https://andrewmendlik.com/about daily 0.75 2025-11-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594865237572-J0Y60EUBQIMZEE7MRYDZ/UTAS_ICT_cropped.jpg About me https://andrewmendlik.com/contact daily 0.75 2022-10-04 https://andrewmendlik.com/credits daily 0.75 2025-11-03 https://andrewmendlik.com/home daily 1.0 2025-11-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594865185769-P7FUNEQ8BY0HQCJBR0EO/me.JPG Home https://andrewmendlik.com/home/party-poppers monthly 0.5 2025-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1604456345289-QQ5VGC68SAXL6N0OVLTG/edge-detection.gif Home - Party Poppers - Tilemap system expansion Through creative use of the data available from the Tilemap system and it’s related elements in Unity, such as the Composite Collider 2D, it’s possible to expand on the functionality provided for our own purposes. For example, while there’s no obvious way to apply an effect only to the outer edges of a Tilemap, it’s possible to access the data used by the Composite Collider 2D to determine the points it calculates for collisions, and to use those points as positioning for simple Line Renderers. This allows for extra effects without having to handle placing extra effects-based tiles per-level. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1604454089885-TJ8XQ68XY0KR70WXBR85/bendyRope.gif Home - Party Poppers - Bendy grapple rope The grapple rope is a core movement mechanic in Party Poppers, and it was important to expand upon the prototype implementation that existed to allow the rope to bend around corners (and back again), in a familiar “Worms” style of movement. Therefore, the existing movement code was updated to allow this functionality while still working with the Unity 2D Joint system. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1604455045288-EUHHAF132ALVXF2TF29B/theme-variation.gif Home - Party Poppers - Automated theme application A method was developed that allowed anyone to draw out a level using the Unity Tilemap system, but without having to take into consideration what theme that level could end up being in, or selecting the correct tile types. A level designer can draw a layout with any kind of tile, and at runtime the code written will dynamically adjust the tiles used, colouring, layout of background elements, lighting etc. to automatically adjust to any of the given visual themes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1604455772949-9G8VGX94M7JLTVANAY3S/shader-based-animations.gif Home - Party Poppers - Shader based animations In order to keep the number of textures used to a minimum to save on memory and to make animations more easily customisable than adjusting and re-exporting assets such as sprite sheets, several animations were added to sprites either created fully procedurally in-shader (such as water falling, radar screens, etc.) or by animating sprite positions by code (the vertically moving piston element). These elements were integrated with existing sprite using simple mask textures in most cases. https://andrewmendlik.com/home/hyper-rush monthly 0.5 2022-10-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/0886830d-51c6-467c-a974-0d4c1f90ed56/boostIconSwap.gif Home - Hyper Rush - Animated UI elements At one stage of development we had various boosts/power ups a player could collect, and it was possible to hold two of these at a time and swap which one was currently active. To both add visual interest to swapping boosts and also to help draw the players’ attention to this UI change, some extra bounce and scaling was added to these UI elements via their shader. The gif here is zoomed in on the top left of screen, so it was important to provide feedback to the player that pressing the swap boost button did in fact have an action, and to draw their attention to which boost was now active. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/dc2b4a15-2357-449e-9c1d-45e72fd8094d/portalEntry.gif Home - Hyper Rush - Portals At one stage in the project there were portals the player could enter and would then be transported to a corresponding exit point on track. This portal effect prototype was created using faked depth via parallaxed UVs and some simple particle effects to imply movement that the player was transported through what was, in effect, a flat plane. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/a392377b-0d04-45f1-989f-4719a4c62550/toonGameplay.gif Home - Hyper Rush - Toon outline exploration After concepts from some very talented artists, I was part of a team of tech artists and 3D artists who explored a “toon” based visual style. In particular, I was involved in exploring and prototyping various approaches to including a cartoon/anime line style in the game in both a visually clear and performant way. Different approaches were used for the player ball/mech and background elements, so the prominence of outlines could be adjusted separately. We wanted players’ attention to be drawn to important elements without distant objects having thick, distracting lines, so line density was adjustable over camera distance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/44252f56-097f-49ea-a991-5cffd6ee9289/driftEntryShort.gif Home - Hyper Rush - Drift mechanic A drift mechanic was prototyped that allowed the player to enter a slide by pressing and holding a button as a way to build up a boost meter. We found we needed good visual feedback to the player that the ball was doing something different when entering the drift. Along with a combination of particle effects and a camera adjustment, a little “hop” was added when the drift