Robert Brand
Hi, I'm Robert, a game programmer and hobbyist 3D-artist & game designer. I am particularly interested in everything that combines the technical and artistic side of game development. Some of my favourite topics are Shader Programming, Character Animation & Movement, Procedural Animation, Visual Effects and Physical Simulation.
Projects
Education & Experience
Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Bachelor's Thesis on Neural Network Driven Particle-based Fluid Simulation
Masters's Thesis on Solver-Based Learning of Pressure Fields for Eulerian Fluid Simulation
(Some of the findings were also published as part of the paper Solver-in-the-Loop: Learning from Differentiable Physics to Interact with Iterative PDE-Solvers)
While studying, I worked as a student tutor in various subjects (Introduction to Games Engineering, Game Engine Design, Social Gaming) and as a teaching assistant for Advanced Deep Learning for VFX and Game Physics. This has let me develop strong skills in communicating complex coding issues in an easy-to-understand manner, whilst also deepening my own understanding of the topics.
Work Experience
Technical Artist-related tool development in Maya (C++, Python).
Console game development & porting (Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, iOS).
Creation of a new game concept in the form of a detailed initial concept design document and funding application. The game concept was successfully funded by the Bavarian government (FFF Bayern)!
Game development on reFit Gamo using Unity 3D and Kinect (C#), as well as some additional software development using QML, C++ and JavaScript.
Skills
- C#
- C++
- Java
- Python (including TensorFlow, Numpy, SciPy, etc.)
- Shader Languages: Shaderlab, CG, HLSL, GLSL
- Other Scripting Languages: QML, JavaScript, HTML, some PyMEL, ...
- Blender
- Photoshop
- Unity 3D
- Substance Painter
- German (native)
- English (fluent in both spoken and written language)
- French (8 years in school but now rusty)
- Chinese (1.5 years of study, including an exchange semester at National Taiwan University in 2019)
Nightclub Beatdown
Gitlab Repository
Download (Windows build)
Scope: Gamejam Project (48 hours)
Primary Role: Game Design / Concept | Animation
Nightclub Beatdown was developed during the Game Maker's Toolkit Gamejam of 2020, which featured the theme "Out of Control". It is a digital card game where you don't control when the cards are played - the music does. On each beat, the game automatically plays the card you are currently hovering over. Through this, the decision-making becomes frantic and, once you become familiar with the cards and deck, quite rhythmic.
The Twisting Town
Project Wiki
Gitlab Repository
Download (Windows build)
Scope: 1 semester practical course (around 4 months)
Primary Role: Team Coordination | Game Design / Direction | Visuals (Design, Models, Textures, Animations, Particles, Effects, etc.)
Secondary Role: Co-Coding of various Game Systems
The Twisting Town is a single player strategy game in which the player must make a small village survive and thrive by constructing buildings,
collecting and producing resources and defending against external invaders.
But there is a (literal) twist to it all. In normal games of this kind a building stays where it is placed. However, in The Twisting Town, everything is built on rings that can rotate around the town’s center.
The player will therefore have to develop strategies that don’t just consider resource management and worker task designation but also the shifting locations of all buildings.
The game was developed for a practical course at TUM in the winter term of 2018.
High Sospyety
Gitlab Repository
Download (Windows build)
Scope: Gamejam Project (48 hours)
Primary Role: Game Design / Direction | Environment Art | Particle Effects
Secondary Role: Balancing, Testing and Bugfixing
High Sospyety is another game jam project, placing first in the SemesterGameJam Winter 2018.
I wanted to interpret the theme of "Discovery" in a less obvious way and therefore decided to focus on "discovering identities". So in High Sospyety, all players assume the roles of
secret agents at a dinner party who, to everyone else, look identical to normal guests. Every player is tasked with fulfilling a set of three tasks during the evening without the other players
discovering their identity. Simultaneously, all players should be trying to find out who the other players are so that they can poison their rival's drink and eliminate them from the game.
Once the evening concludes, those players left alive are ranked according to how many objectives they achieved.
Note: High Sospyety requires an Xbox One / Xbox 360 controller per player.
The Incapables
Gitlab Repository
Download (Windows build)
Scope: Gamejam Project (48 hours)
Primary Role: Game Design / Concept | Boss Character Modelling & Animation | Toon Shader | Particle Effects
Secondary Role: Balancing, Testing and Bugfixing
The Incapables is a game jam project made during the SemesterGameJam Summer 2019, winning first place there.
It is a coop game for up to four people who assume the role of The Incapables and the mission to protect their town from an evil invading alien octopus (with a jetpack).
Since The Incapables can't really do anything much, they have to resort to catching the octopus' rockets and redirecting them at the weak point on its back. They also have to make sure the bombs
the octopus throws land in the water without damaging the city.
Note: The Incapables requires an Xbox One / Xbox 360 controller per player.
A Tiny Crisis in Space
Gitlab Repository
Project Wiki
Scope: 1 semester practical course
Primary Role: Team Coordination | Game Design / Direction | VFX | Art | Animation | Character Controller Programming
Secondary Role: Network and Enemy Programming
A Tiny Crisis in Space is a network-based third person coop shooter for 4 players. It was developed for a practical course at TUM in the winter term of 2017.
