An attractive young person of European descent with light brown hair, a black t-shirt, and large square glasses the same blue-green color as their eyes. They're facing the camera with a friendly and calm smile that says, "I'm a laid-back person who's great

Shelby Barwood

Game Designer | Freelance Writer

Hi there, I'm Shelby (they/them). I'm a freelance writer and game designer who's currently learning Unreal Blueprints. I've also created my own Twine game called The Silent Oracle and am working on releasing an updated version of it.I'm drawn to atmospheric games that foster emotional engagement, and I love crafting narrative systems where choice is supported by player agency. I also believe games offer uniquely transformative experiences to marginalized and underrepresented players, so teams who appreciate diverse characters with complex personas are my jam. As for the games I like to play, I'm open to almost any genre or format that brings these elements to the table, but I have a particular love of RPGs.You can use the buttons above to see my games, writing samples, and resume. Feel free to reach out if you want to make some awesome games together!

Games

The Soldiers Have Fallen (micro-RPG)

Tell the world the truth.Submission to the 36-word RPG Jam. A subdued game about a cell of spies documenting a war that is not going in their favor.

A photo of a cavalry unit in World War One that is marching across a field. They are wearing uniforms and holding sabres upright. Many of them stare directly at the camera. None of them are smiling. In front of the photo are the words THE SOLDIERS HAVE FAL
A green image depicting a lush rainforest. Several cartoon primates and monkeys hang from vines or sit contemplating their furry existences. Each primate is different bright shades of blue, purple, and yellow, with pink or brown faces. They're all extremel

Zoo Rush! (TTRPG)

Work together. Evade the zookeepers. Fling your own poop! Freedom awaits beyond the gift shop!A child-friendly introduction to tabletop roleplaying with simplified d6 rules. Made for One-Page RPG Jam.

The Silent Oracle (Twine)

"What's left, beyond all hope? What do you hold to, goblin, in the fading dark?"Currently in-progress. A dark fantasy interactive fiction game with elements of psychological horror.

Large red letters reading "The Silent Oracle" sit in front of a monochrome background depicting Norse standing stones on a snowy hill. Each stone is engraved with curling patterns of runes, and just in front of the stones a metal sword has been stuck into
A cropped version of official Pillars of Eternity 2 artwork, featuring the main characters Eder, Pallegina, Serafin, and Aloth. Each character holds their signature weapons, ranging from a greatsword to a pistol to magical blue fire. The characters look te

Weapons of Lore (Mod)

A mod for Obsidian Entertainment's
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire that adds unique, balanced weapons with lore-appropriate descriptions.

The Soldiers Have Fallen

Genre: EspionageJam: 36-word RPG JamLength: Player-definedSkills showcased: Archival Research, Open-Source Image Acquisition, Document Design, ZinesI created The Soldiers Have Fallen shortly after the 2024 US Election. It's a deeply personal project that asks the questions: What is truly important? What matters?As someone who believes that archivists and their work are critically undervalued, I wanted to present players with a quiet, interpretive experience of delving into what they think is worth preserving. In addition, I'm fascinated by how people can crystallize definite meaning from indefinite imagery, so I purposefully left the prompts open-ended and supplied a wide variety of images sourced from both World Wars.It was important to me while working on this project that I didn't use images of the Holocaust, graphic images of human suffering, or images displaying hateful symbols. It felt vulgar to display those things in a random game zine. Instead, I tried to focus on images of the war that are not as commonly circulated, with a focus on the people involved. I employed heavy use of digitized archives and researched each individual photo to ascertain whether it could be construed as inflammatory.As for the visual design of the zine, I wanted to give the impression that you were stepping into a ransacked room full of covert material: loose files, images tucked between paper, scattered morse code tape and half-open letters. The goal was for it to feel like the player characters had only just fled the room, or that these were their final missives that never got sent.

The Silent Oracle

In Progress

Genre: Dark Fantasy, Psychological HorrorEngine: TwineLength: TBDSkills showcased: Dialogue, Character Design, Branching Narrative, Variables, Conditionals, Twine, Java, CSSThe Silent Oracle is a dark fantasy interactive fiction game made in Twine. Players experience a harrowing night in the life of a goblin and their best friend, after their chance encounter with a mind-bending oracle from another world. They're given the option to try to understand the oracle and protect their friend, or to abandon their friend to the oracle's cruelty. The game tracks how the player behaves and there are multiple endings dependent on their choices.I designed and released The Silent Oracle in 2021. It was the first Twine game I had ever made. Since then, I've learned a lot more about html, Javascript, and CSS, and truthfully, I've come to hate that original version. It happens to everyone. While that version is still available, I'm now working on what I call the 2.0 version, a revamped game that has better aesthetics and all the parts I left out the first time because I didn't know enough yet to make them work. You can see screenshots of my progress above.

The Silent Oracle

⚠️ Content Warnings ⚠️

The Silent Oracle is a dark fantasy psychological horror/suspense game. If it were to have a content rating, it would be "T for Teen." The characters are often in stressful situations where they're being controlled by someone else, reliving their own worst memories in strange and sometimes upsetting ways, and not knowing what's happening to them.That being said, the game's themes focus on connection, trust, friendship, and loyalty, and player choice has a profound effect on how these events progress. It's possible to get everyone killed, but it's also possible to bolster your allies, make new, unexpected connections, and protect everyone from losing their minds. Some of the threats to the characters' sanity include:

  • Mind control and brainwashing

  • Non-graphic depictions of battle

  • Non-graphic depictions of invading forces

  • Discussion of people having been detained

  • Tending to wounds after a battle

  • Mild body horror

  • Child mental abuse

  • Non-graphic references to child physical abuse

  • Parental neglect

  • Queer/Transphobia

  • Depiction of desecrating a tomb

Zoo Rush

Genre: ComedySystem: 2d6Length: Depends on the kids, but usually ~30 minutesSkills showcased: Comedic writing, roleplay mechanics, document designZoo Rush is a tabletop micro-RPG I created for the One Page RPG Jam. It introduces kids to roleplaying by helping them imagine a backstory for a zoo primate. Then the kids work together to draw their own zoo-themed map and use a simplified skill system to make rolls. It also teaches them a little about primates along the way.My goal was to make the crunchier aspects of RPGs more accessible to children, while keeping things funny and child-friendly. I designed the primate-themed skills and tweaked existing open-source d6 systems to fit the needs of the game. I balanced the primate "class features" and made rollable tables to help kids brainstorm their primate's backstory.A challenge I faced on this project was accurately estimating the scope of a one-page RPG, as evidenced by the fact I used front and back sides.

