Z_PORTFOLIO.EXE

Hi! I'm Z.

Game Designer & Unreal Engine Developer

I'm a game designer who specializes in level design and gameplay systems, with growing expertise in shader programming and tech art. My work spans environmental storytelling, gameplay scripting, and shader development, bridging design and technical implementation.

Explore My Work

Featured Projects

PROJECT_VIEW.EXE
In The Light - View 1In The Light - View 2In The Light - View 3

In The Light

Solo Developer • Unreal Engine 5

COMPLETED

In The Light is a first person adventure game that takes place in Northern California's forests. Explore a forgotten home, find video cassettes, and learn to find peace despite pain. Utilizing experimental homemade audio cut from my own home videos, ITL is a brief 5-to-10 minute experiment in telling the tale of coming to terms with losing a family member. This is my MFA thesis project built over the span of 9 months.

Unreal Engine 5Level DesignFirst-PersonNarrative Design
View on Itch → Read Writeup →
Shader Museum - View 1Shader Museum - View 2Shader Museum - View 3

Shader Museum

Solo Developer • Unity

COMPLETED

A Unity shader pack featuring five custom shaders: water, transparent outlines, silhouettes, stylized outlines, and grass. This was my first deep dive into shader programming. It also features a level to walk around and see the shaders in! Built in Unity using URP.

UnityShadersTech ArtToolsLow-polyShaderGraph
View on Itch → Read Writeup →
Sunrise City - View 1Sunrise City - View 2

Sunrise City

Systems Designer, Playtest Coordinator • Tabletop

COMPLETED

A cooperative board game where 4-6 players work together as city aldermen to combat climate change by 2030. Players balance investing in their city infrastructure with trying to afford succeeding in their own personal goals. I was on systems design and coordinated playtesting sessions to refine game balance and player engagement.

Systems DesignTabletopCo-opSocial Impact GamesPolitics
View on Itch → Read Writeup →
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In The Light thumbnail 1In The Light thumbnail 2In The Light thumbnail 3
Shader Museum thumbnail 1Shader Museum thumbnail 2Shader Museum thumbnail 3
Sunrise City thumbnail 1Sunrise City thumbnail 2

Skills & Expertise

Git & Version Control
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Experience
Comfortable with Git workflows, branching, merging, and collaboration. Experienced with GitHub, Perforce, and Diversion for project management and version control.
Unreal Engine 5
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Experience
Extensive experience building game systems within the UE framework, using UE5's level design tools, and using Blueprint scripting to create gameplay systems.
Blueprint Visual Scripting
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Experience
Comfortable with building custom gameplay mechanics, event systems, and driving animation in Unreal's blueprints system.
Systems Design
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Experience
Designed interconnected game systems including progression, economy, and cooperative mechanics.
Level Design
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Experience
Designed player-driven spaces with focus on pacing, flow, and environmental storytelling. Skilled in blockout iteration and playtesting feedback integration.
C++
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Experience
Junior-level C++ programming for game development, specifically in Unreal. Comfortable reading and modifying existing codebases and implementing gameplay features.
Narrative Design
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Experience
Environmental storytelling through level design and audio. Created narrative experiences using experimental audio techniques and level design.
Unity
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Experience
Two years experience with Unity development. Created shader pack and multiple small projects. Familiar with Unity's workflow and tools.
C#
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Experience
Junior-level C# programming for Unity development. Comfortable with scripting gameplay systems and implementing game mechanics.
Maya
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Experience
Comfortable with animating for characters and cutscenes, UV editing, and familiar with model optimization workflows.
Blender
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Experience
Familiarity with 3D modeling and asset creation for game development. Comfortable with basic modeling, UV unwrapping, and game-ready asset preparation.
Tech Art & Shaders
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Experience
Growing expertise in shader programming and technical art. Created custom shaders in Unity and custom materials in Unreal Engine.

About Me

profile_pic.jpg
A selfie I took in Japan, a phone obscures my face
bio.txt

I'm a game designer living in Chicago, IL. I've loved games ever since I scraped together chore money as a kid for Kingdom Hearts 2, and never looked back. Nowadays, I spend my time working in Unreal Engine 5, building first-person experiences and playful shader projects. My MFA thesis was a narrative game about learning to live with old grief, combining post-processing effects with audio from my childhood home videos to anchor the game in real, lived history. I love games with thematic conviction, whether that's horror steeped in dread or fantasy that believes in itself completely.

Lately, I've been diving deeper into tech art and shader programming. When I'm not working on my projects, I'm hanging out with my cats, writing about horror games and movies, and building more gunpla than my shelves can handle.

terminal.exe
$ cat favorite games.txt
Kingdom Hearts 2, Resident Evil 4, World of Warcraft, Outer Wilds, Demon's Souls... and many more!
$ cat interests.txt
Horror media, baseball, and my two cats!
$ cat currently_playing.txt
Resident Evil 4, Hades 2
$ █