Project History
A small history of my work
2023-Present: Acklay short film
To see my current project:
2022: Cinematics/ Virtual Production trials
After watching the incredible short film, Shadow of the Republic, a great tribute to the republic commando game I felt inspired to try my hand at something similar. This was also around the time I saw Arrival for the first time, I knew I had to make something of my own.
I began by revisiting Unreal Engine 4 this time however focusing on it's cinematic side of things. My first concept was Darish vol, closely inspired by Shadow of the Republic but the commandos are faced with a formidable foe, a sith adversary, as I wanted to push the stakes a little higher. This project served primarily as a quick skills test rather than a fully polished production.
Shortly after Darish vol, Unreal Engine 5 was unveiled and I transitioned the day it released, using it as an opportunity to explore the engine’s updated features and further challenge my skills. This produced a very short cinematic sequence of a tie fighter heading back to it's hanger whilst being pursued by and x-wing, watch here.
During this time I tried my hand at virtual production, I did this by connecting a virtual reality controller so I'm able to mimic the control of the camera as you would in the real world. The setup worked surprisingly well! giving a more natural look to movements. However, this put a lot of stress on my hardware leading to performance issues during rendering. This can be seen in the video.
More can be seen on my YouTube channel.
Switching franchises, let's turn to Halo. I'd recently read a damn good novel called Halo: Rubicon Protocol by Kelly Gay, essentially serving as a direct prequel to the halo infinite game. I figured as I'm learning scene compositions I'd try to replicate the cover art for the book, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. *Shown below*
Using these models I figured I'd start honing my skills on humanoid animations. The first to be made was a weapon aiming sequence where the yellow spartan aims at the viewer.
The second was a sequence where the character stands up after taking a hit and looks to the sky to witness one of his fleet's ships explode and plummet toward the ring’s surface. For some strange reason his shoulders would not render in either takes, took a while but I found out I'd had them shown in the regular viewport but hidden in the render settings.
2021-present: Renders made real
Later on in the year I made the decision to invest in a 3D printer and it was one of the best choices I’ve made. I started off with chess pieces then dice, the iconic benchy test, figurines, destiny ghost shells and much more.
As a child I created a galactic marine helmet out of coloured paper and tape so Inspired by that memory I thought I'd try and print a couple of helmets roughly the size of my palm to test their integrity, and once that proved successful, I was eager to create Bacaras helmet at full scale.
Just like with my game mods, I had no intention of stopping. The majority of my builds were helmets but I often branched out to statues, book-nooks, phone cases, replicas almost anything. At one point, I had up to eight different projects running simultaneously… all using a single printer.
The only downside to all of this? It takes a tremendous amount of patience and a fair amount of understanding how 3D printers work to consistently produce clean, high-quality prints. it's a process that demands trial, error and of course persistence. but once everything clicks and a decent build comes off the plate, it’s rewarding.
All of this and more can be seen on my twitter/X page
2021: Mods
Transitioning from full game development to modding was a great move for me. I felt I had time and freedom to create and add things that I've always wished were in games that didn't quite scratch the itch. A star wars battlefront 2 modding tool helped massively with this.
The first mod was Commander Bacara for Battlefront 2, a character I've always loved since his brief but memorable appearance in Revenge of the Sith, and it was a fantastic journey. Learning textures, UV maps was fascinating, modelling custom designs and figuring out the mesh importing was a challenge but the payoff was incredible the moment it finally worked. Being able to do this felt like a dream, I could finally bring some of my younger self's hopes to life.
I couldn’t stop there though—after Bacara, I dove into more designs I wanted to see in the game for personal use like Bacara’s legion the galactic marines, Death Star engineers, Anakin’s starfighter, and a custom helmet design I created inspired by Clone Scuba Troopers.
All of this and more can be seen on my twitter/X page
2020: Dimensional shift
Early in the year I was initially very excited about this project, which involved zombie-like aliens, otherworldly environments, spaceships, and elements of survival. However, in hindsight, it’s clear that my ambitions may have exceeded what was actually achievable with my skillset at the time.
I began with the character already on the planet, using placeholder assets and animations to help visualize the direction I wanted to take. Unfortunately, the project never progressed much beyond this early stage, leaving me with a sense of frustration and the discouraging feeling that I was falling short in bringing my ideas to life.
2019: The Rebel, A lost story told in pixels
Trailer
This was my first attempt at creating something while studying at college. The Rebel, It’s a 2D platformer that challenges players to break out of prison, navigate through grimy sewers, dash across city streets, and fight their way to freedom
I built the game using Construct 2, and created the pixel art with Piskel — both of which were very intuitive and beginner-friendly.
To put together the trailer, I used Adobe Premiere Pro. Also, if the soundtrack sounds familiar, that’s no coincidence—I was really into beastie boys at the time.
Unfortunately, many of my files were lost due to a corrupted drive. This trailer was all that remained.
If you are interested in working with me, send me an email :)