Nat Clayton, level designer

I’ve always loved creating spaces.

As a teen, I was introduced to mapping tools for games like Half-Life 2, Portal, Unreal Tournament, Warcraft 3, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and many more. Even back then, I knew that this was how I wanted to spend the rest of my life, creating videogame environments that were as mechanically engaging as they were thematically or emotionally resonant. Places that were a joy to explore, and stuck with you for the rest of your life.

For the past ten years, I’ve worked in and out of various roles across all levels of the games industry—from QA on Alien: Isolation and level design on Minecraft: Console Editions to my own critically-acclaimed indie projects like Can Androids Pray. While I’ve worn dozens of hats, my passion lies in level design, creating gameplay spaces that tell stories and explore the frontiers of gameplay experiences. That’s a passion I was fortunate enough to explore with the incredible team at Inkle on A Highland Song, and have continued with Bithell Games on TRON: Catalyst.

My games have been critically lauded by outlets like Waypoint VICE and Wireframe, and showcased at events including the Dundee V&A Museum, EGX Rezzed and A Maze Berlin. A Highland Song was nominated at the 2024 IGFs for Excellence in Narrative, Excellence in Audio and the Seumus McNally Grand Prize, and shortlisted for Best British Game at the 2025 BAFTA Game Awards.

I’m also a recovering games journalist of five years, having written full-time for PC Gamer and Rock Paper Shotgun, with bylines at Waypoint VICE, Kotaku, Eurogamer, Polygon and countless more. I’ve also dabbled in streaming, skateboarding and amateur photography; briefly played for a competitive Splatoon 2 team; and spent a winter training sled dogs at the top of the world. Twice.

portrait art by @aurahack

// Game development

Level Designer, Tron: Catalyst
Bithell Games
October 2023 – April 2025

Level Designer, A Highland Song
Inkle Studios
July 2022 – October 2023

Level Artist, Minecraft Console Editions
4J Studios
May 2015 – November 2016

Lead Developer, Can Androids Pray
Xalavier Nelson Jr, Nat Clayton, Priscilla Snow
June 2018 – June 2019

QA Functionality Tester, Alien: Isolation
SEGA of Europe
June – August 2014

// Crit / Journalism

Features Producer | PC Gamer
November 2021 – June 2022

News Writer | PC Gamer,
December 2020 – November 2021

Freelance News, Features, Reviews |
Rock Paper Shotgun, VICE, VG247 et al
October 2017 – December 2020