In it, players have to defend two control panels against waves of robotic enemies until time is up.
Since the theme of the course was 'Together' I tried to design the game's mechanics around different kinds of cooperation. Due to this, the astronauts in the game can merge
into a jointly controlled, more powerful form. This way the players have to decide between combining their powers in one location or splitting up and coordinating to cover a larger area.
The game's enemies were designed to further encourage switching between the forms - some can only be defeated when merged, while others require players to be in two different locations at the same time.
Sushi Slicer
GitHub Repository
Download (Windows build)
Scope: 48h game jam project
Role: Game Design / Concept | Player Character Art & Animation | Player Controller Programming | Particle Effects | SFX
Sushi Slicer is a game jam project created for the SummerGameJam 2016 where it won 1st place.
It is a simple, arcadey game in which the player has to slice sushi ingredients in quick succession to increase their combo multiplier and aim for a highscrore.
Due to the theme of the game jam, Cliché, the game's style is tongue-in-cheek 'typically' japanese.
Note: Sushi Slicer is intended to be played with an Xbox 360 or Xbox One controller. There are keyboard controls but they are much worse since they were not fine-tuned.
Switchmarine
Gitlab Repository
Download (Windows build)
Scope: 48h game jam project
Role: Game Design / Concept | Player Controller Programming | Parallax Background | Particle Effects | SFX
Switchmarine was created for and placed first in the SemesterGameJam Winter 2016.
In the game, 3 players control the same submarine yet compete with each other. Each player must attempt to collect the gems of their own color.
To do so there are three different tools: A hook, a gun and a propeller. Each tool has a way of collecting gems and influencing the submarine's movement.
In keeping with the game jam's theme, 'Cycle', who controls which tool is cycled at intervals.
Note: Switchmarine needs three players and Xbox One / 360 controllers to be played.
Modular Alchemy
Gitlab Repository
Scope: Hobby project
Modular Alchemy is my most recent hobby project. It is intended to be a top-down action adventure game in the style of e.g. The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap.
However I also wanted to focus on systemic design with this project, designing systems that can produce interesting interactions that don't have to be explicitly planned by the developer.
The idea is to utilize this in a potion brewing mechanic that does not require fixed recipes but instead dynamically creates potions with effects that influence the game's systems.
Though I haven't come too far yet, there are currently an inventory system, a fire system and interactive grass.
Wobble Physics
Gitlab Repository
Demo (Windows x64 build)
Scope: Hobby project
Wobble Physics is a hobby project of mine where I tried to implement physically simulated mass spring systems in Unity 3D. As such I had to both configure the physical behaviour as well as calculate the deformation of the mesh. After getting this to a working state I decided to base a small game around it. However, this turned out to be more difficult than anticipated due to the inability to integrate the mass spring systems deeply into Unity's Physics Engine. As such I think it might be better to try this again in Unreal or a custom engine.
Vacuum Nightmare
Download
Scope: 48h game jam project
Primary Role: Game Concept | Player Controller Programming | Character Art & Animation
Secondary Role: Enemy Programming and System Debugging
Vacuum Nightmare is a project created for the SemesterGameJam Sommer 2018.
The player assumes the role of a vacuum cleaner whose goal in life is to inhale as much dust as possible. However, in the haunted mansion it finds itself in, there are invisible ghosts
hunting it. Only when these ghosts move over dust do their footsteps reveal their location. As such the player has to find a balance between cleaning dust away (for points) and leaving enough so that they won't be caught unawares by a ghost.
Note: Vacuum Nightmare is best played with a controller.
12 Days of Snacking
Download (Windows build)
GitHub Repository
Scope: 48h game jam project
Role: Game Design / Concept | Player Controller Programming | Character Art | Light System Programming | Particle Effects | SFX
The theme for the WinterSemesterGameJam 2015 was 'The Other Side'.
To incorporate this into gameplay, the competing players in 12 Days of Snacking behave in opposite ways. While the human character can move quickly in the light,
they are extremely slow in the shadows. The monster character, in contrast, is fast in unlit areas yet slow in bright ones. They also have opposing goals:
The monster must eat more than half the food in the level to win while the player's goal is to store more than half in the fridge.
12 Days of Snacking won second place at the game jam.
Note: 12 Days of Snacking requires two players.
Rhythm Hell
Gitlab Repository
Scope: 1/2 semester practical course
Role: Art | Kinect Gesture Recognition & Motion Mapping | Rhythm System
Rhythm Hell is a project made for a practical course focusing on Kinect and real-time motion capture at TUM in the summer term of 2016. It is based on the Nintendo game Rhythm Heaven Fever but combines it with the full-body input of Microsoft's Kinect. We managed to make three different rhythm based mini games where the player has to use different gestures in rhythm with the music to win.
Sock Snatcher
Scope: 5 Day practical course
Role: Art | Character Movement | some Concept Work
In Sock Snatcher, a player with a VR-headset competes against another at a PC. The PC-player plays a little monster whose goal is to eat the socks scattered around the level. The monster is usually invisible but will become visible while eating a sock, as well as at intervals as a sort of heartbeat. If the VR-Player manages to see the monster and fix their gaze on it for a short while they defeat the monster.