Mama Hawk

Game Design · Level Design · Creature Design · Programming · Mobile Development

Summary

Mama Hawk is a mobile action-arcade game where players guide a hawk mother as she hunts, avoids danger, and feeds her growing brood. With handcrafted levels, expressive creature behaviors, and a playful natural ecosystem, the game blends action, timing, and light puzzle-solving.

I joined the team as a Level Designer, but my role quickly expanded into Game Design, Creature Design, Programming, UI contribution, and worldbuilding. I created levels, designed and implemented many of the game’s creatures, built environmental effects, contributed to UI, supported production, and helped prepare the game for public showcases.

All of my work shipped in the final game, and Mama Hawk was featured at Play NYC and Pax East.

Main Website (SnowHydra) • Nintendo Store • Steam • MobyGames (Credits)

Project Overview

Zarvot is a stylish, fast-paced action shooter developed by indie creator Sam Eng (SnowHydra) and published on the Nintendo Switch. It features expressive visuals, tactile destructible environments, and a mix of single-player and multiplayer gameplay.

I joined during the final stretch of development to support the Nintendo Switch release, focusing on single-player level design, visual polish, combat pacing, and hardware-aware optimization. This project also provided my first hands-on experience with Nintendo Switch dev kits.

SnowHydra (Main Site) · Nintendo Store · Steam

My Contributions

Single-player level design

Arena aesthetics & visual composition
Enemy wave pacing & combat flow
Destructible environment tuning
Switch dev kit testing & optimization
Close collaboration with Sam Eng

What I Worked On

Single-Player Level Design

Zarvot originally focused on multiplayer, but for the Switch release, the game expanded with a single-player story campaign. My work centered on creating arenas that delivered:

Smooth movement flow
Clear readability
Strong combat beats
Satisfying visual feedback

I worked closely with Sam Eng, who created new mechanics and enemy types. He would develop or code features, and I would:

Place, tune, and integrate them into new arenas
Adjust pacing based on how they felt moment-to-moment
Iterate on layouts to support single-player combat clarity
Provide feedback to refine new mechanics further

This ensured every encounter felt expressive and aligned with Zarvot’s personality.

Level Aesthetics & Visual Composition

In addition to mechanical design, I shaped the visual look and clarity of several arenas. Zarvot’s minimalist, expressive art style required attention to both beauty and function.

My aesthetic contributions included:

Designing levels that were pretty, readable, and coherent
Composing scenes using shape language and lighting
Balancing arena detail with fast-paced gameplay clarity
Maintaining style consistency while optimizing for hardware

This helped each arena feel unique, inviting, and visually satisfying to destroy.

Console Development (Nintendo Switch)

This project gave me hands-on experience with console development and optimization.

My responsibilities included:

Testing arenas directly on Nintendo Switch dev hardware
Identifying memory, frame-rate, and performance issues
Adjusting layouts, visuals, and destruction loads to improve stability
Collaborating with Sam to optimize assets
Refining pacing based on how fights felt on the actual device
Running iterative playtests together on Switch dev kits to validate clarity, feedback, and performance

This taught me the importance of designing with hardware limitations in mind and adapting quickly based on technical findings.