patrickjtraynor@gmail.com

Discord: patrick46

Twitter

Twitch

Hi! :) I'm Patrick Traynor. I'm an independent game developer living in southern California. I mainly do programming and design.

I love elegant puzzle games! I've made a number of them myself, and I'm inspired by games such as The Witness and Stephen's Sausage Roll. I also have a history of making precision platformers in the I Wanna Be The Guy fangame community. Some of my other interests are: playtesting (both playing and watching), tool design, and niche mod/romhacking communities.

Feel free to contact me via email (preferred), Discord, or Twitter!

Writing and talks

System-Centric Puzzle Design in Patrick's Parabox (2024) - GDC talk about design of Patrick's Parabox.

Linelith Level Design Timeline (2023) - interactive timeline of the level design iteration of Linelith.

Puzzle Level Idea Strategies (2022) - list of creative exercises and sources of inspiration for making puzzle levels.

Parabox release interview with Game Developer (2022) - design decisions and development of Patrick's Parabox.

Older writing

Road to the IGF interview with Game Developer (2020)
Developer Spotlight with IGDA San Diego (2019)

Recent big games

Patrick's Parabox

Recursive puzzle game about boxes within boxes within boxes within boxes. Won the 2020 IGF Excellence in Design award, and the 2019 IndieCade Developers Choice award. January 2018 - March 2022.

Steam
itch.io
Website

Linelith

Line-drawing puzzle game with puzzles embedded in rocks and crystals. Part of the CosmOS 9 bundle. November 2021 - May 2022.

Steam
itch.io
CosmOS 9 bundle website

I Wanna Maker

Level editor and online level sharing system for I Wanna Be The Guy fangames. Made with a team of 7+. 2016 - 2023.

Steam
Website

Select past games

Boxing Up Bamboo

Single-screen puzzle game about condensing objects. Part of Confounding Calendar 2022.

itch.io

Frog Wizard Gem Quest

Sokoban-like about discovering the powers of magic gems. Made with Alan Hazelden for Thinky games are for everyone jam in 2022.

itch.io

The Vacuum Cleaner in the Room

Sokoban-like about addressing the vacuum cleaners in the room. Made for Thinky Puzzle Jam in 2021.

itch.io

Clockwork Cat

Cute puzzle platformer about a cat who can manipulate time. Won 2nd overall in Ludum Dare 27 with the theme "10 seconds" in 2013.

Newgrounds
Ludum Dare page

Some other projects

Ultimate Javelin Golf (2024) - Sokoban-like about disc golf and javelins

Hat Tricks: Hare in Box (2022) - Sokoban-like about putting magic hats atop objects

Railway to the Moon (2021) - First-person box-pulling puzzle game

Omniban (2018) - Sokoban-like about possessing objects

Fury Max: Mad Road (2018) - Co-op action game on a dynamically-shaped vehicle, school project

Twin Stick Town (2018) - Twin-stick shooter plus city builder

Closing (2015) - First-person puzzle game

Diverge (2012) - Puzzle platformer about evolving different traits

More games on itch.io


Mod levels

7 Segment Sprint (2018) - Super Mario World kaizo level

jump_byhicrine (2019) - Team Fortress 2 rocket jump map


Tools

Unity build script (2020)

Haystack (2017) - Twitch stream archive browser

Some projects on GitHub

I Wanna Be The Guy fangames

About I Wanna Be The Guy fangames


I Wanna Run the Marathon (2016) + AGDQ 2018 speedrun

I Wanna WandWandWand (2022)

I wanna Bread (2014)

Jtool level editor (2015)

DelFruit Info Twitch extension (2017)

List of most of my IWBTG fangame projects


Large collaborations

Spook Jam (2016)

Jingle Jam (2019)

I wanna try a Collab (2015)

I wanna try a Collab 2 (2017)