✦ Discovery Session J. Valentine

Hi, I'm J. Valentine

Author. Game designer. Teacher.
I make things that help people feel something.

Who Am I?

More than one thing

I sit where stories, games and teaching meet, and I build every part of it myself.

📚
Children's Author
Picture books about real feelings like fear, anxiety, resilience, belonging and online safety.
🎮
Game Designer
15+ browser games, co-operative card & tabletop games, and projects in Godot, GameMaker & Unity.
🎨
Designer & Builder
Built jvdesignstudio.co.uk from scratch. 120+ pages of raw HTML, CSS & JavaScript. No templates.
🌱
Mentor & Teacher
1-to-1 mentoring for young creators, plus free workshops anyone can start today.
New in 2026

The studio just levelled up

The site is now a whole platform. Earn XP, complete quests, climb the leaderboards and track your journey, all free and all in one place.

The Books

Stories that don't look away

Five picture books that give children a gentle, honest way to name what they're feeling.

Hover or tap a cover to see what it is about.

😰 Anxiety 🌙 Fear of the dark 💪 Resilience 🔐 Online safety 🌌 Belonging
Meet the Characters

Built around real feelings

Each character has a book, a browser game and a place in the Learning Lab.

Browser Games

Free to play, right now, in your browser

No installs, no logins, no ads. Just open and play.

Tabletop & Card Games

Games you can hold in your hands

What I Teach

How to make things that matter

🎮
Game Design
Godot 4, GameMaker, C++, Python, JavaScript. How games work and how to build them.
Free workshop →
🌐
Web Development
HTML, CSS, JavaScript. Building real things that live on the internet.
✏️
Storytelling
Characters, themes, structure. How a good story works, book or game.
🎨
Design Thinking
Why things look and feel the way they do. Making intentional creative choices.
🔨
Building & Shipping
Going from idea to finished thing. How to start, keep going and finish.
💜
Making It Mean Something
The bit nobody else teaches. Why your work should care about people.

"Writing something down forces you to understand it, not just recognise it."

Free Learning Resources

The Workshop

Self-paced courses with quizzes, XP and certificates. Free, no login.

🧪
The Learning Lab
Ages 6 to 12+ · 11 subjects · XP levels · Study guides
Enter →
🦎
Computing
🐢
Maths
🦊
Number Bonds
📖
English
Science
🔮
Memory
🌍
Geography
🔢
Times Tables
🏛️
History
🎵
Music
💻
Coding Logic
🌟
Tiny Learners
Ages 4 to 6 · Drawing studio · 10 activities · Tap-only
Play →
🎨
Drawing Studio
🐢
Counting
🦋
Colours
🦎
Shapes
Phonics
Adding
🌈
Patterns
🐘
Big or Small?
🔮
Odd One Out
🎵
Rhyme Time
20+ Free Browser Tools

The Dev Tools

Built in-house because a student needed them and they didn't exist yet. Free, no installs, no login.

The Process

How it gets made

🎮 How a game gets made

💡
The Idea
A feeling you want to create. What should it feel like to play?
✏️
On Paper
Rules, mechanics, scoring. No code yet.
🔨
First Build
Ugly but working. Does it feel right?
🔁
Iterate
Play it. Break it. Fix it. Repeat.
🚀
Ship It
Put it live. Real players find what you can't.

📚 How a book gets made

💜
The Feeling
What do children feel but can't name?
🦊
The Character
Who feels this? What creature shows it best?
✍️
The Rhyme
32 pages. ~700 words. Every syllable earns its place.
🎨
The Art
Illustrations that carry more than words alone.
📚
The Book
A thing a child holds. A conversation that starts.
The Website

Built from scratch. Not a template.

0
Pages
0
Games
0
Books
0
Dev Tools
0
Frameworks
HTMLCSSJavaScript Canvas APIWeb Audio APIThree.jsNo frameworks

"I could have used Squarespace. I built it in raw code instead because I wanted to understand every single thing on it."

Earlier Work

Before JVDesignStudio: the Itch.io years

Built in Unreal, Unity, GameMaker and game jams. All clickable.

Think About It

If you could make anything, what would it be?

There's no wrong answer. The best projects start with a real feeling.

🎮
A game based on a feeling you've had?
📖
A story about something nobody talks about?
🦊
A character who feels the way you feel?
🌐
A website that does something useful?
🎨
Something beautiful that didn't exist before?
💡
Something that makes someone feel less alone?
Why I Do This

"Every heart has a spark that can never be dimmed."

💜
Brave isn't always loud
Quiet courage counts. Rest counts. Trying a different way counts.
🌱
Small tries count
You don't have to climb the whole mountain today. One honest step.
🎨
Design is care made visible
When something feels right, that's intentional love.
Every heart has a spark
No matter what someone carries, their inner light can't be put out.

Like what you see?

If this feels like the kind of space you or your child would thrive in, reach out. No pressure, just a conversation.