Hi! I'm Jerry, a game designer and Scrum Master graduated from New York University with a bachelor's degree in game design. I enjoy creating atmospheric tension via non-visual forms in narrative and audio design while cultivating creative team workspaces with a focus on communication, experimentation, and empathy. Listed below are some of the projects I've worked on over the years.
Jerry Chen
Jerry Chen
Feature Design Intern
I was brought onto the Magic: the Gathering Arena team to work on upcoming features as well as the New-Player-Experience on Arena preparing for the launch of the MtG Foundations set.
My contributions include:
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spec-writing for several new feature designs
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building new decks for MtGA Starter Deck Duels
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implementing Color Challenge decklists
Projects
Feature Design Intern (2024)
I joined Wizards of the Coast as a feature design intern the summer of 2024 on the Magic: the Gathering Arena Feature Team Blue. While the team worked on the upcoming Achievements features, I was in charge of working on updates for MtG: Foundations.
The first few weeks of the internship caught me up to speed with the tools and processes the team used, such as Confluence, Jira, and Figma. I was also in charge of concepting and designing a UI feature for warning players of cards they are attempting to craft that are about to rotate out of Standard and/or Alchemy.
As I grew familiar with the Foundations card set, I was tasked with designing 15 starter decks that new players could pick up and play in Starter Deck Duels. I started with 10 dual-colored decks with the constraints that each card must be from Foundations products and that no cards should repeat across decks. This was an incredibly difficult but rewarding challenge, as it taught me to experience the game from the perspective of newcomers and design decks that guided them to find the fun of the game.
I also worked with my mentor, Max Manco, on an upcoming project to redesign the Color Challenge, a series of PvE levels that acted as an extended tutorial for MtG: Arena. We needed to update the old Color Challenge with newer cards from Foundations so the player would play with cards in their collection but also ensure that the cards are simple enough for the player and Sparky, the in-game opponent AI, to handle. It was very interesting to work with Sparky and build off of Max's prior work, as I had to recontextualize Magic as a puzzle game rather than a card game and design challenges that would guide players without feeding them answers all while teaching them valuable lessons for the game.
I grew tremendously throughout my time at Wizards of the Coast, as I learned new tools and got familiar with the Agile Scrum framework. I learned how to apply my passion for games by repositioning myself into the perspective of players, especially newcomers to games. I also learned to step outside of my comfort zone and pushed myself to meet and collaborate with people outside of my team.
This was a new UI feature for cards about to rotate based on a prototype I made.
I made the prototypes for all 15 starter decks in MtG Arena.
I worked on the decklists for the Color Challenge rework.
Producer / Audio Director (2025)
Heart & Mind is a student game born out of a studio class that spanned an entire semester. Originally a proof of concept made in another class, the game evolved to become a multi-act narrative puzzle platformer about Alzheimer's, loss, and family.
I was the sole producer of the project and therefore took up both roles of product owner and scrum master. From the beginning, I organized and led several design meetings to explore new design spaces the original concept experimented with while introducing the team to Agile Scrum methodologies.
Throughout the project, I created and maintained several production tools for the team, including the project backlogs, narrative bibles, velocity charts, and more. However, I am most proud of the positive workspace environment we cultivated, and I learned many methods to encourage cross-discipline cooperation.
I was also in charge of audio direction, which consisted of organizing an audio bible, composing original soundtracks and sfx, and implementing all audio assets via FMOD. This is my largest audio-tech project thus far, and I'm very proud of how it turned out.
When composing for Heart & Mind, I wanted to create a lullaby-like atmosphere befitting the soft plush-like characters and the gentle tale we wanted to portray. In the main theme linked here, I rewrote and extended Little Stars to explore a lighthearted motif with a somber undertone.
Through this project, I grew much more comfortable within the Scrum framework and with my role as producer. I learned to create and apply my own production and audio-tech tools as well as how to better facilitate teamwork and collaboration.
I often worked with team members to present ideas and get feedback from the team during meetings.
I created several production tools in Google Sheets, such as this sprint backlog.
I was responsible for integrating all of our music and sfx via FMOD.
I composed several pieces for the game, including this main theme that plays at the end credits.
Solo Project (2024)
Reflection was a one-week challenge in a studio class to create an experience using a randomized color palette while drawing inspiration from mystery songs we drafted in class.
This game challenged my capabilities as a solo developer and designer, and it was fun to push my limits with not just time but also visual and auditory constrains. I knew I would struggle with art the most as a non-artist, so I decided to start from there and build the experience around the visuals.
While I worked on art, I also worked on finding the story I wanted to tell in the experience. In this right, Reflection is a deeply personal impression of love and loss that follows in a surreal depiction of tragedy. I did my best to work this story into small details in the art, whether in the changing assets within the same scene to the promises the characters make to one another.
