I'M
Aidan Murphy.
GAME DEVELOPER & UI/UX DESIGNER
01 PROFICIENCIES
MY KNOWLEDGE LEVEL IN SOFTWARE
WIX
70%
FIGMA
85%
PAINT.NET
95%
PHOTOSHOP
70%
ILLUSTRATOR
95%
#C
85%
HTML & CSS
75%
GDScript
95%
02 My Projects
A project I did for a boot camp, and a case study to go with it.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PROJECTS & CASE STUDIES >
Project Duration: 6 weeks
Role: Lead designer
Platform: UW Madison UI/UX Boot Camp
Tools: Adobe Illustrator (logo design)
ProjectIntroduction()
{
Crush 40 is a band that is most famous for their compositions in the Sonic the Hedgehog video games.
}
ProductOrBrandBackground()
{
Crush 40 started as a pair of composers working to create the final boss theme for Sonic Adventure 1 in 1998. From there, they formed Crush 40 and composed songs for several future Sonic games, though their logo didn’t change much after the band initially formed.
}
BeginningOfProduct()
{
When it came to rebranding Crush 40 and updating their logo, the main research I did is into what kinds of songs Crush 40 composes and their typical means for composing those songs.
What I learned is that their songs are predominantly rock and metal, and they typically use a guitar and vocals when composing songs.
}
MakingTheProduct()
{
Because Crush 40’s main instrument is a guitar, I wanted to create a new logo design that incorporated this somehow. I also wanted to keep the original style of their old logo- their name with a circle around the 40.
I eventually came up with the idea of having a guitar surrounding their name, serving almost like an extension of the circle in their original logo.
The color palette I used, red and black/white, was chosen due to Crush 40 being a rock and metal band.
}
FinalNotes()
{
I’m pretty happy with how this new logo turned out!
I think for future visual rebrands, though, I might try and play around with larger color palettes more. For this one, I only really used three colors, and two of those were just black and white.
}
03 Experience
2023
TERRARIA MOD
UI/UX Design
During 2023, I worked with an anonymous client who wanted me to create a prototype for a redesign of their website using Figma. Thanks to my work at UW Madison the previous years, I felt confident in taking on this job! I worked with the client's style guide to ensure the website matched their branding and communicated with them through the process to ensure they were satisfied with my work.
2021-2022
UW MADISON UI/UX BOOT CAMP
Student, UI/UX Design
In 2021 I decided to participate in a UI/UX boot camp at the University of Wisconsin Madison to learn more about UI/UX design beyond just game development. Having just graduated from high school in 2020, I felt that college was not going to be right for me, and instead opted to join a UI/UX boot camp to learn more about that aspect of game development. Since then, I have realized that a college degree is a requirement for most jobs and ended up going back to college anyways, but the knowledge I gained from UW Madison has still been very helpful!
2020-2021
GAME JAMS
Game Design, UI/UX Design, GDScript Coding
In the midst of a global pandemic, I decided to partake in two game jams, the Miz Jam 2020 in August 2020 and the GMTK Jam 2021 in June 2021. For both jams, I used the Godot game engine, which comes with its own coding language called GDScript! I participated in the GMTK Jam with a friend, and she did all of the art for the game while I coded it.
2020-2024
TERRARIA MOD
C# CODING, GAME DESIGN
That's right, we've come full circle! What started as a silly Terraria story I made as a teen evolved into its own full game, and now has come back to its roots as a Terraria mod. Lurrae's Content Mod is a general content mod that adds lots of items, weapons, enemies, and bosses, mainly based on my game concept The Legend's Release. While I started developing the mod in around 2018/19, I don't count all of that time here because I started completely from scratch in 2021 due to the Terraria modding API I used getting a full overhaul that would've required a ton of refactors anyways.
2015
SIMPLE BEGINNINGS
Conceptualization
In October of 2015, I wrote a short story based around a video game I liked, Terraria, just for fun. I didn't know this at the time, but this story would eventually lead to the creation of my largest video game concept to date.
2016-2024
THE LEGEND'S RELEASE
Conceptualization, Character Design, UI/UX Design
The Legend's Release- often abbreviated to TLR- is by far my largest and most ambitious project. A vast majority of the work has gone into theorizing how the game will look and feel, as well as who the characters are and what they can do. I have, however, done some mockups for the game's UI, and as of February 2023 have even begun coding the game using the Godot game engine!