began and the ball stopped spinning, to help sell the effect. Moving the physics object itself with a small jump had various implications for gameplay, as the player had different control when on a surface or in the air, so instead the small hop motion was done via vertex position adjustment in the shader. This approach visually moves the ball and gives the appropriate feedback to the player without needing to adjust the physical collider of the ball and it’s calculated world position. https://andrewmendlik.com/home/squidgies-takeover monthly 0.5 2020-07-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594270014513-1GXF6P3GC9F7AI34BC6T/foregroundLighting.gif Home - Squidgies Takeover - Directional lighting The art style of the game required a combination of both baked 2D shading as well as dynamic lighting, to help give a distinct style without appearing too flat or lifeless. Therefore most objects that decorate the levels (rocks, leaves, tubes, and the Squidgies themselves) use a combination of normal maps and masks to apply lighting to the edges of objects. All artwork created was flat 2D (no meshes/3D objects), so normal maps were created and the shader lighting model set up to react to point lights used to highlight areas like fire, portals, acid, electricity etc. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594268154785-VJ7H89KH9TIDCR0139KV/mammaSquidgie.gif Home - Squidgies Takeover - Mamma Squidgie Provided with original, layered artwork created in Adobe Illustrator, a sprite sheet was created for export into Unity, where 2D Animation package tools were used to rig and animate this large “Mamma” Squidgie that hangs out in the level select screen, protectively watching over your level choices. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594268903757-FTAQGCPD22DTCBIIISGL/squidge.gif Home - Squidgies Takeover - Squidging Squidgies It was important the characters in the game, the Squidgies, should… well, “squidge” when they bumped into things. This slow-motion example shows how when the center Squidgie impacts the floor, it compresses slightly. A subtle effect when played at normal speed, it helps add to their personality as being soft-bodied creatures. This effect was created by taking the physics information from the collision (direction and force of impact) and feeding that information into the shader, which moved the vertices of the sprite on the opposite side from the impact inwards slightly, before returning to their normal position over a few frames. This gives the impression that the object compresses towards the impact, whilst still being able to use simple 2D sprites and standard physics. https://andrewmendlik.com/home/where-the-snow-settles monthly 0.5 2020-07-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594276721013-FXDA3BTE8ECA3UP55DQ4/deep-snow.gif Home - Where the Snow Settles - Deep snow To help make the environment feel dynamic and responsive to player actions, elements like deep snow were used that the player can carve a path through as they walk. A simple subdivided plane is used for the snow mesh which, using a tool created by our Lead Programmer is snapped to an even height from the terrain. We can then easily adjust the edges using Polybrush to give a gradient at the start and end of these patches. Once the player comes into contact with the snow, their position is drawn to a render texture, which the snow shader uses as information on where to tessellate and push downward the vertices at that position. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594274180083-WVRMSV22PHEIIPDAO8FM/spirit-world.gif Home - Where the Snow Settles - Spirit World Our game contains levels that take place in an ethereal Spirit World, where emissive materials and selective lighting help convey an otherworldly atmosphere. Particle systems, shaders and 3D models were all developed for these environments under the guidance of our Creative Director. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594275245239-2LQWWJ2KZ95CEGO74PZI/trees.gif Home - Where the Snow Settles - Trees All trees in the game are given dynamic movement through their shaders which use GPU instancing. To avoid adding animations to the tree models, a combination of UV and vertex colour data from the meshes is used by the vertex shader to generate overall swaying movements as well as smaller rippling movement among the leaves. This approach allows easy adjustment of elements such as wind strength and world wind direction. Each tree can be rotated and scaled and still sway correctly with all other trees in the environment. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594275997169-GHV6WSEX6MW9A1CSJO2M/explosion.gif Home - Where the Snow Settles - Scripted sequence VFX Various points in the story call for unique visual effects sequences, such as this example here where interacting with one of the Spirit Stones has unexpected consequences. Elements such as adjusting material values over time, fading in and out different visual elements such as the ribbon effects on the ground, adjusting lighting values and the shockwave effect combine to create unique story boarded effects sequences. https://andrewmendlik.com/home/personal-projects monthly 0.5 2020-07-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594277779309-SA55CBL5XBPDW8Z99C77/starWarsPinball.jpg Home - Personal projects - Star Wars Pinball The first game I ever made using a game engine as a student project for the first-year Games Fundamentals unit at the University of Tasmania, a small unlicensed fan project primarily for learning how to use 2D physics