Hell of A Racket
Racket Swingin’, Ball Reflectin’, First-person Fun.
Ever wished playing tennis was harder and involved fire? This game’s got you covered. Hell of a Racket is a first-person “boomer shooter” that takes the “shooter” part out in favor of a holy, demon-slaying tennis racket.
This game was developed over the course of a year as part of the University of Utah Department of Games’ 2022-2023 senior capstone project.
I served as Design Lead on this project with a team of about ~28 people, culminating in publication on Steam and positive recognition from both Polygon.com and The Escapist.
Paying homage to classics like DOOM and Quake while introducing unique mechanics and high-flying verticality, Hell of A Racket tasks you with using your tennis skills to reflect enemy projectiles back on your foes—rewarding players for timing and skill while allowing a huge amount of maneuverability.
As Design Lead I…
Designed feature specifications during prototyping phase
Designed and Balanced our Character Controller
Designed and iterated on the unique reticle-based timing indicator
Facilitated and led inter-disciplinary communication with respect to design specs and feature requirements
Worked with Producers to establish realistic, scope-focused guidelines for the Design team
Led and organized majority of design and ideation meetings
Managed tasks for design and feature teams using kanban board software (Hack’n’Plan)
Organized sprint goals for my team and laid out expectations for design documentation
Documented required art and sound assets using spreadsheets, including art specs, minimum conveyed information, and priority order of implementation
Directed a number of general game decisions
Provided voice-over work for the game’s announcer and protagonist