Games

Overview

Line By Line is a third person detective game centered around solving mysteries through crossword puzzles. Players take on the role of Casey “Ace” Witt, a retired detective who approaches every case through the lens of language, pattern recognition, and deduction.

The story begins at a local theater, where a play is suddenly interrupted when the lead actor collapses on stage. As production halts and tensions rise among the dysfunctional crew, Casey steps in to uncover the truth. By gathering clues, questioning characters, and solving crosswords, players piece together the mystery line by line.

My Role & Production

Lead Producer for a USC Advanced Games Project (AGP), currently in pre-production. I am responsible for defining the production structure and preparing the project to scale into a full development team.

I establish pipelines, workflows, and team structure across design, engineering, and art to ensure clear communication and alignment between disciplines. This includes organizing sprint structure, milestone planning, and maintaining documentation that supports both short-term iteration and long-term development.

During pre-production, my focus is on scope definition, risk management, and onboarding strategy. I work closely with discipline leads to refine the game’s vision into actionable tasks while ensuring the project remains feasible at scale.

The project is expected to grow to a team of ~25 developers, and my role centers on creating a production environment that can support that growth while maintaining clarity, efficiency, and creative direction.

Status

Currently in pre-production with a leads-only team, preparing for full production.

Overview

nudge is a cozy organization-sim where players take on the role of Joey, a recent graduate decorating her first apartment while navigating an unfulfilling job and an overbearing mother. Through collecting, arranging, and personalizing her space, the game explores themes of independence, identity, and finding balance in early adulthood.

My Role & Production

Usability & Playtesting Lead. I facilitated structured playtest sessions, observed player behavior, and documented qualitative feedback to support iteration.

I translated playtest findings into organized spreadsheets and actionable insights, helping the team identify usability issues, player friction points, and areas for improvement across systems and UI.

The project was developed as part of a USC MFA program, emphasizing experimental design and player-centered iteration. My role focused on bridging player experience with design decisions through continuous feedback loops.

Overview

Welcome to UCSC—sort of. Markus’s Miasma drops players into a fog-drenched, uncanny version of UC Santa Cruz where familiar landmarks are warped and the silence carries weight. Navigate eerie footpaths and unsettling interiors as you uncover the story of Markus—a man whose past is bleeding into reality through puzzles, fragments, and memory.

My Role & Production

Product Owner & Project Manager for a six-month development cycle. Led an interdisciplinary team of eight using Scrum: sprint planning, backlog management, milestone builds. Directed creative vision, coordinated cross-discipline work (design, programming, art, audio), presented regularly, and maintained documentation.

Originated as a UCSC undergraduate capstone. Progressed from pre-production (vision, scope, prototypes) to production (feature/content) and post-production (polish, QA). Refined via structured playtests with classmates and faculty.

Credits

• Project Owner / Producer: Kaylee Morales
• Tech Lead: Nat Chu
• Tech Members: Isai Rincon, Nick Dilorenzo, Chrstina Taylor, Celeste Herrera
• Art Lead: Samina Esteqlal
• Art Member: Hasina Esteqlal

Notes

All characters, locations, and events are fictional. While inspired by the aesthetics of UC Santa Cruz, this work does not depict the real university.

Overview

Red Trees Rail Co is a VR horror train simulator placing you in a restored steam locomotive on a new night route through redwood forest towns. Reports of unsettling phenomena complicate routine operations.

Horror Elements

Expect hallucinations—figures in the trees, impossible interior damage, and other reality-bending events. Rely on the former engineer’s notebook for procedures and survival.

My Role

2D artist, storyboarder, QA tester, generalist. Joined a UCSC capstone team as a sophomore to support a senior team delivering a polished VR experience.

Credits

• Programmers: Charles Qi, Phil Meyer
• Art / Social Media / General: Kaylee Morales

Overview

Sky Is The Limit is a fast-paced vertical climbing game where you play as a firework racing toward the sky before its fuse burns out. The rocket continuously launches upward, and your only control is steering left and right as the climb becomes more chaotic the higher you go.

Birds, power lines, UFOs, and other strange objects stand in your way, turning the ascent into a frantic survival run. The goal is simple: celebrate by reaching the highest height possible before time runs out or one mistake ends the run.

My Role & Design

I worked on game design, helping shape the core concept and gameplay loop around the theme of celebration. We chose a firework as our central mechanic because it naturally represents celebration, but also introduces tension through its limited lifespan.

I helped translate that idea into gameplay by framing the experience as a race against time, where the player is constantly moving upward while trying to avoid obstacles. The act of dodging objects like birds, power lines, and UFOs became a way to reinforce that tension. Celebration isn’t calm, it’s chaotic, fast, and easy to lose control of.

I focused on making the loop feel immediate and engaging: simple controls, constant movement, and quick decision-making. The goal was to create something that feels exciting from the first second, while still capturing the fleeting nature of a firework: a short but intense moment that the player tries to extend for as long as possible.

Details

• Controls: Move mouse left and right to steer.
• Goal: Reach the highest height possible before crashing or running out of fuse.
• Game Over: Your run ends if you hit an obstacle or your timer expires.
• Style: Fast, chaotic, arcade-like vertical climbing.

Credits

• Design: Dean Andrian, Kaylee Morales
• Programming: KT LoPorto, Michelle Zhou
• Art: Thomas Shalosky
• Assets From: Synty

Jam Info

Made for The Jam 2026 @ GDC with the Global Game Jam. Based on the theme: "Celebrate".

