Shan Lin
Game Designer & Interactive Media Artist
Education
University of Southern California
ExpectedResearch interests
Game studies and research-creation. I’m interested in how game rules shape player agency and how touch, sound, and alternative controllers shape embodied play.
Research in progress
Involuntary Hold
Explores how institutional routines constrain player agency in a psychiatric unit. A daily schedule and rooms that open at specific times shape what the player can do in Twine.
Selected creative works
Iron Out!
Co-developed a game about escaping factory monotony through daydreams. Designed steam iron and turntable inputs, built minigames in Unity, and playtested how the controls responded.
How to Create a Creature
Co-directed a body-horror game on a two-person team. Built the modular bone assembly system and designed the sewing and posing stages.
How to Pet Your Cat
Helped build a plush controller that turns petting into game input. Observed visitors using it and refined the pacing and player flow for public exhibitions.
InSync
Designed and fabricated a 9 × 12-inch maze that players navigate by feeling shapes and textures. Refined its layout through usability tests and worked with the fabrication and engineering teams.
Discriminative Touch
Designed a narrative game in which descriptions of touch, sound, and smell guide player choices.
Exhibitions & awards
Additional design & production
Resolution
May 2026–presentCoordinate a 22-person team across seven disciplines on a hybrid physical and digital game. Track prototypes and coordinate work across electronics, textiles, fabrication, and software.
Nudge
Aug 2025–Aug 2026Designed collection and placement systems for more than 80 collectible items and used playtests to refine the spatial rules and usability.
Professional experience
Delicious Coworkers!
Jul–Aug 2026Led a seven-person team on a dark comedy strategy game about workplace exploitation. Designed and playtested a mechanic in which eating coworkers gives players their abilities and their workload.
Karma: The Six Realms
May–Aug 2026Built a bird-feeding minigame in Unity for a game about kindness and self-awareness. Prototyped three versions with distinct bird behaviors and encounter patterns.
Game Strategy & Evaluation Intern
Jun–Sep 2025Analyzed gameplay, user experience, monetization, and market positioning across more than 100 games. Summarized findings in weekly market and competitor reports.
Methods, tools & languages
Methods · Rapid prototyping, playtesting, usability testing, and tactile interaction design.
Tools · Unity, Unreal Engine, Twine (SugarCube), PICO-8, C#, C++, JavaScript, Python, HTML, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, Maya, and Blender.
Languages · Mandarin and English.
