~/cole-brennan/source

// Game UI designer

whoami

Cole Brennan

Austin, TXOpen to game UI roles and select freelance

I design HUDs and menus that stay readable when the fight is loud. Early career, deliberate about the craft under fire.

cat ~/profile

--what-i-do
Design game HUDs, menus, and in-match feedback for multiplayer titles.
--known-for
HUD design, Readability, Game jams
--focus
Combat UI, Menus, Playtesting

cat about.md

I studied design at UT Austin and learned to ship under constraint in a dozen freelance game jams. A 2023 internship at Tether put me on a live-service UI team. Since 2024 I have been a UI designer at Knotline Games in Austin, owning HUD readability passes and seasonal menu flows. The work I care about is not a quiet mock. It is whether a player can still read the interface when everything on screen is noise.

tail -f career.log

  1. [2024 - present]

    UI Designer, Knotline Games

    HUDs, menus, and live-season flows.

  2. [2024]

    BFA Design, University of Texas at Austin

  3. [2023]

    UI Design Intern, Tether

    Inventory and loadout flows; playtests.

  4. [2021 - present]

    Freelance UI for game jams

    Menus and HUDs under weekend constraints.

ls -la work/

  1. [01]

    Knotline combat HUD

    Game UI

    Readability passes for combat and objective HUDs on a shipped multiplayer title: type floors, contrast, and feedback that does not collide with damage.

    → Shipped on live seasons.

  2. [02]

    Seasonal menus & rewards

    Menus

    Menu and reward flows for live seasons designed to ship without rewriting the tutorial each time.

    → Live at Knotline Games.

  3. [03]

    Tether internship

    Internship

    Prototyped inventory and loadout flows for a live-service update; ran first-match comprehension playtests.

    → 2023, Tether.

  4. [04]

    Game jam UI

    Freelance

    Menus, HUDs, and pause flows for a dozen student and indie jams under hard weekend time boxes.

    → 12+ jams shipped.

stat --impact

Knotline Games

UI designer on a shipped multiplayer title, 2024 - present.

Tether intern

Live-service game UI internship, 2023.

12+ jams

Freelance UI shipped under weekend constraints.

UT Austin BFA

BFA Design, 2024.

ls services/

Game UI freelance

Select freelance for indie teams: HUD readability, menus, and jam-speed interface under a clear build target.

history | grep ask

ask "What does Cole Brennan do?"

Cole is a game UI designer in Austin who works on HUDs, menus, and in-match feedback, with a focus on readability under stress.

ask "Where does Cole work?"

At Knotline Games since 2024, after a 2023 UI design internship at Tether and freelance UI for a dozen game jams.

ask "What is Cole's background?"

A BFA in Design from the University of Texas at Austin (2024), jam shipping experience since 2021, and live-team work on multiplayer UI.

ask "Is Cole available?"

Open to game UI roles and select freelance.

cat thoughts/*

Design for the loud moment

A HUD that only works in a quiet mock fails the product. Playtest combat, objectives, and panic. That is when players actually read UI.

Cut until the verb is obvious

Jam constraints taught the same lesson live teams need: fewer screens, one primary action, three HUD questions. Scope is craft.