Video game

Knight of Ash

Sam Victoria

Scotland, CT

Advisor: Kenneth Thompson

Artist Bio

Sam is an indie game developer and Game Design major at the University of Connecticut graduating in 2026. They’ve worked frequently in the 2D platforming genre, and focus especially on making satisfying and immersive 2D worlds for players to explore. While they spend the majority of their time in Visual Studio, working as a solo dev has given them experience in most aspects of game design.

Sam has always been a creator and puzzle solver- something game design blends seamlessly. Every bug is a challenge to overcome, and every challenge makes them better at what they do. Sam began teaching themself C# and Unity in high school and has been excitedly growing their knowledge since, culminating in their current project Knight of Ash. They want to deliver unique gameplay at affordable prices that are thoughtful and exciting, allowing them to especially thrive in indie games spaces. End genocide.

Artist Statement

Knight of Ash is the culmination of years of learning and growing as a game developer, beginning in high school before I knew anything about programming or game development. I’ve begun and subsequently abandoned many projects and games over the years, yet I always came back to this one. It’s a representation of my growth as a game developer, and acts as living documentation of that growth. Working on this game has given me the ability to learn so many new skills I never would have gotten into otherwise like pixel art, animation, and even creating my own music.

In making this game, I wanted to invoke the feelings I had the first time playing games like Hollow Knight with smooth and satisfying combat, a deeply rich world, and incredible atmospheric curation. While I hadn’t had a lot of experience in traditional art or animation I was able to adapt by implementing a colorful pixel art style reminiscent of Celeste, while setting the story in a darker fantasy world initially inspired by Blasphemous. Indie games like these have been an incredibly important part of my life, shaping my views on what a video game should be and how stories should be told. More importantly, however, these games inspired me to be able to begin working on my own game for the first time- and I haven’t stopped creating since.