Designer & Programmer

Professional Work


EMPACT
A VR and 2D training simulator made at HTX Labs in Unreal Engine 4/5. Blueprint scripted interactive training sequences. Collaborated with production to design interactions that satisfied the client. Groomed engineering tickets in Jira. Documented walkthroughs of training procedures in Confluence.

Skills: Programming, Designing, Debugging
Engine: Unreal Engine 4 & 5
Platform: Quest 3S, Quest 3, VIVE Focus 3, PC, Mobile
Employer: HTX Labs, Kaijon LLC
Client: United States Air Force
empact
usurper

Usurper
Full game & demo available to play now! Released on Steam on September 9th, 2024. An indie roguelike deck-building game made with a small team of 4 people. Over 10,000 sales and 35+ positive user reviews from people who played it for 1 hour up to 100+ hours. Designed gameplay and UI/UX. Drew the Steam capsule art and edited the trailers. Created pitch presentations for publishers. Assisted with AI logic. Game was a part of Steam Next Fest June 2024. Game was also a part of Humble Bundle: Checkmate! A Chess Games Collection for 4 weeks in March/April 2026 where $18,355 from sales went to World Central Kitchen charity.

Skills: Designing, UI/UX, Debugging, Art, Video editing, Pitching, Programming
Engine: Unity
Platform: Steam PC
Team: Rogue Brain Studios, LLC.

Hunter's Legacy: Echoes of the Past
A FPS/VR game prototype made at The Devhouse Agency in Unreal Engine 5 for a client. Programmed player mechanics and game features to work as both a normal First Person Shooter and a VR game. Made game function with mouse & keyboard, controller, and VR controllers. Worked on level design and gameplay flow. Implemented menus and closed captions. Assisted with NPC AI logic.

Skills: Programming, Designing, Debugging, UI/UX
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Platform: TBD
Employer: The Devhouse Agency
Client: TBA
hunterslegacy
unity

Unannounced Unity Co-op game

A co-op game made at The Devhouse Agency in Unity 6 for a client. Implemented UI/UX and cutscene cinematics. Debugged and tweaked gameplay features. Participated in regular playtests.

Skills: Programming, Designing, Debugging, UI/UX, Cinematics
Engine: Unity
Platform: TBD
Employer: The Devhouse Agency
Client: TBA

Please, Don't Touch Anything: House Broken
A mixed reality game made at ForwardXP in Unreal Engine 5. Co-designed and programmed interactions, puzzles, and endings. Wrote documentation on MR platform limitations and performed comparison tests between MR in Unreal vs Unity. Investigated MR titles and compiled best practices. Participated in regular playtest and feedback sessions with the team.

Skills: Programming, Designing, Documentation
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Platform: Quest 3, Quest Pro, Quest 2
Employer: ForwardXP
unreal
unreal

Unannounced Unreal Engine 4 VR Game

A VR game made at ForwardXP in Unreal Engine 4. Co-designed and implemented player movement, inventory, and interaction mechanics. Designed control/instruction diagrams using Photoshop. Playtesting, debugging, and balancing gameplay. Filmed and edited gameplay trailer for use in external pitches.

Skills: Programming, Designing, Debugging, UI/UX, Rapid prototyping, Video editing
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Platform: TBD
Employer: ForwardXP

Arashi: Castles of Sin - Final Cut
A port to modern VR platforms and gameplay upgrade of the original 2021 PSVR exclusive Arashi: Castles of Sin. Contributed to control scheme redesign. Researched similar titles and wrote documentation on potential gameplay improvements.

Skills: Designing, Documentation
Engine: Unity
Platform: PSVR2, Quest 2, Quest Pro, Quest 3, and Steam PC
Employer: ForwardXP
Clients: Skydance Interactive & Endeavor One
arashi
pdta

Please, Don't Touch Anything
Worked on major update 2.2 for the Quest 2 version which included updated player interactions, improved game visuals, added accessibility features, bug fixes, and quality of life improvements. First official video game credit.

Skills: Programming, Designing, Debugging, UI/UX
Engine: Unity
Platform: Quest 2
Employer: ForwardXP

Unreal Engine 4 Prototype & Pitch

Internal game jam prototype at ForwardXP in Unreal Engine 4. While in-between projects, four of us came together as a team to make a game with the intention of pitching it internally. We conceptualized, designed, and programmed it in 2 weeks. We then made a PowerPoint presentation and pitched the game to leadership where it was warmly received.

Skills: Programming, Designing, Rapid prototyping, Pitching/Presenting
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Platform: TBD
Employer: ForwardXP
unreal
horizongames

Horizon Worlds: World Hop
Conceptualized, designed, and implemented multiple 2-4 player VR mini-games in a beta visual scripting language. Created to be played by both veteran and brand new VR users.

