Portfolio - Jack Slaski

Starting with LUA on Garry's Mod

In 2020 I found my love for programming and development through the game Garry's Mod where I would create and develop game servers for the DarkRP game mode.

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My Work - Portfolio

UE5 Niagara System - Fire Visual Effects

This was my first attempt at making visual effects using the Unreal Engine Niagara system. The effects were made for a fire mage/wizard concept character, here is my Design Document and Showcase. This was completed in 9 weeks and I was very pleased with the outcome. I also found that I enjoyed the process and creation of these effects more than my other projects so far even though it was made on a framework that didnt fully fit work with my aesthetic.

UE5 C++ - Test Environment Showcase

This was my first UE5 C++ project, and it was used as an introduction to coding in C++ with engines. This test map consists of a working ammo system, projectile and target system, item pickup system and an AI behaviour tree system. I also have working C++ menus, as well as health and score systems for the game loop. I found this project very challenging and had to use some blueprint to help glue all the scripts together.

Unity - Game AI

For this module, I had to code different AI algorithms including different steering behaviours, group movements and pathfinding. Below is my AStar pathfinding showcase video with two optional settings; 'Can Cut Corners' and 'Allow Diagonal' movement. I was able to complete everything in this module except for JPS pathgfinding. I also implemented fuzzy state machine decision making for the final scene which is not show below.

UE5 Tools Development - Maze Tool Showcase

In this module I was tasked with making a custom UE5 tool. The tool I decided to create was a maze generation tool. After finding inspiration, researching, concepting and creating a horizontal prototype I started to make the vertical prototype in blueprint. Following my technical design document I was able to create the tool below. However, unfortunately I wasnt able to transfer the system to C++ and instead had to leave the system made in blueprint.

UE5 UI Creation - UI Showcase

For this module, we were tasked with creating a UI for the RPG framework. This included a player UI as well as spatial UI, and menu UIs including shops, inventories, and a player menu. This is one of the most enjoyable modules I have taken in my time at the University of Staffordshire. This work is also one of my favorite peices of work and one that I am extremely proud of. I really enjoyed creating and implementing the UI for this framework.

UE5 Junior Collaborative - Wild Magic Game

In this module, I was a part of Group 29 for the 2024 Junior Collaborative module. In the group, I was tasked with creating the UI and VFX aspects for the project (all of the UI art was done by artists, I purely made the design, layout, and functionality for it). This was a very fun module as it was great to work as part of a team for a project. I am very proud of how the project turned out with the UI being very sleek and functional.

UE5 C++ Cellular Automata Cave Generator Tool

In this module, we were tasked with making an Unreal Engine 5 procedural content generation tool of our choice. My tool, is a cellular automata cave generation tool made in UE5 C++ with a huge variety of options including rooms, corridors, seed, fill probability, and much more customisation. This tool was a very interesting way to explore the concepts of procedural content and cellular automata.

UE5 Game Prototype - Feudal Living

In this module, we had 8 weeks to create an Unreal Engine 5 game prototype based on a chosen brief. The brief I chose was a life-sim/sims-like game in a medieval genre. For this being my first full solo UE5 game, I was very happy with the result. During this module, I was able to greatly improve my skills and proficiency in Unreal Engine and explore areas I previously hadn't, such as animation and asset integration. Itch.io Link Here

Jack Slaski

In School Education