Nick Adkins Creative Works
Portfolio
Nick Adkins is a writer and game designer. He considers himself to be an 'ideas' guy with designated notebooks and undesignated notebook margins chock-full of titles, story elements, characters, doodles, and lines of dialogue. Nick prides himself on learning new skills on the fly and is always eager to add new tools to his toolbox.
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For samples of Nick's creative non-fiction writing, please visit the Two Monster Blog by clicking the page in the header above. For samples of Nick's children's book writing and illustrating, please visit the 'Books' section of the website, also linked in the header.
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Nick earned his Bachelor of Arts in English with a focus on creative writing from Michigan State University in 2010. He is currently completing a degree in Game Design from Michigan State University's College of Communication Arts and Sciences. He has completed the following courses in the program:
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MI 101: Understanding Media & Information (4.0)
MI 111: Game Literacy (4.0)
CAS 116: Media Sketching & Graphics (4.0)
CAS 117: Games and Interactivity (4.0)
MI 230: Game Design (4.0)
MI 330: Game Level Design (4.0)
MI 332: Game Interface Design (4.0)
MI 430: Game Writing (4.0)
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The program will be completed in May 2026.
UI, Writing, & Design
PROJECT: ARTEMIS
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HIGH CONCEPT
Project Artemis is a roguelite science fiction odyssey following Adelaide, the captain of a reconnaissance ship that has crash landed on a mysterious planet. Following her mission protocol, Adelaide ventures into the unknown, gathering data and looking for a way to transmit back to the flagship. She encounters creatures, both friendly and hostile, and discovers that time-flow on Planet Artemis doesn’t always behave.
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CORE GAMEPLAY LOOP
Each day begins with Adelaide waking aboard the Crescent, her reconnaissance ship that is shipwrecked on the planet Artemis. There are parts of the ship that are not accessible at the beginning of the game—some that are time-locked (other crew members’ hypersleep pods) and some that require energy cells (weapons chest, workshop, etc). There are a variety of droids that can be interacted with as well.
Upon leaving the Crescent, Adelaide begins venturing through procedurally generated rooms or spaces where she cannot progress until she has defeated the ‘shadows’ in that space. As Adelaide progresses, she finds resources, including energy cells, from derelict ships and wreckage. The player gets to choose a new when leaving each room.
Each region consists of 5-10 rooms and a boss shadow must be defeated to move on to a new region. Each region has a unique feel and unique shadows and NPCs. Each region splits, giving the player the choice on which direction to go.
When Adelaide runs out of health, her droid assistant finds her and brings her back to the Crescent.
SAD ROBOT​
These icons were designed for a concept game where robots compete to complete menial tasks.
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ACTION ICONS
UPGRADE ICONS
TOOL ICONS
Board Game Design
ANT:
Tetramorium Caespitum:
ANT is a colony-building tabletop game where players extend their network of tunnels and are of exploration. Gather food and water to create new nurseries and build new nests. But the life of an ant is not without danger. Beware of predators, feet, tires, and bratty human adolescents with magnifying glasses!
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*This game was created and designed by completely by myself.
Redshift 7
Whispers at the local watering holes say there’s unfathomable treasure to be found in the distant Redshift 7 galaxy. But whispers spread like an engine fire in these parts and you're not the only desperate soul looking to get rich.
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Gather your crew and take on the most dangerous pirates this side of interstellar space. Build up your ship’s arsenal using resources gathered from the dangerous Redshift asteroid belt. Strategize by combining Fusion, Solar, Hydro, and Radioactive energy or go all in on one type to destroy your enemies.
Increase your battery storage capacity to make your weapons even more powerful and strike your foes with lasting effects. You’ll have to outsmart everyone if you're going to make it out of this dogfight in one piece. Only the last crew standing will claim the treasure.
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One mistake and you’re little more than space junk. ​
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I created templates for each card type to easily edit the text and insert the artwork from the team's artist.
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Additionally, I collaborated on the game's concept, created the game's name, wrote the description, and wrote the flavor text for all cards.
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Level Design
Portal 2 Steam Workshop Level
The level consists of four rooms, each with a puzzle that must be solved before moving on to the next room. Once each puzzle is solved, a reflector cube is sent to a tractor beam that runs along the side of the level and is inaccessible. In the final room, the three reflector cubes have followed the tractor beam to a drop-off point. The player must figure out how to arrange the cubes to direct a laser to a laser collector in order to escape.
Metroid Custom Level
In this custom Metroid map, Samus begins in a space where the only possible way to go is down. She drops into a cavern with various rooms that function as a lock and key system. The player must collect numerous power-ups until they are able to climb back to the surface and ultimately end up in the room they started. They are then able to enter a previously inaccessible space by using the morph ball, bombs, and the varia suit to reach the conclusion of the stage.