Skills: Programming, Designing, Rapid prototyping, Client collaboration/communication
Platform: Quest 2
Employer: ForwardXP
Client: Meta


Game Jams

honytawk

Hony Tawk's Film Maker

 ( Top 1% Creativity )

2D side-scroller game made in Unity. I worked on game design and contributed to art.
Jam: GMTK Game Jam 2023 - July 2023
Time: 48 hours
Theme: Roles Reversed
Overall Rank: 856th out of 6,986 (Top ~12%)
Enjoyment Rank: 1,695th out of 6,986 (Top ~24%)
Presentation Rank: 1,616th out of 6,986 (Top ~23%)
*Creativity Rank: 85th out of 6,986 (Top ~1%)

Night Fight: Capture the Flag
4 v 4 capture the flag game made in UEFN with 2 other people. I contributed to design, implementation, and playtesting.
Jam: Fortnite's Summer Showdown Callout - June 2023
Time: We gave ourselves 1 week
Island Code: 1531-6312-8503
Result: Not selected
nightfight
stormlight

FedUp

 ( Top 4% Humor )

2D physics game made in Unity. I worked on game design, created the character art, and voiced the character Joey. We made a post jam "Express Edition" that further polished the game and added a character select, an endless mode, and leaderboards.
Jam: Ludum Dare 53 - May 2023
Time: 72 hours
Theme: Delivery
Overall Rank: 484th out of 1,721 (Top ~28%)
Innovation Rank: 343rd out of 1,721 (Top ~20%)
Theme Rank: 280th out of 1,721 (Top ~16%)
Audio Rank: 186th out of 1,721 (Top ~11%)
*Humor Rank: 68th out of 1,721 (Top ~4%)

Stormlight Manor

( Top 19% Theme ) 

2D retro game made in Unity. In addition to coming up with the initial concept, I worked on game design, created the majority of the 15 levels, and contributed to character/enemy art.
Jam: Ludum Dare 51 - October 2022
Time: 72 hours
Theme: Every 10 seconds
Overall Rank: 659th out of 1,703 (Top ~39%)
Innovation Rank: 552nd out of 1,703 (Top ~32%)
Mood Rank: 355th out of 1,703 (Top ~21%)
*Theme Rank: 328th out of 1,703 (Top ~19%)
stormlight
crapshot

Crapshot Saloon

 ( Top 6% Creativity )

2D dice strategy game made in Unity. I helped design the game and did the character art. We made a post jam "Deluxe Edition" that further polished the game and added new difficulties plus an endless mode.
Jam: GMTK Game Jam 2022 - July 2022
Time: 48 hours
Theme: Roll of the Dice
Overall Rank: 441st out of 6,168 (Top ~7%)
Presentation Rank: 761st out of 6,168 (Top ~12%)
Enjoyment Rank: 583rd out of 6,168 (Top ~9%)
*Creativity Rank: 385th out of 6,168 (Top ~6%)

VRn't

( Top 1% Humor ) 

2D arcade game made in Unity. I helped design the game and did all of the artwork and animations.
Jam: Ludum Dare 41 - April 2018
Time: 72 hours
Theme: Combine 2 incompatible genres
Overall Rank: 185th out of 2,017 (Top ~9%)
Fun Rank: 191st out of 2,017 (Top ~9%)
Innovation Rank: 151st out of 2,017 (Top ~7%)
Mood Rank: 147th out of 2,017 (Top ~7%)
*Humor Rank: 17th out of 2,017 (Top ~1%)
vrnt


School Projects

school

RIT Class Projects
Comprised of video games, board games, level designs, and 3D models I created while I was enrolled at Rochester Institute of Technology 2016-2020.


Resume

Click here for full PDF
me

About Paul Avallone
( That's me )

Originally from Smithtown, Long Island, I went to the other side of New York state to attend Rochester Institute of Technology in 2016 with the dream of becoming a game developer. In May of 2020 I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S. in Game Design and Development and a minor in Computer Science.

After graduating, I got a job at Netsmart as a Software Engineer. About a year later, I left after getting a job in the games industry at ForwardXP and moved down to Dallas, Texas. There I worked for two years on a variety of game projects including entries in the beloved Please, Don't Touch Anything franchise. After that, I worked at The Devhouse Agency on a now cancelled FPS/VR narrative open world hunting game.

Most recently, now back in New York, I worked remotely for Kaijon LLC/HTX Labs for over a year on their Unreal Engine 5 VR training simulator, EMPACT, for the U.S. Air Force. My side project, Usurper, released on Steam and has sold 10,000+ copies. It was just in a Humble Bundle that raised $18,355 for charity.

Currently looking for work as a Gameplay Engineer, Game Designer, or Software Engineer. I'm a creatively driven individual who loves collaborating with people of all disciplines to make incredible games. I have professional experience designing and programming games in Unreal and Unity. Always asks, why settle for good when it can be great?

Outside of work, I enjoy art, film, video games, ice skating, and D&D.