Hello! I’m John Odell, an interdisciplinary game design graduate currently looking for work!
I recently graduated from Champlain College in Burlington, VT for Game Design and Interactive Narrative. I specialize in systems, content, and narrative design; and I have multiple years of experience using a variety of tools and game dev methodologies!
Featured Video:
Molementum Design Reel
My design reel for Champlain College’s Senior Show! A short explanation of some of the design challenges I faced during my time as Design Lead on that project, and an explanation of the process and rationale used to fix them.
Project Experience:
Molementum
Lead Designer - 2023-2024
Molementum is a fast-paced networked multiplayer party game that I’m currently working on as my Capstone project for my game design degree at Champlain College.
Molementum is now available on Steam!
Designer - 2025
A pair of intertwined homebrew gameplay systems for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition that I’ve been recently iterating upon! As an avid TTRPG player who has been running Dungeons & Dragons for more than half of my life, I’ve always found myself struggling to effectively run one important aspect of the game— exploration.
Action Roguelike
Solo Project - 2024
A small survivors-style action game I began as part of my Advanced Seminar in Game Design at Champlain College.
Features REGULAR DEVLOGS documenting my design, testing, and iteration process on this very freeform project! I placed a particular focus on game feel and player feedback through the development of this short, small, fun-to-mess-around-with solo project.
Derelict is a moody, atmospheric collection/survival prototype that I developed for my Systems & Experience Design course during my junior year at Champlain College. Derelict is currently available for free on itch, and may be undergoing further development in the future!
Derelict
Solo Project - 2023
Friday was my first larger-scale team game project at Champlain College, which I worked on as part of the Game Studio II course during my junior year. This spooky wild west survival horror shooter was, while rudimentary, completed on time and to specification, and was an immensely valuable experience in my game dev education.
Gameplay Designer - 2022
Writer - 2023
A writing project for my Interactive Narrative II course at Champlain College, where I was required to populate a town for a hypothetical historical Wild West RPG with a cast of diverse characters with numerous connections to one another, the player character, and a main plot.
Sci-Fi Dialogue
Writer - 2023
A writing project for my Interactive Narrative II course at Champlain College, where I was required to write 100 dialogue barks for a quest area in a hypothetical sci-fi game.
This project was timed, and was completed in a single 165-minute class period. Delivered on time and to specification!
I created this level as part of my Level Design II coursework at Champlain College! It used Unity’s 2D Level Kit, and involved collaborating with many other designers to create a continuous, sensible sequence of individual platformer levels.
Platformer Level
Level Designer - 2022
Action Roguelike Devlog
A recent devlog for my ongoing Survivors-style game project that began life as part of my Advanced Seminar in Game Design at Champlain College!