KALADANIA

Heyo! I'm Kaladania (know alternatively as Kal), an ambitious programmer and illustrator currently studying at the University of Staffordshire. Within this portfolio, you can find my various projects, educational history and CV.

• C++      • C#      • PYTHON      • GIT      • SDL      • OPEN GL      

For illustration or Artist Alley convention portfolios, Click Here.

about me

2nd year games programming student at the university of stafforshire

• Studying Computer Games Programming BSc (Hons)
• Avergaged a grade of 80% during first year. On track for a First Class Degree
• Programmed in C++, C#
• Created prototypes in Unreal Engine 4 and Unity
• Created a game engine using SDL
• Created a graphics engine in OpenGL and DirectX11

projects

Mechanics Prototyping

The industrial zone

• Unreal engine 4      • unreal blueprints      • Niagara Real-Time VFX      • Mechanic Design      • Boss Design

'The Industrial Zone' was an Unreal Engine 4 project focusing on rapid fire development and testing of various gameplay mechanics, enemy designs and boss prototypes.

Bespoke Game Developement

Bandit Rush

• SDL      • C++      • Porting      • procedural generation

'Bandit Rush' was an experimental project exploring the SDL library. The ambitious project looked at creating a game engine to both develop and optimise a game for PC and low-spec hardware (the Evercade).

VFX Developement

Ukie game jam 2024

• Unreal engine 4      • unreal blueprints      • Niagara Real-Time VFX      • Mechanic Design      • vfx design

Our entry for the Ukie 2024 Game Jam was a looter-shooter that saw the player make use of experiment-themed weapons to discredit the journals of their CPU opponents. I was in charge of developing the VFX and code for the projectiles and their explosions.

EDUCATION & WORK HISTORY

University of Staffordshire

Sept 2023 - present

•C++      • C#      • Unreal Engine 4      • Unity      • OpenGL      • SDL      • Source control      • Rapid prototyping      • Git

• Studying Computer Games Programming BSc (Hons) with aims of securing a placement in 2025 and graduating with a First Class in 2027.
• Learning about the fundamentals of game and engine development, software engineering, AI, scripting, multi-player networking, source control and more.

Student Ambassador (University of Staffordshire)

Sept 2023 - present

•Customer Service      • Networking      • Public Speaking      • Time Management      • Teamwork      •Brand Representation      • Interpersonal Skill

• Working as a student ambassador to provide customer support, sign-post-ing and event maintenance for current and prospective students
• Learning about community engagement, networking and brand pitching, active listing, teamwork and various interpersonal skills

Krisis in Kaladania

Jul 2019 - present

• Digital Illustration      • Adobe Creative Suite      • Merch Design      • Manufacturer scouting      • Networking      • consumer engagement

• To support my studies, I work as a freelance Illustrator completing commissions, trading at conventions and running an online store.
• Learnt about art fundamentals and digital illustration. Developing skills in freelance, entreprenuralship, networking, pitching, brand management, brand asset creation and more.

For illustration or Artist Alley convention portfolios, Click Here.

City and Islington Sixth Form College

Sept 2020 - Jul 2022

• Python      • Game developement      • Digital illustration

• Studied at City and Islington Sixth Form college focusing on developing skills in both computer science and digital illustration.
• Strengthened foundational knowledge in Python and digital illustration. Experimented with game design, and game engine development.
• Achieved A-Levels in Computer Science (A*), Graphic Communication (A*), Maths (C)

KALADANIA

About Me

Determined, detail-orientated, with a strong love for the unknown, I'm a passionate creative who strives for new opportunities to learn new skills. My open mind and willingness to adapt leads me to be flexible in my thinking, allowing me to find creative solutions to problems and creative uses of any technology I'm given.A resilient worker, I put my all into anything I do, never being satisfied with just 'good enough'. With every project I aim to push past my limits, strengthening the depths of my knowledge and expanding my skill sets.My experience with object-oriented programming leads me to think modularly, always looking for ways to utilize skills and experiences from other projects to create a unique solution.As a passionate artist and a diligent programmer, I blend my skillsets to make informative choices that benefit both the programmers and artists, leaving me as a valued member of any time who is ready to help either department when needed.

My Mission

Bit weird for a programmer to have a mission statement, right?Well, my 'mission' is to make whatever I create feel 'alive'. Obsessed with the concept of alternative realities, my art and games aim to be a window into the world that could be. In this ever-expanding series of infinite universes, it's not out of the question that somewhere - right now - a creature in a distant universe is experiencing exactly what I've created.So why not show the world what they're up to?

I'm also working as a freelance illustrator! As a child, I've always had a deep passion for both games and art. While I pursue a career in games through my studies, in my free time I moonlight as a digital illustrator. Accepting commissions, dealing at events and selling merchandise to build on my passion and financially support my studies.

Digital illustrations and photographs of various items I sell. Both my logo and featured artwork of my mascot on this site were also made by me.

