Will McNeese

Game & Content Design/QA

An analytical, empathetic, and collaborative game designer with experience solving design and story problems to help make awesome games! Has worked in a wide range of areas including game design, narrative QA, and accessibility. Just wants to make the world a better place with games!

An "Eye of Wedjet" with a blue center.

Wadjet Eye Games

Wadjet Eye Games is an award-winning studio known for point-n-click adventures. I've worked on recent titles like Strangeland, The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, as well as a few upcoming games in the role of QA

Responsibilities include:

  • Tracking and documenting bugs and glitches

  • Creating solutions to design problems

  • Ensuring narrative beats are effective

An image for the game "The Excavation of Hob's Barrow". It depicts the main character, Thomasina (Long brown hair tied up, wearing a white button down shirt, brown suspenders, and a purple ascot), looking out the window of a train showing the British count
The poster for "Strangeland" depicting a skull with a purple-ish glow seeping through it's eye and nose cavities. It's centered between two black crows, staring at each other.
An image for the game "The Excavation of Hob's Barrow". It depicts the main character, Thomasina (Long brown hair tied up, wearing a white button down shirt, brown suspenders, and a purple ascot), looking out the window of a train showing the British count
The poster for "Strangeland" depicting a skull with a purple-ish glow seeping through it's eye and nose cavities. It's centered between two black crows, staring at each other.
An image for the game "The Excavation of Hob's Barrow". It depicts the main character, Thomasina (Long brown hair tied up, wearing a white button down shirt, brown suspenders, and a purple ascot), looking out the window of a train showing the British count

Old Skies

A time travel adventure spanning two hundred years! Dive into the past with time agent Fia Quinn as she embarks on seven trips through time. History is up for grabs, from the speakeasies of Prohibition to the vicious gangs of the Gilded Age.

Role: Narrative QA

An image for the game "The Excavation of Hob's Barrow". It depicts the main character, Thomasina (Long brown hair tied up, wearing a white button down shirt, brown suspenders, and a purple ascot), looking out the window of a train showing the British count

Rosewater

A thrilling Western adventure in the alternate 19th century world of Lamplight City! Embark on a harrowing journey across the frontier with Harley Leger and her ragtag posse, encountering bandits, rebels, visionaries, eccentrics, and many more friends and foes on your quest for fame and riches.

Role: Narrative QA

An image for the game "The Excavation of Hob's Barrow". It depicts the main character, Thomasina (Long brown hair tied up, wearing a white button down shirt, brown suspenders, and a purple ascot), looking out the window of a train showing the British count

The Excavation of
Hob's Barrow

A folk horror narrative-driven adventure. Explore the isolated moors of rural Victorian England as you uncover the mysteries of Hob's Barrow. The answers lie in the soil...

Role: Narrative QA

The poster for "Strangeland" depicting a skull with a purple-ish glow seeping through it's eye and nose cavities. It's centered between two black crows, staring at each other.

Strangeland

From the makers of Primordia. A story about loss, identity, and redemption

Role: QA

An "Eye of Wedjet" with a blue center.

The Woodpecker

A personal Twine game about saving your house from an annoying woodpecker.

Role: Solo Dev

An "Eye of Wedjet" with a blue center.

Grossly Unqualified
Art Repair

The award-winning art restoration game jam entry for the Global Game Jam 2020

Role: Designer and Writer

An image for the game "The Excavation of Hob's Barrow". It depicts the main character, Thomasina (Long brown hair tied up, wearing a white button down shirt, brown suspenders, and a purple ascot), looking out the window of a train showing the British count

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is a point-and-click, folk horror adventure game by Cloak and Dagger Games and published by Wadjet Eye GamesI performed QA in order to track bugs and design solutions. I was also tasked with creating specific lines of dialogue to help guide the player.

Aided designers and writers

Helped ensure that the game ran smoothly and that the narrative and design choices had the intended outcome.

Designed and pitched solutions

Found potential solutions to design problems and bugs. Discussed implementation with designers.

Assisted in writing dialogue

Wrote specific lines for when the player used the wrong item for a puzzle to nudge them on the write track so as to prevent frustration.

Documented issues

Created clear and concise documents detailing bugs, glitches, and giving feedback narrative, pacing, and mechanics.

Antiquarian Thomasina Bateman is writing a book on the barrows of England, documenting the treasures she finds buried within. When an intriguing letter summons her to the small village of Bewlay, tucked away in the remote countryside, she sets off by train with her assistant a day behind.
Upon her arrival, however, the mysterious man who summoned her is nowhere to be found. Her assistant never arrives. A stubborn landowner refuses access to the barrow, and the locals are wary of this woman who is traveling alone and (gasp!) wears trousers.
The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow is off to a rocky start. And then Thomasina starts having strange dreams…

The poster for "Strangeland" depicting a skull with a purple-ish glow seeping through it's eye and nose cavities. It's centered between two black crows, staring at each other.

