J. E. | Any Pronouns
Heathen, dog parent, hobby artist, mushroom wrangler and moss enthusiast from Atlantic Canada. Goes by Wrought online.Full-time Unreal Engine Hobo and founder @ Blackminnow Games, a two-man power couple making games. working on Reach of the River and others.Available for short-term UE freelance. For inquiries:
[email protected]
A Video Game Design & Development graduate with honors. Currently specializing in Unreal Engine and on a passion-driven solo endeavor to make an ambitious multiplayer game. Often scratches at their enclosure when not given access to game dev.Currently open for UE 4 & 5 freelance, lets talk about it![email protected]
SHORT TERM
OPEN
CLOSED
ASK!
Arsenal
Unreal Engine 4 & 5 ★★★
Understanding and navigating engine obstacles and pitfalls.
Understanding and following best practices and industry standards.
Creating robust and scalable gameplay systems and editor tools for developers in c++ and/or Blueprint scripting languages.
Designing and implementing game UI.
Designing and implementing UX, map and UI menu flow.
Creating advanced Substrate and non-Substrate Materials.
Creating advanced Niagara particle VFX.
Projects
Reach of the River
UE4 | Passion project | Blackminnow Games
An online multiplayer game where you play as an animal in an open world.
Began as a vague early teenage idea but has since greatly expanded in scope after college and is on its 3rd iteration. Development technically began in 2018, and is ever ongoing.
Inspired by my love for wildlife and artistic titles like Tale of Tale's The Endless Forest, but spurned to fruition by my inner child's yearning and grief over countless play-as-an-animal projects created by others that never came to be; I was tired of waiting for something tangible.
Development is approached relatively laxly and focuses on interacting with and enriching its lovely community and playerbase. Reach of the River's development is and has been a largely self-taught endeavor and I'm always learning new things along the way.
Accomplishments:
With PlayFab's UE plugin as an exception, all listed features were built from the ground-up in C++ and/or Blueprint scripting and aren't a result of readily available plugins.
Network replication using UE's built-in solutions.
Microsoft PlayFab as a backend for game systems like login and registration, character storage, economy and more.
Created custom solutions to work around PlayFab's limitations and elevate already existing systems.
Extensive character customization and character customization UI.
In-game earned currency and cosmetic shops using PlayFab.
In-game USD purchases through PlayFab and PayPal.
A multi-channel chat system with emojis, channel visibility and scroll options, custom word censors, and private messaging.
Use of save systems for custom game options that not only target UI but also aspects of Material shaders like carcass gore visibility and accessibility features like control toggles and lightning visibility.
Leveling and experience gain / loss on death.
A system that allows users to upload their own custom textures to PlayFab to use as cosmetic customization options.
Mix-and-match cosmetic nameplate titles and visual badges.
AI Prey with dynamic threat detection.
Simple survival mechanics with hunger, thirst, stamina and health.
Lobby zones in-world that disable survival mechanics.
Togglable PvP with visual nameplate changes.
A photo mode that allows users to take screenshots that save to their hard drive.
Custom locomotion for more realistic quadrupedal rotation.