About Me

My name is Sam, and I’m a Melbourne-based game developer, and a qualified English (ESL) teacher.

Game Development

I worked for Infinity Plus Two as a Software Engineer on their match-3 CCG Gems of War from May 2021 to December 2023. I studied at Swinburne University from 2017 to 2020, graduating in December 2020 with a Bachelor of Games and Interactivity / Bachelor of Computer Science (Majoring in Games Development) double degree, with a Minor in Creative Writing. During my studies, I completed an internship at mimik Technology in Vancouver, Canada, between January and February 2020, working as a test engineer on their QA team.

I enjoy programming gameplay behaviour and systems. I am particularly passionate about game AI and tutorials and would enjoy getting to specialise in designing and programming them. As a hobby, I design custom Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and mechanics, post them on Reddit for feedback, and give feedback in turn to other custom card designers who post their creations there.

Games in my portfolio include:

  • Video games:
    • 7 Unity games
    • 1 Twine game
  • Other games:
    • 3 tabletop games
    • 1 pervasive game
    • A growing number of custom Yu-Gi-Oh! cards
    • 2 homebrew Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition one-shots

TESOL

I completed my 120-hour TESOL certification through TEFL International Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, between September and November 2025. For my teaching practice at VASS Primary, Secondary and High School in Tân Bình district in October, I delivered supervised lessons to classes of 10–15 Vietnamese learners, focusing on reading, writing, listening, speaking, and vocabulary. I received trainer feedback and completed post-lesson reflection to improve my teaching. This helped me to develop strong skills in lesson planning, scaffolding, and classroom management to support effective engagement, and furthered my desire to engage and positively impact students, and to continue growing as a teacher.

Regarding my background in English, I am a native English speaker with solid written and verbal English skills, an avid reader of fantasy books, and sometimes work on my own writing projects in my spare time. I have written a few short stories (mostly via university assignments), one of which, Raindrops, has been published through Swinburne’s Other Terrain Journal.