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Email: jamspruin@gmail.com