PROJECTS

Click a project to view more. (Hover/hold a project to see the key languages/engines used).

Click a project to view more. (Hover over a project to see the key languages/engines used).You can filter projects by type, languages and engines/software by clicking on a keyword below. (e.g. for Unreal 4 projects, click on the 'Unreal Engine 4' keyword.

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Mechanics Prototyping

the industrial zone

• Unreal engine 4      • unreal blueprints      • Niagara Real-Time VFX      • Mechanic Design      • Boss Design

'The Industrial Zone' was a 2 month Unreal Engine 4 project focusing on rapid-fire development and testing various gameplay mechanics, enemy designs and boss prototypes.The short game was a wasteland-fantasy-inspired top-down shooter where you must use the crystals around you to help you fight your way through a 'seemingly' abandoned lava mining facility. The project served as a great introduction to Unreal Engine 4 as it allowed me to experiment with the key areas of the engine.

Snapshots of development. You can find Dev Logs here.

I chose the aesthetic of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi wasteland, as I felt it had a lot of room for experimentation; allowing me to push the meshes provided by the university to their limits. By merging, warping, or colouring meshes in unique ways, I was able to create an interesting and personal interpretation of the given framework; one that proved to be very visually appealing and resonated with many of the playtesters.Thanks to my flexibility and adaptable knowledge of programming concepts, I was quickly able to blueprints, using my experience with C++ to navigate the various nodes. My convoluted ideas meant that I needed to go above what was provided in the tutorials to get the outcome I was hoping for, learning about how to use events, construction scripts, volume boxes, and more.

COPYWRIGHT WARNING: As the game's initial concept was inspired by the OST of Galvantic Game's 'Wizard with a Gun', the game uses some of WWAG's songs in its soundtrack. Ryan Ike's "The Ghost of Salt and Spray" and "Cold Dead Hands" are featured in this demo.

In-engine game demo.

Successes

  • Familiarised myself with Unreal Engine 4 and key features such as Blueprints, the Niagara System, Materials, Unreal's audio tools and more.

  • Took a standard third-person, top-down shooter framework and turned it into a unique experience with its own identity. Meshes provided by the framework were warped and pushed to their limits to create a world far removed from the content pack provided. These were aided by experimenting with materials, leading me to unintentionally stumble upon a way to create a colourful metallic shine to the boss that changed colour depending on the camera angle.

  • Learnt to prototype stable game mechanics such as regenerating ammo, resource management for special abilities, various enemy types, and multi-stage bosses (due to a bug, only phase 3 is shown in the demo as it is a combination of the previous stages. Click for phase 1 and phase 2).

Improvements

  • Enemies need a larger variation in their mechanics to make the game more replayable (as all enemies were mostly a variation of the 'patrol and shoot' enemy type. Some differentiation was achieved thanks to enemies like The Fireball (a honing enemy that destroys itself on impact) but could have been done to a greater effect. This is also true for the enemy designs.

  • Strong sign/goal posting would have helped to alleviate some confusion as some players were unsure where to go, while others were able to blaze through the level; skipping areas and interactive elements. There were attempts to rectify this with neon signs to direct the player, but they were sometimes missed. Small goals such as pressing buttons to open the barrier to the next stage (rather than opening automatically) would have helped encourage players to navigate the level.

  • Quests or directives would also have provided the player with a sense of urgency. Fleshing out the gameplay loop and game-balance would have strengthened the game's interactive elements (as currently, the game is quite lackadaisical about how the player completes it).

  • Having clearer goals in mind per session would have helped to target development so that things like enemy balancing, QA and optimisation could be given greater priority and be done more frequently during development.

  • Optimisation such as managing the amount of particles and bullets being spawned to prevent frame drops.

VFX Development

Ukie game jam 2024

• Unreal engine 4      • unreal blueprints      • Niagara Real-Time VFX      • Mechanic Design      • vfx design

In order to gain more first-hand experience developing full games, I joined the Ukie 2024 Game Jam as part of a team of 5. Our entry was a looter-shooter that saw the player use high school experiment-themed weapons to discredit the journals of their CPU opponents.As the team member with a good blend of artistic and technical skills, I was put in charge of developing the weapon projectiles. This included both coding the projectile logic and creating the VFX for their impacts and explosions.
This allowed me to build on the skills I learnt during my Mechanics Prototyping project; experimenting with materials and Niagara to create a unique variety of effects.As our team decided the projectiles would be flasks (to fit with the scientific theme), I created a separate Niagara system which would dispel small triangular particles on impact - implying the presence of shattering glass. To further the immersion, cube particles were added to the system to represent the bits of debris that arise from contact with a wall/enemy.

TYPE: General Explosion
FUNCTION: Deals a large amount of damage
INSPIRATION: Inspired by violent chemical reactions witnessed in common experiments like Alkaline Metal reactions

TYPE: Advanced Explosion
FUNCTION: Smoke Screen + AOE attack
INSPIRATION: Inspired by violent chemical reactions that evolve to become dangerous to the area.