systems in Unity. https://drninja.itch.io/star-wars-pinball https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594276935681-AIFGFXO458BV7K4C3VE3/hero-quest.jpg Home - Personal projects - Hero Quest Created in 2017 in my spare time as a fan project while studying game development. Put together as a digital version of the original board game using photos taken of a physical copy, it was a great project to learn on (I’m sure I would cringe looking back now at the code I wrote!). Features include: All four heroes and all enemies from the game AI for the dungeon master The ability to save and load created heroes The first missions from the campaign included in the original game A great learning project developed in my spare time over around 6 months, at the time of writing it has been downloaded over 2,000 times. Available for free at drninja.itch.io/hero-quest https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594277541592-OAWC1KFLDRGLXM5RMRZ7/snowmanHunter.jpg Home - Personal projects - Snowman Hunter Developed during a two-day game jam in 2018 run by Tasmanian Game Makers, a small experiment in developing atmosphere with primarily lighting. Available at https://drninja.itch.io/snowman-hunter https://andrewmendlik.com/home/3d-models-and-artwork monthly 0.5 2020-07-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594874095796-53SVNR06T5K092N8U88Y/aureliaSolidWireframe.png Home - 3D models and artwork Aurelia - player character from Where the Snow Settles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877046775-BO5WPCUSY0NF8SUGIFJ5/artanis.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork Artanis, Starcraft 2. Made in Photoshop https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594874172091-GC4K68P287UNYASJFFZO/estaSolidWireframe.png Home - 3D models and artwork Esta - NPC from Where the Snow Settles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877057683-7A24BM1RFKYPHP5SNDXR/the-child.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork The Child, Star Wars. Made in Procreate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594874399915-EMVIR5GATCORCGPDPZY8/ruinedStoneBuilding.PNG Home - 3D models and artwork Stone building ruin, unused asset from Where the Snow Settles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877119392-1OCFH64ZX017Z8ZYTWJL/benisato.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork Benisato, Ninja Scroll. Made in Procreate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594874397681-VHTEMZJSYVQIGKEQZX5A/roundBuildFourVersions.png Home - 3D models and artwork Village hut from Where the Snow Settles (Blender and in-game screenshots) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877057885-PGXL5L0837JHOXAU5LQJ/atat.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork AT-AT, Star Wars. Made in Illustrator https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594874407373-XDTYLZOXY3MRIV84RUZI/estaAndAurelia.PNG Home - 3D models and artwork Aurelia and Esta in-game screenshot from Where the Snow Settles (rigging and animation by Emily Stone) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877046958-AL78HEYGO9MQXJQXZYVM/blind-swordsman.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork Blind swordsman, Ninja Scroll. Made in Procreate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594875106288-KPRYVSRWZ0YT4LWMZT53/maleHead.PNG Home - 3D models and artwork Male NPC head from Where the Snow Settles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877050169-UZCQSXFQZ8F341H3TWBL/boba-fett.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork Boba Fett, Star Wars. Made in Photoshop https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877053404-SA3TTLK6UNK5OXFWKHZE/horse.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork Horse. Made in Procreate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877058017-8ME205U6KS3ZO7U0UA44/stormtrooper.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork Stormtrooper, Star Wars. Made in Photoshop https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877050176-YBP6ESQI4JPNC08GLR6O/hummingbird.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork Hummingbird. Made in Illustrator https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877057710-UMI2KF0U8Y53JFD97ZHG/iron-man.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork Iron Man, Marvel. Made in Photoshop https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877051679-U925DMQL1FR36IYF6ZPA/jubei.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork Jubei, Ninja Scroll. Made in Procreate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877056356-GDX7YF81CBQ96D56IQ6N/k2so.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork K2S0, Star Wars. Made in Photoshop https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594877059903-5Y03OSMF6P8WHOQV90QT/spawn.jpg Home - 3D models and artwork Spawn SNES video game cover. Made in Illustrator https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594876043099-F6FVPGKQNTNB2VIK2450/assortedVillageElements.PNG Home - 3D models and artwork Assorted environmental items like fences, plants, trees, rocks and flags from Where the Snow Settles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/1594876047051-LYPE77ZOIH4S9A63BUZS/assortedPlants.PNG Home - 3D models and artwork Assorted plants from Where the Snow Settles https://andrewmendlik.com/home/stray-gods monthly 0.5 2024-06-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/750f5fda-0090-40c1-83ab-0a07d749fbfc/portal.gif Home - Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical - Portals Characters and transported between locations within the world at various times through portals summoned by the character Hermes. These portals appear where existing doors (or car boots..) previously were, and needed to be able to fade in, out, or loop during a sequence of gameplay. This effect was created with a combination of dissolving material and emissive particles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/ab5e1d33-d682-4853-8a36-57b3d1d3dd40/lighthouse.gif Home - Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical - Lighthouse Existing environmental elements, such as this lighthouse that appears in one of the songs, were enhanced with additional lighting and post process elements. There were several challenges in scenarios like this which use a combination of 3D environments with 2D unlit character sprites. