My headshot

Jake Preston

Gameplay and Systems Designer
jaketpreston@gmail.com LinkedIn Resume

About Me

Hello, I’m Jake Preston, an Immersive Media and Games student at Northern Arizona University graduating in 2027, specializing in Gameplay and Systems Design. I’m passionate about creating experiences that elicit powerful emotions in players.

In my recent projects, I’ve served as both lead designer and team lead, gaining extensive experience in team management, collaboration, and productivity. While design is my primary focus, I bring a strong programming background in C#, C++, and Java, and I’ve contributed significant coding work on every project I’ve led. I have a wide range of experience in both Unity and Unreal, as well as working in diverse teams with wide ranges of ideas.

Outside of academics, I compete as a Division I track and field athlete, an experience that has strengthened my discipline, leadership, and ability to perform under pressure. I also enjoy spending time outdoors, travelling and exploring new places, and painting in my freetime.

Projects

The Milgram Experiment

March-August 2025

The Milgram Experiment explores the boundaries of what a game can be, immersing players in a reimagining of the famous psychological study. Players step into the role of a Patriot Test administrator in a fictional country, tasked with “administering a motivational stimulus” whenever NPCs answer incorrectly. As citizens plead for mercy, players must decide whether to obey authority and carry out cruel executions, or resist and save lives.
I served as both team lead and lead designer on this project, overseeing the core vision, directing design decisions, and ensuring the team stayed on track. While currently available as a one-encounter demo, the game is in active development, with additional scenarios planned for release in the coming months.

Demo Intro Video More Info

EX-Traterrestrial

November 2025

EX-Traterrestrial was the winning submission to the 2025 Uniting the valley AZ Game Cup game jam. Over the course of 2 days my team and I developed the entire game. We competed against 9 other teams from 5 universities for the grand prize.
As team lead on this project I was responsible for delegating tasks, establishing the game's identity and core loop, and ensuring development went smoothly without any merge conflicts! I was also responsible for pitching our game to the judges which helped us secure the win.

Demo Pitch Deck More Info

Gunslinger Breakout

April–August 2024

Gunslinger Breakout is a 3D FPS puzzle game built around a revolver loaded with special ability bullets. Players can choose from six unique types—Cryo, Ricochet, Airburst, Power Charge, Gravity, and Persist—and combine them to solve increasingly complex puzzles inside an abandoned facility.
On this project, I worked as a gameplay and level designer, creating and implementing all of the game’s levels and ensuring each puzzle showcased the unique mechanics. A demo is currently available at the link below.

Demo Level Design Breakdown More Info
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Time Shift

January–April 2024

Time shift is a 3D first-person puzzle game where the player must travel through time in order to solve puzzles and escape the facility! This game was created as a part of a group project at my previous University, UC Irvine. In this game the player has the ability to travel through time to the future and back to the present. The facility they are in looks different depending on what time they are in, and they must use this to solve puzzles and escape.

Walkthrough More Info

Memories From Home

October 2025

Memories from home is a small experience I created for the Jamsepticeye Game Jam in October 2025. The theme was "death is an opportunity" and my first thought was to make a game where the player must use the death of a family member to reconnect with their childhood and other relatives.
This was a solo project where I did all the code, game and sound design for the project. I primarily used free assets for the visuals but everything else was created by me in a span of 3 days. I hope to continue with this project because I think it has a lot of potential to tell a meaningful story.

Demo More Info

Grand Prix

September–December 2024

Grand Prix is a fast-paced strategic card game where players need to strike at the perfect moment to secure the victory. Players must use their cards to beat everyone in consecutive 1v1 races, spending resources they have gained strategically to ensure victory. Grand Prix combines bluffing aspects of games like Coup and Liar’s Dice with the timeless classic War.
I was the team lead and lead designer for this card game. I wanted to create a game where players had some incentive to “punt” or cut their losses since I believe this is a very under used game mechanic.

Rulebook SellSheet Printsheet More Info
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Spacial Defense

August–June 2023

Spacial Defense is a 2.5D Tower Defense game where the player must manage 3 towers with different abilities to prevent waves of enemies from reaching their base. Move towers alongside the enemies in order to beat waves. After certain score milestones players can upgrade their towers. Compete to get a highscore in this arcade style game! I created everything for this game during high school. I designed and programmed everything in Unity.

More Info
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