CV | Ashley Hook

About Me.

Hello, I am Ashley Hook, a newly graduate of game design at The university for the creative arts Farnham. I am looking for a role where I can play an active part in creating an awe-inspiring and creative game while improving my skill set as a game designer. I am excellent at problem-solving, technical writing, and visual code which I have honed through my education. I have led and worked in teams as well as created plenty of solo projects which makes me feel confident in any environment.

Education

2022 - 2025

University for the Creative Arts Farnham - Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Games Design First

I undertook a Games Design degree because I enjoy planning projects and stretching my creativity. I have studied a range of games design skills such as level design, gameplay, prototyping, scripting and storytelling through various solo and team projects. I am proficient at problem solving and organising as well as learning new skills to help push myself further to improve.

Final Major Project

- Undertook research on the popular Dungeon Crawlers and their features, exploring what made them popular and what I could learn from them, resulting in a solid GDD, MDD and, LDD built on a solid foundation on how to create a fun, replay-able and successful dungeon crawler.

- For this final majorproject I worked exclusively within Unreal Engine 5.4 and explored new and old features such as state & behaviour tree's for enemy AI, sequencers for cutscenes and related scripting and split screen for a multiplayer aspect

In my most recent project I have constantly been learning about new features of Unreal and using them to streamline my project, an example of this is I recently have investigated structures and how to use them to hold variables for items across blueprints which helped me create an interconnected inventory, weapon, and shopping system in my game and lead to me learning a lot more about blueprints in general.

In this qualification I have learned the basics to an advanced level of game design specifically in gameplay, mechanics, visual scripting, and level design. I primarily use Unreal Engine, but I have used Unity in the past and I am confident in my skill to adapt to game engines I am unfamiliar with.

3D Modelling
I have also learnt the basics of 3D modelling in applications such as Maya and Blender to the point of being able to easily create copious quantities of placeholder assets in a brief amount of time which further help me when creating level blockout´s and designs

Game Animation
- Completed a 3-week prototype using new skills such as animation and level design

- Developed understanding of animators work flow and how to create basic smooth animations without previous experience

- created animation boards for my characters then animated them using Maya and IK rigs which resulted in a smooth and playable prototype and taught me the basics of animators work flow and how to create basic smooth animations.

Supermassive Games Industry Brief
- Worked with Supermassive Games to create a project based around their House of Ashes game

- Collaborated with a team, I was responsible for team management, scripting, creative lead, cutscene animations, and story elements

- Pushed myself to learn more about animation, blueprints and level sequencers so I could get a full vertical slice of the game running smoothly. I then went on to use this knowledge in my projects going forward which resulted in a massive jump in quality.

2020 - 2022

Level 3 Diploma in Games Design Merit
East Surrey College

This qualification introduced me to Games Development and had me trying every aspect of Games development to help me choose what I wanted to study in university during this course we used applications such as Unity and Blender and did a variety of projects such as creating 3D environments and creating prototype games in Unity using C#

Work Experience

Customer Service Manager (Ladbrokes Coral) 2021 - (ongoing)

Orthough I have yet to get my first role in the games industry I have held a stable posistion at Ladbrokes Coral as a Customer Service Manager (CSM) for 4 years so far in this job I have learnt and throughly practiced essential such as:

- Attention to detail: Monioring customer interactions and ensuring compliance with company policy and gambling regulations has helped me develop a meticulous eye to detail helping me keep track of a project as a whole while also allowing me to focus on smaller details

- Compliance and Regulatory Understanding: Due to familiarity with gambling regulations, ID Checks and responsible gambling pracitces has led me to develop a strong understanding of compliance and work flows allowing me to get straight into the mix when it comes to working with a new team

- Problem solving: During my role at Ladbrokes coral I came across complex customer issues regularly which helped me develop analytical thinking, structured problem solving and de escalation when tensions were high

- Communication Skills: Explaining procedures and outcomes to customers and staff has helped me develop clear communication skills to ensure that everyone is on the same page and the team is working well together, also communicating with engineers and suppliers has also helped when identifying and solving problems on the day to day goings of the job

- Multitasking under preasure: managing a high-paced betting shop has sharpened my ability to stay calm, focused and organized when facing pressure in fast-paced environments allowing me to finish tasks efficiently and ensuring the day to day goes smoothly

Additional Infromation

Transferable Skills

Thorough technical writing

During all my projects I keep thorough development logs, GDD’s, LDD’s and MDD’s I do this because it makes it easy to keep track of what I have done so I can go back and reflect as well as pinpoint areas where potential bugs or exploits can occur in my projects. It also helps me to know what to do next and keeps me on track to hit deadlines on time and without fuss.

Pushing creativity and striving for perfection

I constantly look for flaws in my projects I do this because it will lead to more learning opportunities for me to grow my knowledge, an example of when I did this is during an industry brief project where I was working with Supermassive Games employe's to create a project based around their House of Ashes game I consistently pushed myself to learn more about animation, blueprints and level sequencers so I could get a full vertical slice of the game running smoothly. I then went on to use this knowledge in my projects going forward which resulted in a massive jump in quality.

Industry Awareness

During my FMP in my research phase I did a lot of work on popular dungeon crawlers and their features, what made them popular and what I could learn from them, this included a 4000-word essay on what made Diablo as a franchise successful based on what it did right and what it did wrong. This resulted in a solid GDD, MDD and, LDD built on a solid foundation on how to create a fun, replay-able and successful dungeon crawler.

Desire to Learn and Improve

Adaptability

I have learned to become very adaptable when it comes to software and workflows that I am not use to. For example, during a 3-week prototype I had to adapt my framework and learn new skills such as animation and level design I researched the skills required created animation boards for my characters then animated them using Maya and IK rigs which resulted in a smooth and playable prototype and taught me the basics of animators work flow and how to create basic smooth animations when I had no previous experience in the subject.

Technical skills

Visual Code programming (Blueprint)

Basic 3D modelling & 3D Animation Knowledge (Maya & Unreal Engine)

Knowledge of Game Engines (Unreal Engine & Unity)

Technical Writing

Level Design (Basic to polished)

Interests

I love to learn new skills or talk about existing ones I find it fascinating how everyone has their own thinking process while creating games. I love to sit down and have long chats about games their design and everything about them seeing all the decisions and choices made in their development is mesmerizing to me as I use it to fuel and inspire my own creativity.

I also like to see people play games as I like to experience them through their eyes, I find it amazing when video games can make people feel genuine emotions which is also a reason, I want to work in a creative industry some of my favorite games being what remains of Edith Finch and Subnautica simply because they are such emotional games that captivate and inspire their audience.