I’m Caitlyn, a game designer based in Virginia.

Unity 2D Video Game Developer ● Photoshop Artist ● Online Code Class Instructor for Create&Learn

Design Disciplines

Level Design

Build thematic levels. I create meaningful layouts, environments, and challenges within a game to convey the creator’s intent for the player’s experience.  Each of my game spaces is designed with relevance and purpose.

Concept Art, VFX, & 2D Sprites

Transform creative ideas into unique hand-drawn worlds. Custom assets enhance a game’s stylistic hook. Imagination meets polished professional artwork with Photoshop to illustrate captivating lore, gorgeous environments, and memorable characters.

C# Programs

Code the game. My programming repertoire to generate and modify 2D experiences within the Unity game engine encompasses a full metroidvania-style platformer from start to finish: preload, save, multi-console input, player abilities, UI menus, audio integration, lighting, inventory, plot progression, scene transition, boss fights, health, particle effects, Shader Graphs, and more.

Narrative Systems

Tell a tale. I write and edit detailed dialogue to convey a game’s story, from custom designed font to the overarching software. Ink and Unity’s TextMeshPro support versatile and complex plotlines via quest structure, gameplay integration, and branching choices.

2D Animation

Enrich gameplay mechanics. I smoothly transform game art with Photoshop, Timeline, and Unity’s Animator & Animate to take characters and other game objects from still images to animated sprites.

Teaching & Mentorship

Teach game design and mods. I am a teacher for the online code school Create&Learn. I teach Unity, Scratch, Roblox, and Minecraft Mods to elementary, middle, and high school students.

*Scroll down to view portfolio samples under the Highlights section of this webpage

Highlights

*These game assets (except AI images & cited artists) were developed by Caitlyn Holzmond for Digital Native and may not be reused without permission

Tools & Techniques

Unity Level Design

a Story From Art

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    • guide the eye to beautiful corners

    • combine objects to tell a story via proximity

    • embrace thematic inspiration in popular mythology

    • trigger recognition in players

    • leave freely interpretable negative spaces

  • Item description

a Creative & Original Mechanical Hook

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    • Right-Side-Blind Silhouette FX, a Challenging Novel Platformer Mechanic: Unity’s Shader Graph

    • C# Program 2D-3D Integration: Visual Studio

AI-Derivative Works

Hand-drawn Frame-By-Frame Game Art

Honored Inspiration

Takato Yamamoto

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    • Texture & Shape Reference Images: AI Prompt

    • Game Art Sprites: Photoshop

    • Lighting & Bloom: Unity 2D

    • The Fall of Lucifer

    • Innocence Lost

Jeff Lee Johnson

Submersive Scenes

Genndy Tartakovsky

Samurai Jack’s Art Style
Primal’s Frame-by-Frame Animation

    • Cityscape Reference Images: AI Prompt

    • Cyberpunk Building Game Art Sprites: Hand-drawn in Photoshop

    • Parallax, Lighting, & Bloom: Unity 2D

    • Dystopia

    • Evil Buildings

    • Science Fiction

    • Snake geometry invokes ‘Garden of Eden’ for a ‘Loss of Innocence’ trope

    • Snake Reference Image: AI Prompt

    • Tree Game Object: Photoshop

    • Petal, Cloud, & Rain FX: Unity’s Particle System

    • Wind Zone: Unity’s Physics Engine

    • Texture & Shape Reference Images: AI Prompt

    • Game Art Sprites: Photoshop

    • Right-Side-Blind Silhouette FX: Unity’s Shader Graph

    • Parallax, Player Movement, Lighting, & Bloom: Unity 2D

    • Stars, Cocktails, & Fountain Particle FX: Unity’s Particle System

    • Animations: Unity’s Animator & Animation

    • Gluttony

    • Vampires

    • Outer Space

Artificial Intelligence, Tool of Our Time

2D Animation Statement Pieces

    • Looping animation hand-drawn in Photoshop Timeline

    • 2D animation animated frame-by-frame with Unity’s Animator

    • Transparency of sprites for glass and liquid done in Unity

    • Lighting for 2D-3D VFX done in Unity with Universal Render Pipeline

    • 3-color-gradient background material & shader made in Unity with Shader Graph & C# code

    • Bubble Effect from custom Photoshop brushes

  • Dialogue System

    • Text: Unity’s TextMeshPro

    • Speech Bubbles: Unity’s Particle System

    • User Interface (UI): Unity’s Canvas

    • .JSON Story Narration: Ink

    Font from Scratch

    • Characters: Photoshop

    • Glyphs: Inkscape

One-Side-Blind 2D Platforming Challenge

Ryōko Kui

Falin’s Character Design

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    • Texture & Shape Reference Images: AI Prompt

    • Game Art Sprites: Photoshop

    • Lighting & Bloom: Unity 2D

    • The Fall of Lucifer

    • Innocence Lost

Featured Game Design

*These game assets (except AI images & cited artists) were developed by Caitlyn Holzmond for Digital Native and may not be reused without permission

  • Images:

    • a tree with a face: a secret place

    • bees in the trees

    • Airborne Aerie Apothecary

    Unity

    • Lighting

    • Particle FX

    • Day / Night: Visual Studio