Music was the core affect of Reflection, and I was drawn to recreating the light melancholy hidden under the bright notes in the original inspiration piece. This combined with the layering ambience helps build a simple and emotional soundscape.
Reflection was not only a deeply personal project but also an experiment in solo development that tested all of my prior experience in game design. I recognized my strengths in abstract atmospheric narrative design and quick study, while also ways to shore up weaknesses such as art via appealing to senses other than sight.
This was the color palette I got to work with.
I used my room and items I found around the house as framework to create art assets.
Much of the narrative depicts conversation between the characters across different scenes and time.
The ambience playing before the end reverses the synths of the ending melody.
Designer / Audio Design (2025)
Fizzy & Furious was an entry for the 2025 Global Game Jam at the NYU jam site. I worked on this project as designer and audio designer in a team of 4 across 3 days.
The theme of "Bubble" inspired us to think of exhaust from race cars, and I proposed to the team that we could use the exhaust as a part of a feedback loop to help the trailing player catch up to the leading player. Through this, we designed the exhaust as a resource much like nitro in racing games that provided horizontal or vertical boost that the trailing player collected by tailing the leading player, who would be at an advantage to collect victory points (in the shape of lemon slices) to win the game.
In addition to design work, I also worked on UI assets for the game, including the splash screen, controls, as well as in-game descriptions of items. I also edited a short trailer for the game for showcase in the jam site.
Fizzy & Furious may have been short, but it was a rewarding exploration of multiplayer design and the feedback loops that had to go into it. I was also able to review and utilize many of the skills I have outside of game development such as video editing and graphic design.
I edited this short gameplay trailer / demo to display next to our game at the jam site.
I made our game icon for itch.io.
I made all the sfx for the game and was in charge of implementing all music and sfx assets.
Producer / Audio Director (2024)
DJriving was a 4-week proof of concept based on a rhythm game prototype made by another student. I worked as project manager for a team of 4 as well as audio director and composer.
The idea of the game began from the idea that the word 'track' both referred to music and racing, from which we wanted to explore the similarities of shape in both a DDJ and driving wheel. I was able to apply my background in music to use in the design process, and although we had to scrap a lot of the more interesting ideas for playability, we still worked hard to evoke the reactivity of music to player control.
I was able to reuse and repurpose many of my production tools from previous projects into this one, but I think my biggest takeaway from DJriving were lessons on how to handle interpersonal conflict within a team and how to adjust project scoping to accommodate. I learned the importance of retro and teamwork agreements, and although the road was bumpy, I am still proud of the game we finished.
DJriving was my first exploration into break-core / break-beat music, and much of my time was spent conducting research and later composing the game's soundtrack. I had a ton of fun messing around and adapting my music style to this new genre.
DJriving was certainly not my smoothest project by far, but I grew a lot from the experience and my ability to handle issues that arise in game development, whether teamwork, technical, or scoping. I recognized my strength at guiding honest and constructive communication as well as scoping techniques to help lower production costs.
Our team ran with 2 week sprints, and I would lead structured retros in person.
One of my main challenges was making the music respond to player input.
I started with splicing a breakbeat sample and working my way up from there.
I wanted to create a dreamy soundscape that would blend breakcore with elements of almost vaporwave.
Producer / Audio Director (2024)
Yin Hao was a 4-week experiment of synchronizing combat with musical rhythm. I worked as project manager for a team of 4, as well as audio director and composer.
From the start, we aimed to create a vertical slice of a boss fight due to the ambitious concept. I had limited experience with project management at this point in time, but I relied upon knowledge from prior projects, research, and frequent communications and check-ins to keep on top of progress, and I am proud to say that we were always ahead of schedule with little to no problems.
I was also actively involved in the design of the game, as there was creative disagreement in regard to gameplay direction. The rhythm-based Sekiro-like parrying system worked at odds with the various attacks the player had access to, as one incentivized reacting to the boss' strikes while the other emphasized rushing down the boss and trading blows recklessly. I am happy with the end result of giving both playstyles defensive measures in lifesteal while parrying and an improved dash that allow them to exist in harmony.
I also worked on art assets for the background while our lead artist was busy with animations. I had a lot of fun learning pixel art and how to draw from references.
I never worked with folk music before, but I enjoyed conducting research on ethnic Mongolian sounds as well as modern musicians from the culture. I found and worked around multiple samples from these artists to create a soundtrack that pays homage to its source while also serving to enhance the game experience.
Yin Hao was an extremely successful project, and while we lacked polish, it was a valuable lesson in building a foundation of cross-discipline communication, mutual respect, and upholding creativity.
I built my own production tools in Google Sheets for easier access by the team.
Our extensive documentation was a clear factor to our success.
As a non-artist, it was fun to help out with assets.
We programmed the boss to react to the music via audio cues in Wwise.
I collaborated with my teammate and friend Leo to research and write the game soundtrack.