Overview

Alienated is a cutesy pixel puzzle game about a small alien trying to fit into an ancient society that doesn’t quite understand them. You play as the alien, navigating daily interactions while slowly learning how this culture communicates.

The society speaks through an esoteric symbolic language. Because words fail, you communicate using emotional masks. As you progress, the alien begins to understand not just the language, but what it means to belong.

My Role & Design

I worked on design and helped shape the core concept: communication as a puzzle, and belonging as the emotional “goal.” This was strongly influenced by my background as a non-native English speaker in the U.S. It's the feeling of knowing what you want to say, but not having the “right” words, and constantly reading tone, context, and reactions to figure out if you’re being understood.

I wanted the alien’s experience to mirror that: learning a culture isn’t just translating language. It’s learning what’s socially “safe,” what creates warmth vs. awkwardness, and how one small choice can shift how people interpret you. The emotional masks became a way to make that isolation, pressure, and learning curve playable.

Notes

• Best experience: Please full screen the game for the best experience.

Credits

• Design: Kaylee Morales, Aedan Ramos
• Programming: KT LoPorto, Kaylee Morales, Michelle Zhou
• Art: Emi Bennett, KT LoPorto, Dizhe Xiang, Michelle Zhou
• Audio: Kash Hodges
• Jam: Made for Global Game Jam 2026
• Theme: Mask

Jam Info

Made for Global Game Jam 2026. Based off of the theme: "Mask".

Overview

Things Left Unspoken is a point and click narrative game about a daughter having lunch with her mother. You play as the daughter, who is trying to say something she has been putting off.

As the mother talks, dialogue choices appear in real time. However, your brain will be riddled with intrusive thoughts (doubts, fears, etc.), that may bleed into the real world. As the conversation gets heavier, these panicked thoughts may overwhelm you.

My Role & Programming

I was the main programmer responsible for bringing the core mechanic to life: we wanted the interaction to feel like the difficulty of speaking. This mechanic would show the hesitation, the emotional blockage, and the pressure of having too many responses in your head at once.

The UI was designed so text can fill the screen, and you often have to wait for the mom to finish speaking before you can click. This was intentionally designed to simulate having a flood of responses in your mind, but not being able to say them yet.

I closely read the design documents that our designer, KT, would share with us and translated them into real gameplay behavior. I turned narrative intentions into timing, input rules, and moment-to-moment tension.

Content Warning

This game contains emotionally sensitive themes, including difficult family dynamics and intrusive thoughts.

Details

• Controls: Left click to select a response.
• Outcomes: There are three possible endings.
• Playtime: ~5 minutes.
• Themes: Mother-daughter relationships, intrusive thoughts, emotional pressure, and the difficulty of being honest with someone you love.

Credits

• KT LoPorto — Narrative / Designer / Voice Actor
• Kaylee Morales — Programmer
• Michelle Zhou — Art / UI / Programmer

Audio Assets

• freesound.org/people/el_boss/sounds/645342/
• freesound.org/people/Destructo20/sounds/780545/
• freesound.org/people/dynia87/sounds/381157/
• freesound.org/people/3bagbrew/sounds/57742/

Jam Info

Made for thatgamejam #1 by thatgamecompany, inspired by the provided image.

Chinese Translation

《未尽之言》是一款点击互动类的叙事游戏，讲述一位女儿与一位母亲共进午餐的故事。你将扮演女儿，尝试说出那些埋藏心底，迟迟未开口的话。

内容警告：本游戏包含情感敏感的主题，包括复杂的家庭关系和侵入性思维。

• 控制: LMB / 鼠标左键
• 玩法机制：当母亲说话时，对话选项便会实时出现。
• 有些选项能推动故事的发展，而另一些则更加具有侵入性。
• 随着紧张局势的加剧，选择会变得愈发混乱。
• 如果未能及时做出回应，对话将朝着特定的方向发展。
• 结局走向：共三种可能结局
• 游戏时长：约5分钟
• 核心主题：母女关系、侵入性思维、情感压力以及与至亲坦诚的困难。

制作团队：

• KT LoPorto — 叙事 / 设计 / 配音
• Kaylee Morales — 程序
• Michelle Zhou — 美术 / UI / 程序

Overview

Bat Bomb is a Unity platformer that rethinks movement by replacing continuous WASD input with a deliberate slingshot mechanic. Players line up shots and commit to each launch to traverse floating platforms with precision.

My Role & Team

Built by a 3-person team for a UCSC Prototype class focused on creative mechanics exploration. I served as Concept Refiner, Coder, and Documenter, shaping the slingshot design, implementing core interactions, and maintaining design/technical docs.

Credits

• Programmers: Calvin Hunter, Jake Sales, Kaylee Morales

Developer Notes

The prototype explores how platformers feel when committed motion replaces continuous input, encouraging foresight and risk management over constant micro-adjustment.

Overview

Puzzle Path is a puzzle-platformer built in Phaser for a foundational game design class at UCSC. The project emphasizes readable level design, tight controls, and light narrative framing.

My Role & Team

Built by a 4-person team. My contributions focused on map and platform concept design and coding core interactions and level logic in Phaser.

Credits

• Programmers: Hasina Esteqlal, Samina Esteqlal, Kaylee Morales, Celeste Herrera