Strangeland is a point-and-click adventure game by WormWood Studios, the makers of Primordia, and published by Wadjet Eye GamesYou can view the official website here.And you can find it on Steam here.I was lucky enough to perform QA on the game in order to find and communicate bugs and other issues to the developers

Documented issues

Created clear and concise documents detailing bugs, glitches, and giving feedback narrative, pacing, and mechanics.

Pitched solutions

Pitched potential solutions to design problems and bugs. Discussed implementation with designers.

Gave feedback on design to ensure functionality

Created specific lines for when the player used the wrong item for a puzzle to nudge them on the write track so as to prevent frustration.

You awake in a nightmarish carnival and watch a golden-haired woman hurl herself down a bottomless well for your sake. You seek clues and help from jeering ravens, an eyeless scribe, a living furnace, a mismade mermaid, and many more who dwell within the park. All the while, a shadow shrieks from atop a towering roller-coaster, and you know that until you destroy this Dark Thing, the woman will keep jumping, falling, and dying, over and over again…

An "Eye of Wedjet" with a blue center.

Grossly Unqualified Art Repair is a VR game made for the 2020 Global Game Jam.

An "Eye of Wedjet" with a blue center.

Designed mechanics and core gameplay loop

Identified which mechanics could be created within the limited scope. Tested and iterated with team to find improvements and provide players with a fun and silly experience.

Wrote text and dialogue

Wrote in-game text designed to emphasize comedic tone as well as convey exposition and instruction to the player.

Managed schedule and set team goals

Identified skillsets of teammates and allocated tasks accordingly. Set scope and made adjustments as necessary to it to ensure the game was completed. Made cuts to content when necessary.

An "Eye of Wedjet" with a blue center.

The Woodpecker is a short comedy Twine game made based somewhat on true events.

Designed game and narrative

Designed and tested puzzles. Mapped out story flow.

Wrote Story

Crafted original story. Wrote exposition, scenarios, jokes, and instructions for the player.

Solved programming and story issues

Identified issues with story, dialogue trees, and puzzle design. Created solutions without compromising on the core experience.

The Logo for Invictus, with the tagline "Be Unconquerable"

Invictus is a paid work readiness program for autistic individuals. The participants originally only made dog biscuits but have since branched out into other culinary areas at the request of third party companies.
I was brought on as an intern to help create a UI to convey instructions through images rather than text.

My Responsibilities:

Tested UI with users. made adjustments based on feedback

Designed UI that wouldn't require reading skill

Helped set up new hardware and software so that participants could use it

An image for the game "The Excavation of Hob's Barrow". It depicts the main character, Thomasina (Long brown hair tied up, wearing a white button down shirt, brown suspenders, and a purple ascot), looking out the window of a train showing the British count

Rosewater is a point-and-click, Western by Grundislav Games and published by Application Systems HeidelbergI performed QA in order to track bugs and narrative issues. I also designed and pitched a few features and accessibility settings.

Aided designers and writers

Helped ensure that the game ran smoothly and that the narrative and design had the intended outcome.

Designed and pitched solutions

Found potential solutions to design problems, bugs and glitches. Discussed implementation with designers.

Tested branching narratives

Ensured that player choices mattered and that the world and companions responded accordingly.

Documented issues

Created concise documents detailing bugs and giving feedback on narrative, pacing, and mechanics.

It's been several years since Harley Leger left New Bretagne and headed west, hoping to leave the past behind and make her way as a freelance writer. After arriving in the sleepy border town of Rosewater, a seemingly trivial assignment for the local paper leads to the hunt for a missing man's fortune—and the story of the century.Harley and her ragtag posse embark on a harrowing journey across Western Vespuccia, encountering bandits, rebels, visionaries, eccentrics, and many more friends and foes on their quest for fame and riches.

An image for the game "The Excavation of Hob's Barrow". It depicts the main character, Thomasina (Long brown hair tied up, wearing a white button down shirt, brown suspenders, and a purple ascot), looking out the window of a train showing the British count

Old Skies is a time traveling, point-and-click adventure game developed by Wadjet Eye GamesI performed QA in order to track bugs and narrative issues.

Aided designers and writers

Helped ensure that the game ran smoothly and that the narrative and design had the intended outcome.

Designed and pitched solutions

Found potential solutions to design problems, bugs and glitches. Discussed implementation with designers.

Tested audio sync

Ensured that all VO, text, and character animation was implemented and synced up perfectly.

Documented issues

Created concise documents detailing bugs and giving feedback on narrative, pacing, and mechanics.

Time Travel is real and history is up for grabs! In this point-and-click, you play Fia Quinn, a time agent for the ChronoZen agency. Your job is to keep close watch on seven travelers who have the desire (and the bank accounts) to sightsee in the past. Some are simply curious. Others have unfinished business to resolve. And they’ve all put down a lot of money for the trip, so it’s vital that you keep them happy while ensuring they follow the rules. But what could go wrong? It's only time travel, after all.