Nathaniel (Nat) Chu

About Me

Nathaniel (Nat) ChuCS:Game Design B.S. @ UCSC I am a highly motivated & creative game enthusiast, who enjoys the challenge of creating & developing games that are deceptively simple, yet deeply complex. I strive to create immersive expirences through play across mutliple mediums, pushing the boundaries of the design space and my own abilites with each piece.

Over the the last 4 years, I've been able to craft several games utilizing my skill in UI/UX, Software Development, Systems Design, and Narrative Design - and loved every second of it!

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Markus's Miasma 🌲

Puzzle Narrative Horror

Welcome to UCSC! Well, kind of. Explore a twisted version of UCSC, uncovering cryptic clues to piece together the disturbing truth behind one man's obsession.
Markus's Miasma

This isn’t the sunny college campus you remember. Familiar landmarks are warped, the silence is heavy, and the mist hides more than just bad weather.

You’ll explore eerie paths and unsettling buildings as you piece together the story behind Markus—a guy with a past so dark, it’s bleeding into reality. Solve creepy puzzles, uncover buried memories, and try not to get too lost in the fog (literally and emotionally).

Notes:
- My Role: Tech Lead and Programmer
- Development Time: 6 Months
- Team Size: 8
- Platform: Unity
- Available On Steam
Shork Tank 🦈

Feed & Grow-Like Bullet Hell

You are a Shork. This is your tank. Defend your home from these interlopers! Swim, Eat, Die, Repeat!
Shork Tank

The Feed & Grow bullet hell you've been waiting for! Defend your tank from these interlopers!

Created duing a week-long jam, I designed this game to be simple with an increadibly high skill ceiling. Taking inspiration from arcade classics, the game has multiple hidden features and tech, adding to replayability as you chase higher scores. Unlike more traditional bullet hells, the feed & grow mechanic forces the player to engage the enemies directly, balancing health and agression in a complex push & pull. Swim, Eat, Die, Repeat!

Notes:
- My Role: Sole Programmer & Design Lead
- Development Time: 1 Week
- Team Size: 3
- Platform: Godot
- Highly Polished & Addicting
Origin of Anima (OOA)👁️

TTRPG

OOA is an Adventure within the soul itself, focused on silly shenanigans and player freedom. Anything you imagine can happen!
Origin of Anima

My longest project to date, a tabletop role-playing game boasting a unique card-based system and an extremely open-ended caracter creation system. Time to do some soul-searching!

I designed this game to allow players to learn their own abilities through the course of the game, taking advantage of word-play and personalized player-made abilites. The Force System uses simple mathematics to maintain balance despite the chaos, streamlining storytelling without restricting player expression. This game taught me a considerable amount about Design, Production, Advertisement, Writing, & Narrative, through its development.

Notes:
- My Role: Sole Designer, Writer, and Producer
- Development Time: ~3 Years
- Team Size: 3
- Platform: Physical & Multi-Media
- Planned Release Date: Q2 2026
Wizard Wobble 🧙

Build-It-Yourself Platformer

Jump through a hell of your own creation, placing both platforms and obstacles to get to the window of your wizard tower. All because you forgot your keys. Whoops!
Wizard Wobble

Inspired by games like Ultimate Chicken Horse, Wizard Wobble remixes the genre into a challenging infinite 2D-Platformer where you are your own worst enemy.

This game was designed with tight platforming at it's heart, with a simple yet compelling gameplay loop. The random selection inspired by Tetris and the precedual generation keeps players on their toes. Further, it boasts 3 obstacles and platforms with intitive yet complex interactions in mind, each refined to work together to create a unique expirence each time you play.

Notes:
- My Role: Designer and Programmer
- Development Time: 3 Weeks
- Team Size: 3
- Platform: Construct
- Simple, yet effective and replayable!
The Haunting of Hu Gu Po 🐅

Tile-Based Board Game

Based on the Taiwanese folktale of Hu Gu Po, turn the tables on the Tiger Aunt or puppet the siblings into their own demise!
The Haunting of Hu Gu Po

Inspired by games like Betrayal the House on the Hill, 4 players place tiles to explore and ever-evolving house. This game was designed to be a tense, asymmetric competitve strategy board game, where the players must juggle cards, actions, communication, and positioning to sucseed.

The siblings must try to work together, using their complementary abilites to avoid the Tiger Aunt's traps and schemes.

Notes:
- My Role: Designer
- Development Time: 3 Weeks
- Team Size: 4
- Platform: Physical
- Engaging strategy board game expirence! Fun for the whole family!
Time Sandal (TSOT) ⌛

2D Puzzle Platformer

Explore an ancient temple with the power of your time flipping flip-flop. Best expirience on mobile.
Time Sandal, The Sandal of Time

Flip-flop between the present and future to explore an ancient temple!

Designed with mobile-users in mind, this game features 3 levels of time-warping puzzles. My first foray into puzzle design, I worked to ensure each level teaches the player something new, building on the mechanics of previous levels. I also used familiar objects to make their functions intuitive, keeping the game almost entirely tutorial free.

Notes:
- My Role: Tech Lead and Programmer
- Development Time: 2 Weeks
- Team Size: 3
- Platform: Phaser
- Web game with a mobile-centric design

Nathaniel (Nat) Chu

About Me

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