Welcome!
Favourite Projects
Lich-Cat
My 4th year capstone game at Sheridan College on which I worked as the sole Narrative Designer.
ODR Hockey Heroes
An arcade hockey game for which I am working directly with the game director as the narrative designer.
Works
Games
ODR Hockey Heroes
ODR Hockey Heroes is an arcade hockey game with pick up and play controls. The game features a story mode that dives into a world stuck in an eternal winter. The player must defeat all 6 Hockey Godz in a grand tournament to save the world.
Winner of The Digital Big Indie Pitch 2021 and multiple award nominee.
Lich-Cat
Explore an ancient dungeon as a magic slinging cat! Master the Rune Drawing system to cast powerful spells and triumph over any foe or obstacle in your way. Fight the underlings of Dran Draydius, a powerful necromancer whose mind you trapped in your furry form after disrupting his ritual! Equip yourself with a robust set of Ritual Items and make the dungeon’s denizens tremble at your meow!
Peoples Choice honourable mention and 3rd place winner of Technical Innovation award at Level Up Showcase 2023
Look into the Fire
Look into the Fire is a branching narrative game exploring the relationship between two planets in the same solar system. Each story in this anthology uses a different genre of gameplay. The player’s actions will shape the worlds around them, forming the worlds’ cultures and destinies.How will your actions impact the relationship of these two planets?
Small Games
Flower Shower
A short Peggle like game created for Spring 2D Game Jam 2021 and achieved 4th place.
Team Members and Roles
Lucas Gollan - level design and supporting artist
Ron Lieu - programming and audio (original)
Ryan Matthews - programming
Erica Mitton - lead artistAll members contributed to the game design of this project.
We Need to Talk
Created for Global Game Jam 2020 set at the turning point of a romantic relationship.
Team Members and Roles
Lucas Gollan - narrative design
Owen Maertens - programming and audio
Ryan Matthews - programming
Erica Mitton - artistAll members contributed to the Game Design of this project.
Atomic Ware
A WarioWare style game which places players at a nuclear plant on the verge of a meltdown. I managed documentation.
Team Members and Roles
Lucas Gollan - game designer, supporting artist, and documentation
Zach Baker - game designer and programmer
Olivia Cox - producer, game designer, and lead artist
Lucas Marra - artist
The Scale of Time
An escape room that could only work in a virtual setting created for a Design Week challenge at Sheridan College. Core mechanics revolve around growing and shrinking in the space.
I worked on the environmental, level and narrative design.Created by Lucas Gollan, Gab Anonuevo-Carreon, Jack Plowman, Kuanghua Qiao, and Jonas Vrieling.
Lich-Cat
Trailer and Key Work
Scroll Points
External Links
Explore an ancient dungeon as a magic slinging cat! Master the Rune Drawing system to cast powerful spells and triumph over any foe or obstacle in your way. Fight the underlings of Dran Draydius, a powerful necromancer whose mind you trapped in your furry form after disrupting his ritual! Equip yourself with a robust set of Ritual Items and make the dungeon’s denizens tremble at your meow!
Peoples Choice honourable mention and 3rd place winner of Technical Innovation award at Level Up Showcase 2023
All members contributed to the Game Design of this project.Team Members and Roles
Lucas Gollan - narrative designer and audio team coordinator
Kyle Brunton - producer
Fred Duffield - programmer
Erica Mitton - 3D artist
Taylor Moffat - 2D and UI artist
Jack Upshall - level designer
Process Work
Characters and Dialogue
During the game's pre-production phase, I created character sheets for Lich-Cat’s key characters such as Dran Draydius and Rogi. Creating these sheets aided me in determining the character's motivations, arcs, and voices so I could best develop how they would interact with one another and speak throughout the game. The sheets also helped me collaborate with the artists on the team to create compelling visual design for the characters.As production began, I started work on the script. Once I was confident in my character's lines, I sent them to voice actors and immediately began casting. With consistently toned lines I was able to direct the voice actors with confidence in how the characters should sound. My efforts on these fronts greatly added to the play experience, as having interacting characters brought the world to life.If you would like to learn more about the characters and this process, please check out the links below.