Weapons of Lore Mod

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire

Showcases: Javascript, Item Descriptions, Writing to Existing IPWeapons of Lore is a mod I made for Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. As a fan of the game, I felt it lacked enough items of Unique quality for certain weapon types, so I added three new Unique weapons to fill in some of the gaps.I tried to keep them balanced for combat, as I wanted them to fit seamlessly into the game without outclassing any of the game's existing weapons. I also wrote lore-friendly descriptions for each weapon to give them history and flavor. Pillars 2 has uncommonly long item descriptions, so this was a fun early exercise in adapting my writing to game length.

Samples

Barks

A bark sheet for a Marauder base, representing 5 different characters' responses to noticing the player in stealth. They range from lowly grunts to the maniacal base leader. Suitable for shooters like Fallout or Far Cry.

Ambient Dialog

Ambient dialogs centered around an elven village called Greensward, which has experienced recent upheaval after a band of hostile soldiers swept through. On interact, the player acquires quests that introduce the surrounding map and its major characters and factions. Suitable for high fantasy RPGs like Baldur's Gate or Dragon Age.

Branching Dialog

Item Descriptions

Sword descriptions for Stalker's Requiem, a roguelite game about a vampire and vampire hunter who are sworn enemies. This was an exercise in brevity, so on the first page each description is 20 words or less, and on the second page they're 50 words or less. Suitable for games like Elden Ring or A Plague Tale: Innocence.

Game Design Documents

Other Stuff

Resume

Contact

Shelby Barwood
Falmouth Portfolio

Hello! This is my portfolio for the Falmouth Game Development course. Below are three samples that I feel best showcase what I can do and how I think about games as art. The files are too big to host here, so I've provided links where you can view them. Thank you for your consideration!

The Soldiers Have Fallen (micro-RPG)

The Soldiers Have Fallen was a submission to the 36-word RPG Jam. It's a subdued game about a cell of spies documenting a war that is not going in their favor. I created it shortly after the 2024 US Election, and it's a deeply personal project that asks the questions: What is truly important? What matters?As someone who believes archivists and their work are critically undervalued, I wanted to present players with a quiet, interpretive experience of delving into what they think is worth preserving. In addition, I'm fascinated by how people can crystallize definite meaning from indefinite imagery, so I purposefully left the prompts open-ended and supplied a wide variety of images sourced from both World Wars.It was important to me while working on this project that I didn't use images of the Holocaust, graphic images of human suffering, or images displaying hateful symbols. It felt vulgar to display those things in a random game zine. Instead, I tried to focus on images of the war that are not as commonly circulated, with a focus on the people involved. I employed heavy use of digitized archives and researched each individual photo to ascertain whether it could be construed as inflammatory.As for the visual design of the zine, I wanted to give the impression that you were stepping into a ransacked room full of covert material: loose files, images tucked between paper, scattered morse code tape and half-open letters. The goal was for it to feel like the player characters had only just fled the room, or that these were their final missives that never got sent.

Marauder Bark Sheet

This is a bark sheet for a Marauder base in the vein of Fallout or Far Cry, showing the reactions of various NPCs to noticing the player in stealth. Archetypes range from a pair of lowly grunts to the maniacal base leader, or from lowest to highest difficulty. My goal was to match the tone of a first person shooter and practice voice. I also wanted to devise ways that even NPCs who exist as cannon fodder can still have unique personalities and make an impression on the player.When I review games, I often feel that there's untapped potential in these kinds of NPCs. For example, I think Tomb Raider (2013) did a great job of humanizing the cultist NPCs and giving them unique motivations and personalities, but I was also disappointed that all those voice lines were rendered purposeless by the game's lack of narrative systems for allowing the player to encourage the dissenters to sow discord in the ranks. I would really like to help devise systems like that in the future.

Voxel Cave (Coursework)

Without a background in programming or access to formal coursework, it has been tremendously difficult for me to learn the skills I need to succeed in this field. There's only so far that Youtube tutorials can take me, and without a mentor or study group, C++ concepts I don't understand turn into insurmountable barriers.That being said, I've recently found an informal course that I enjoy, which has helped me understand the groundwork fundamentals of Unreal Blueprints. With what I've learned, I've been able to make a tiny game demo I call Voxel Cave, similar to Minecraft. I started by creating blocks with different interact effects, working my way through beginner concepts like line traces, structures, arrays, maps and sets, and ultra-simple save games. I recently learned the basics of user interfaces and enemy AI. I programmed everything myself except the macro that handles the HP hearts animation, which was provided by the course instructor.Since I don't do modeling, after creating the block prototypes I reached out to the creator of an existing Minecraft texture pack to ask for permission to use their assets for this project, letting them know I wouldn't be making the game downloadable anywhere. I'm so glad they agreed, because their work totally elevated the visual look of Voxel Cave, especially after I tweaked the lighting. The rest of the assets I used were free on Unreal Marketplace Fab.