Connor Hager

Welcome to my Game Dev account! 

I have a B.S. in Biology from Tufts University (2020) and I'm finishing up my M.S. in Digital Media with a concentration in Game Design this December. Many of the games you'll find here reflect my passion for animals and the natural world. I especially love bringing NPCs and creatures to life to create more immersive gameplay.

My development approach is all about iteration, testing, and building systems that scale. I specialize in state machines and NPC responsiveness, creating dynamic interactions like wild-to-ally creature transitions, complex boss behaviors, and task-dependent dialogue systems. I prioritize scalability through Unity ScriptableObjects and Godot Resources, and I use GitHub for version control across solo and team projects. I'm always researching best practices to optimize my work, and I focus heavily on QA testing and user accessibility—something my web development background has really strengthened. I also use Canva Pro to create cohesive UI elements, icons, and thumbnails that fit each game's theme.

Right now I'm working on my thesis project: a cozy 2D hand-drawn garden simulator with creature-collecting and breeding mechanics. You collect elementals—whimsical creatures with different elements, colors, and stats—and assign them to garden plots or summoning stones that work on timers, even when you're not playing. The breeding system uses pseudo-genetics where traits are inherited from parents, colors and stats can mutate, and colors and elements can mix (red-haired and yellow-haired parents can produce orange-haired offspring, or fire and earth elementals can create a magma elemental). I'm also working with two contracted artists on this project, managing all aspects of development from technical implementation to art direction and project coordination.

I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to comment and say hello, ask questions, or provide feedback to help me improve as a developer.