Ritual Items
My team and I worked to design the Ritual Circle system for Lich-Cat. This system allowed players to place items they found in the world into a ritual circle to give themselves buffs. Along with aiding in these items' mechanical design, I wrote their lore and worked with the team’s artists on their visual design.Each Ritual Item had 3 levels to them. Originally, I was going to write evolving descriptions per level. This however tripled my workload and was massively out of scope for the handful of months we had to complete this project. Instead, I wrote one strong description per item and changed their titles per level to retain their aura of evolution as you upgraded them.Creating items that exemplified the mechanics they were tied to was one of my favourite processes throughout production on Lich-Cat. I sowed stories into the items that would be expanded on in later levels in the game.
ODR Hockey Heroes
Trailer and Key Work
Scroll Points
External Links
ODR Hockey Heroes is an arcade hockey game with pick up and play controls. The game features a story mode that dives into a world stuck in an eternal winter. The player must defeat all 6 Hockey Godz in a grand tournament to save the world!
Winner of The Digital Big Indie Pitch 2021 and multiple award nominee.
Team Member and Roles
Christopher Atallah - game director, game designer, programmer
Lucas Gollan - narrative designer
Additional contractors for environmental art, 3D modeling and UI design
Characters
For this game, I created the Trash Pandas, a palpably Canadian hockey team; a gauntlet of Hockey Godz who epitomize various aspects of the sport; and the Player Character who grows into the role of captain of the Trash Pandas. Each of these characters draws upon established archetypes from the sports game genre.Though I was not well versed in hockey when I started this contract, I spent time studying ODR itself, held interviews with people who loved the sport, and watched a great deal of relevant movies and shows to get to the heart of hockey. My goal in conducting this research was to inform the cast of the game and create a cohesive world and immersive experience.Linked below you will find the character sheets for the Player Character; the original captain of the Trash Pandas “Ace”; and “Griznasty” Hockey God of Truculence.
Outline
Working personally with the game director, I created a new outline for the game. This outline concerned primarily the introduction of the game and the tournaments against the first two Hockey Godz. It then goes on to outline the rest of the game. This was created so that ODR could get a story mode demo for the Steam early access release.The story of the game explores the protagonist becoming more confident in themself as they take on the Hockey Godz to end the eternal winter.
Look Into the Fire
Look into the Fire is a branching narrative game exploring the relationship between two planets in the same solar system. Each story in this anthology uses a different genre of gameplay. The player’s actions will shape the worlds around them, forming the worlds’ cultures and destinies.How will your actions impact the relationship of these two planets?
Team Members and Roles
Lucas Gollan - game and narrative designer
World Building
Willum
A world that has lost the guidance of their gods and must learn to coexist without the gods intervention.
Created by Lucas Gollan for games, writing and more!
Eclipsia System
Two worlds orbit the same star. One has just discovered space travel while the other refuses to leave a medieval era.
Created by Lucas Gollan for games, writing and more!
Drokar
An unexplored and highly popluated world concerned with the connections sapient beings create with one another.
Created by Lucas Gollan for games, writing and more!
Deiadeimor
A once isolated world becomes subject to the whims of the multiverse. This world embraces classic fantasy and leverages the preestablished myths to get players invested quickly!
Created by Lucas Gollan as a campaign setting for TTRPG games.
About Me
Dedicated to Collaborative Excellence
I am Lucas Gollan, a game designer with a specialization in world building and narrative design. I have been creating worlds for 8 years and games for 5. My passion for these creative outlets burns brighter by the day! My goal is to create worlds that can be adapted into any medium so that as many people can enjoy them as possible.I am a dedicated and passionate designer who loves nothing more than to work with other creative individuals. Collaboration and communication are core skills for designers of any type; I believe there are no designs that could not be improved by gaining the insight of others. I have honed these skills through my position in the industry, during my undergraduate degree at Sheridan College’s Game Design program, and 11 years of dance. I would be honoured to further hone my skills with your team!Thank you for taking the time to visit my site. I hope you have a wonderful day!
Influences
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by Bethesda Game Studios
- God of War Ragnorok by Santa Monica Studios
- Spider-Man 2 by Insomniac Games
- Baldur's Gate 3 by Larian Studios
- Age of Mythology by Skybox Labs and Ensemble Studios
- Dungeons and Dragons by Wizards of the Coast
- Everdell by James A. Willson
- Scythe by Jamey Stegmaier
- The Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson
- Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour