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/42da61a9-4f9b-4eab-b548-96e49be29a78/dissolve.gif Home - Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical - Dissolve effects Magical elements like summoned character sprites and armour needed to be able to appear and dissolve over time. A combination of shader and particle effects make this possible dynamically in a way that is controllable by cinematic editors and is also more memory efficient than having multiple copies of sprites keyframed with various stages of dissolve painted in. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/2d0283bc-bb9d-4d0f-87eb-debf20d8eafa/Powerful.gif Home - Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical - Glowing eyes Some characters have a glowing eye effect during the game, which was initially done by painting the eyes yellow in the sprite textures themselves. These were not emissive, however, so the glow did not feel as prominent or impactful as it could. The base sprite material was updated to allow an emissive value to be applied to areas that reached a particular threshold of yellow, meaning the effect could be applied retroactively to many sprites that had already been created by simply adding keyframes to the sequences, without the use of special masks or other updates https://andrewmendlik.com/home/stray-gods-orpheus monthly 0.5 2025-11-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/3c17fc6b-1d41-4ea3-ab30-9dab2301e537/moneyRain.gif Home - Stray Gods: Orpheus DLC - “Money rain” particle effect Unique particle effects were needed throughout the game, including this “money rain” particle system to show one character’s main personality trait. Regular particle motion control from Niagara was combined with some custom World Position Offset in the particle’s material to have the notes fall from the sky but feel less flat and 2D than the particles actually are, by making the planes twist and curve slightly as they spiral down. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/49a38e51-3dec-4f4d-9525-92eb78493e19/cityStreetCrowds.gif Home - Stray Gods: Orpheus DLC - City crowds For the more sparsely populated city street scenes (compared to the concert), we decided to stick with the 2D sprite approach for crowds, but because background crowds needed to be able to be scattered around in various places, we needed a way to try to ensure the poses in the sprites made sense relative to their environment. Because of the layout of the streets, if sprites were drawn walking in profile and were billboarded to face the camera, there could be several shots where a crowd sprite may appear to be walking into a random wall etc. To solve this, a tool was created that allowed placing the crowds along the streets, and then when a camera cut occurred an event would be called that told each crowd sprite where the camera was positioned relative to the sprite, and the sprite material would choose from an array of textures to use the most relevant direction illustration. This way, crowds always appear to be walking along the footpaths without constant swapping or keyframing being required from cinematic editors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/bd58c482-aed0-4a27-a1c2-03fafd6ce6b5/crowds.gif Home - Stray Gods: Orpheus DLC - Concert crowds In the base game, all crowd/background characters were 2D sprites with stylized rim lighting painted in. To have the number of people present that we wanted in Orpheus’ concert, various approaches to using 2D crowd sprites were explored but were found to be too limiting in terms of both performance and the restrictions they would create for shot placement and camera movement. To address this, a 3D crowd was created with a basic, controllable dance loop using material World Position Offset to save on the overhead of many Skeletal Meshes, and with a material that replicated the rim lighting approach our other 2D crowd sprites use for stylistic consistency across the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5efd2f54c5ac7d61abff84cc/0dc318a7-4696-4231-bdbd-3f666450010a/karaokeScreen.gif Home - Stray Gods: Orpheus DLC - Karaoke screen To make the environments feel more alive and dynamic, materials were made for several looping background elements, such as this karaoke screen. A simple mask texture was created that a material then used to gradually swap colours along, row by row, to give the impression of karaoke text being shown to a user. A basic, scrolling horizontal line effect also helps give the impression of a slightly CRT screen. The implication of text is a common solution in environments, particularly in background elements that should not be the main focus, to both not be distracting to players but also to avoid localization issues