✦ Discovery Session

Hi, I'm J. Valentine

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

✉️ Get in touch Take the tour ↓

🦊 Lumo Anxiety 🐢 Pip Fear of the dark 🦎 Echo Courage 🔮 Elara Online safety ✨ Stardust Belonging 🐯 Ember Create

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

14 browser games, 8 Android apps, co-operative card & tabletop games, plus projects in Godot, GameMaker & Unity.

🎨

Designer & Builder

Built jvdesignstudio.co.uk from scratch. 270+ 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, track your best scores and follow your journey, all free and all in one place.

New

🧠

Quest Board

Guided quests across the games and workshops, with rewards for finishing what you start.

Take a quest → New

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My Progress

One profile for your XP, badges, best scores and everything you have unlocked. No pressure, just your own bests.

Open dashboard →

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Learn Hub

Five learning tracks that tie the books, games and workshops into one path.

Start learning →

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.

🦊

Lumo & the Grumble-Grit

Stardust's Cosmic Adventure

Elara & the Wire-Web Key

Online Safety

Ages 4 to 8

Read it →

😰 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.

Lumo

Purple Fox · Ages 4 to 8

Anxiety & invisible struggles

Pip

Brave Turtle · Ages 3 to 7

Fear of the dark & wonder

Echo

Axolotl · Ages 5 to 8

Resilience & small brave steps

Ember

Pink Tiger · Ages 6+

Confidence & making things

Browser Games

Free to play, right now, in your browser

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

Lumo's Firefly Shooter

Brick Breaker · Arcade

Now on Mobile

The studio went pocket-sized

Eight apps built in-house and wrapped for Android. Same no-login, no-nonsense feel, now on your phone. More heading to Google Play through 2026.

Android

🍪

Biscuit Tin Clicker

Cozy idle baking. Tap, brew and grow your little tin empire.

Play the web version → Android

☕

Cozy Cafe Match

A match game with a year-long café story and a crew to look after.

Play the web version → Android

🕹️

JVDS Arcade

Nearly 30 of the studio's games bundled into one offline arcade hub.

Open the arcade →

In testing

⚔️

Rust Throne

A roguelite shooter with ascensions, boss phases, endless mode and a bestiary.

Coming to Play

Android

📋

QuestLog

Turn real tasks and habits into quests. Earn XP, level up, no account needed.

Open the web app →

In testing

🏮

Pocket Crew

A gentle, no-guilt companion app. Small check-ins, no streak pressure.

Coming to Play

Android

🚀

Sky High With Friends

An endless jumper. One tap, climb forever, chase your own best run.

Play the web version → Android

🎮

Game Maker

Build a playable arcade game in the browser, then share the link.

Make a game →

Tabletop & Card Games

Games you can hold in your hands

🃏

Co-operative Card Games

Play together, not against each other. Designed for families.

Play together →

🐉

Tabletop RPGs for Kids

Storytelling adventures for young players. No experience needed.

Begin the quest →

🎲

Print-and-Play Kits

Free downloadable game kits. Print, cut and play today.

Download free →

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 →

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Web Development

HTML, CSS, JavaScript. Building real things that live on the internet.

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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.

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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.

🎮

Build a Platformer

Godot 4 · 8 modules of real GDScript. Free PDF.

Start →

🎭

Roblox Creator Journey

6 levels. T-shirts, clothing, 3D accessories.

Start →

🐍

Python Game Builder

Write real Python. Watch it run live.

Start →

⚔️

Build Your Own Fighter

Custom stages, characters, fighter factory.

Start →

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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

See the full Workshop hub →

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.

Make music and sound effects.

Random game concepts.

Design characters in Pixel Studio.

🛠️

+ 13 More Tools

See everything.

See all →

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.

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The Book

A thing a child holds. A conversation that starts.

The Website

Built from scratch. Not a template.

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Pages

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Games

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Workshop Lessons

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Mobile Apps

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Dev Tools

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Books

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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.

Do You Have an Invite?

Game Jam · 48hr

Space Marmalade

Arcade

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.

✉️ Get in touch 🌐 Explore the site