kirstu
kirstu

makes games!

A picture of me

I'm Kristian Kallio, game designer who loves everything indie. Crunchy effects and games that feel great to play in the moment are my jam!

Here I detail my skillset as a developer and tell more about my outlook on working. Also a compilation of my past positions and associations.

As a part of my studies, I wrote a thesis on the practical application on the theory of game feel. You can read it here if you happen to be able to read Finnish. Otherwise, click the "read more" -button for a translated version.

I developed both OCDA and Chucksaw as a part of this thesis in order to put the theory into practice.

Chucksaw gameplay gif

Chucksaw (2020) is a juice fest of a party game made to illustrate how much effects can accentuate very simple actions. Quick and snappy visuals combined with crunchy 8-bit sound effects make every input feel instantly gratifying.

Chucksaw was developed in just two weeks in an experiment to develop a very simple gameplay idea that was then polished to the extreme. You can totally wreck friendships in this game.

OCDA gameplay gif

OCDA (2020) is a platformer made for my thesis that illustrates various ways to implement good game feel, juice and oil. This includes various aspects such as considerate level design, input buffering, edge shaving and much more! You'll never miss a jump due to jank in this game.

I spent a few months working on it during my own time in the evenings after work. The end result is a precision platformer filled to the brim with secrets and collectibles to find.

Company of Crime capsule image

Company of Crime (2020) places you in the heart of 1960s London. Will you build an influential criminal empire, or head up an elite Scotland Yard task force and crack down on the rising tide of corruption? Chase out targets, then dive into the melee with your hand-picked team of gangsters or detectives.

I worked as the level designer, joining the production in the alpha stages. It's the biggest production I've been a part of so far and I'm really proud of the work I did there. It was overall just a very positive experience to work there.

Korpus: Buried Under the Black Soil capsule image

Korpus: Buried Over The Black Soil (2019) is a psychological horror game inspired by some of the greats in the PS1 era. What you learn becomes reality in this one.

I joined in as the producer in alpha, later also working in the design field, level design in particular. A vicious content cut made in early alpha ended up making Korpus a viable commercial release instead of a demo.

Dashbot Ninja app image

Dashbot Ninja (2019) is a fast paced Android game (now only available on PC) where you dash through the office buildings of evil corporates while slicing through their robotic henchmen.

This project was a bit different as we only had 3 people in the team in total. Due to the conditions, I mainly worked as an artist, creating the character art and animations, level tilesets, UI and FX. I also made some SFX and music in this one!

It was a great opportunity to see things from a different perspective in a more commercial project instead of a jam game.

Tanks With Hands capsule image

Tanks With Hands: Armed And Treaded (2018) is a local multiplayer party brawler for PC with some pretty whacky physics-based mechanics. Also the characters have tank bodies for legs. It won the Hatch competition of best party game at Assembly 2018!

This was my first project as a designer for a commercial release. I was the only designer in the team, so I got to learn a bunch about all sorts of design. After systems design, most of the work done was centered around level design.

Northern Game Summit Logo

Northern Game Summit (2018) is one of the biggest game conferences in Finland held yearly in Kajaani. In 2018 we had speakers from Blizzard, Santa Monica, Remedy, Guerrilla, CD Projekt Red and more!

I was the Speaker Manager for the event in 2018, being in charge of recruiting speakers for the event as well as organizing travels and accommodation. During the event my task was to make sure we were running in schedule.

Being a major part in organizing this event was probably the most difficult thing I've done to date, but it was also incredibly satisfying to see all my hard work and sleepless nights pay off and culminating in the best games conference in Finland. *cough cough*

A compilation of other work that don't have enough going to get their own pages.