TYPE: AOE Shockwave
FUNCTION: AOE attack
INSPIRATION: Inspired by electricity and technological experiments

TYPE: Healing Field
FUNCTION: Heals the player when in range
INSPIRATION: Inspired by 'Magical Experiments' such as potions and broths

Successes

  • Learnt more about materials and the Niagara system to rapidly develop projectile prototypes.

  • Practiced team-based source control using branches to allow the team to work on the project simultaneously.

  • Expanded knowledge of blueprints to speed up mechanic prototyping and optimisation.

  • Gained experience with the game developement pipeline and my place as a programmer.

Improvements

  • Better backup practices and a stronger understanding of source control would have allowed us to complete our entry (unfortunately, the game was overridden by a team member who did not realise they were working on the main branch).

  • Adding shapes or distortion to the VFX would help to make the effects more appealing (such as adding variation to the smoke in the Advanced Explosion).

  • Adding texture or secondary effects to flesh out VFX and give it more personality.

Bespoke Game Developement

BANDIT RUSH

• SDL      • C++      • Porting      • procedural generation

'Bandit Rush' was a 2-month C++ project focusing on developing a game engine with the SDL Library. The ambitious project looked used said engine to also develop and optimise a game for PC and low-spec hardware (the Evercade).The arcade game was a platforming endless runner that saw you fight your way through patrolling enemies as you collected gold and attempted to outrun the OHKO screen. The project served as a great introduction to game engine programming, forcing me to understand how mechanics worked from a technical level; giving me a greater appreciation for the minute aspects of games (such as out-of-the-box collision and the ability to land on a platform after falling). The game also served as a great way to explore the SDL Library, allowing me to experiment with sprite rendering, text and audio, event delegates and more.

Snapshots of development. You can find Dev Logs here.

This was an enjoyable project that contextualised the various tools and processes I was using during the Mechanics Prototyping and C# Scripting projects. Creating a game engine gave me both a better understanding and appreciation of the Unreal and Unity engines. Attempting to implement my own versions of their logic, allowed me to peer behind the hood and experience some of the thought processes that go into making an engine. As a person who aspires to progress into a tools-related field - where my responsibilities will be to hopefully help develop systems and mechanics - this was an invaluable experience as I was able to gain first-hand knowledge of how to use libraries to build applications that can be used as tools for other parties. Furthermore, being an engine programmer is one of many tech fields I am interested in. Therefore, building engines may likely be part of my job - causing this project to be vital in highlighting areas I will need to improve in (such as physics programming).Much like with The Industrial Zone, Bandit Rush was given a simple premise with a lot of potential for experimentation. With every game project, I attempt to push my limits by experimenting with mechanics I have not yet developed. As a result, this project looked at procedural generation - creating an endless runner that spawned in random chunks to prolong the level. These chunks would also have randomised enemy and item placement, allowing each new screen to feel like a new part of the level. I also delved more into power-ups, allowing the player to execute a boosted attack whenever they killed an enemy (the type of attack dependent on the enemy killed).This project also allowed me to experiment with organisational tools (like a Gantt chart), and porting requirements (such as optimisation for a low-spec Linux platform and input managers to translate controls). Having to maintain the source control of such a detailed project also gave me a stronger understanding of Git and good development practices (such as putting separate mechanics on different branches to prevent pauses in development).

COPYWRIGHT WARNING: The following demo features Mushroomdude123's 8-Bit remix of Nintendo's Gangplank Galleon .

Game demo.

Successes

  • Learnt about the SDL library including how to render text, audio, animated sprites and basic shapes to the screen

  • Exposed myself to some of the logic behind procedural generation and the requirements to ensure it executes as a smooth, optimised mechanic that does not cause memory leaks or frame-rate dips during generation.

  • Gained experience building a game engine and strengthened my knowledge of the logic behind mechanics both basic and complex (such as falling through/onto platforms, ability collecting/execution, enemy attack radii, etc).

  • Developed a working port of the game (originally developed for PC) for a low-level, Linux-based system.

Improvements

  • The game loop, while fun, would be better if it focused on the ability-collecting combat rather than the platforming. Playtesters reported they found the abilities the most interesting part of the game and felt the platforming was tedious and got in the way of the potentially interesting combat.

  • While the game was mostly bugless, there was a major issue with collision where the player would not accurately land on platforms when they fell (leading them to either fall through floors or float on air). This was due to my logic which caused the player to infinitely fall unless their speed/state matched a hard-coded requirement (leading to unpredictable behaviour as frames where these edge cases weren't met would disrupt the collision checks). The game would vastly improve if I re-evaluted how I checked for falling collisions - taking inspiration from other engines (e.g. Unreal, Unity, Godot).