THE AGE OF GLOOM

Developed a custom post-process material to visualize the core Gale vs Gloom mechanic — dynamically saturating the environment based on proximity to the player's lantern. The viewport is first globally desaturated; objects tagged as "Gale" are then re-saturated using stencil masking, noise blending, and lerps. The result: a powerful atmospheric tension system that communicates danger without any UI. Built entirely in UE5's material editor, optimized for real-time updates as objects enter and exit the lantern's range.

Built a hex-based procedural world generator that creates a unique map every playthrough. Used UE5 Level Instances to stream hundreds of tile variations in and out without performance impact, and implemented a custom multi-threaded tile loading system so new hexes are ready before the caravan reaches them. Each hex tile pulls from procedural rulesets governing terrain, asset spawning, and encounter points. Hand-designed every core hex variant in collaboration with the book's author.

Directed the full shift from 3D to 2.5D to achieve a more defined and readable art style. Built a custom terrain system generating procedural ground planes with a tile-based structure. Using PaperZD and pixel art animation blueprints, created a responsive animation system for wagon attacks and state transitions — retaining spatial depth while gaining the clarity and expressiveness of pixel art.