Role: Audio Systems Architect and Programmer / Co-Founder, Matima Studio
Project: Rhythm FPS, UE5, Windows, in development

Case study: https://arturasvarkalis.dev/work/tempo-punk/

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1868430/Tempo_Punk/

Tempo Punk is a rhythm-based first-person shooter where music drives the gameplay. Every shot, reload, dash, enemy spawn, and level event synchronizes to the beat, so the audio systems are not cosmetic - they are part of the game rules.

I own the audio systems and game framework work on a 5-person team. I built the C++ Core Rhythm Subsystem using Unreal Quartz timestamps for sub-frame beat sync, quantization, accuracy windows, beat counters, desync recovery, and Blueprint-facing interfaces used across gameplay.

Key contributions

• Built a MetaSounds procedural music manager with intensity layers, section transitions, stream caching, and support for both procedural and licensed tracks.
• Designed and implemented 50+ SFX across weapons, movement, enemies, bosses, environment, UI, trailer, and tutorial voice assets.
• Created beat-accurate SFX behavior: reloads, shots, and action sounds stretch or vary based on BPM and timing accuracy.
• Implemented the full mix and spatial audio setup: sound classes, control buses, submixes, compressor, convolution reverb, 3D spatialization, and randomized ambience.
• Built audio pipeline tools, including Reaper beat-chart export, capture metronome tools, debug widgets, and producer documentation.
• Helped secure 15 licensed tracks from 14 artists on a tight budget and represented the project at industry events.

Selected demos

BPM-driven reload SFX:

Music intensity switching:

Music section management:

Beat accuracy shotgun SFX:

Looping enemy hover sound with tail:

Spatial audio debug visualization:

Tech: Unreal Engine 5.3, C++, Blueprints, MetaSounds, Quartz, Reaper, Ableton Live Suite, Steam SDK, Google Analytics

Role: Sole Programmer and Technical Lead / Freelance Contractor
Project: Competitive 1v1 turn-based tactics game, UE4, Windows and macOS, beta

Case study: https://arturasvarkalis.dev/work/amethyst/

Amethyst is a competitive 1v1 tactics game played on an 8x8 grid. It combines chess-inspired hero movement, Dota-like abilities, dice-roll combat, a 5-currency gem economy, items, shop systems, and Steam-based ranked play.

I am the sole programmer on a 5-person team and have owned the full technical side for 5+ years: gameplay, UI, networking, audio, Steam, cross-platform builds, QA, and engine-level fixes. I maintain a hybrid Blueprint/C++ codebase that started from ATBTT and grew into a heavily customized PvP tactics framework.

Key contributions

• Rebuilt the turn system around shared energy rolls, action costs, auto-end logic, banking, and amethyst-to-energy exchange.
• Implemented attack and defense wheel combat, gem collection, hero death, level-ups, and structure interactions.
• Built class-based chess movement and pathfinding for Queen, Knight, Rook, and Bishop heroes.
• Architected an extensible ability system for 8 heroes, each with two abilities and level-2 upgrades.
• Built a 30+ status effect framework covering stuns, passives, damage modifiers, spell immunity, auras, item effects, and HUD display.
• Created the 5-currency economy, conversion UI, shop rules, player/hero inventories, and 18 unique items.
• Implemented full HUD, draft screen, menus, server browser, settings, tooltips, and UI designer handoff workflows.
• Built Steam MMR and leaderboards, shipped Windows/macOS builds, and modified Unreal Engine source to fix a macOS cursor rendering bug.

Selected demos

Attack wheel combat:

Chess-style movement:

Hero abilities:

Shop, inventory, and economy:

Hover cursors:

Tooltips and info cards:

MMR leaderboard and draft flow:

Tech: Unreal Engine 4, C++, Blueprints, Steamworks, ATBTT heavily modified, Windows, macOS

Role: Systems Programmer / Co-Founder, Matima Studio
Project: Multiplayer battle royale action game, UE4, Windows/Web, beta

Case study: https://arturasvarkalis.dev/work/katana-inu/

Website: https://www.katanainu.com/

Playable build: https://play.katanainu.com/

Katana Inu is a multiplayer battle royale action game with directional melee combat, character abilities, relic objectives, looting, ranked/unranked matchmaking, and online social features. I worked on the project periodically over 2.5-3 years as part of the contracted development studio.

My role rotated to the systems that most needed attention: Gameplay Ability System integration, FMOD audio implementation, multiplayer debugging, social systems, UI, documentation, and onboarding.

Key contributions

• Researched, prototyped, and integrated Unreal’s Gameplay Ability System into the main project from scratch.
• Implemented networked abilities, attributes, gameplay effects, gameplay cues, HUD callbacks, async montage loading, and reusable cue base classes.
• Debugged GAS multiplayer issues including attribute sync failures, movement prediction/rubber-banding, and autonomous proxy cue execution.
• Set up FMOD in Unreal and SVN, built the character FMOD component, and connected ability events to audio playback.
• Implemented locomotion, ambience, hitmarker, combat, ability, sprint, and procedural combat music audio.
• Developed network-conscious audio/VFX patterns using local gameplay cues, anim notify triggers, and client-side feedback for frequent events.
• Built EOS friends, party invites, blocking, matchmaking UI, validation, stale invite cleanup, and edge-case hardening using Redpoint EOS plugins.
• Wrote GAS and SFX/VFX implementation guides and onboarded programmers, artists, and sound designers.

Tech: Unreal Engine 4.27, C++, Blueprints, Gameplay Ability System, FMOD, Epic Online Services, Redpoint EOS Plugins, Steam Sessions, SVN, UMG

Role: Generalist Developer - Framework, Combat, VFX, SFX / Contractor
Project: Cyberpunk 2.5D fighting game vertical slice, UE4, Windows

Case study: https://arturasvarkalis.dev/work/psyker/

Psyker is a cyberpunk 2.5D fighting game. The contracted deliverable was a trailer-ready vertical slice built from scratch in approximately 5 weeks. That slice became the basis for the project’s public trailer and marketing material.

I worked as a generalist on a 4-5 person contractor team. My responsibilities covered project foundation, 2.5D movement, cutscene flow, Niagara VFX, full sound design, and environment polish.

Key contributions

• Set up the UE4 project foundation: GameMode, GameState, GameInstance, Pawn base class, and spawn flow.
• Built the side-view camera system and plane-constrained 2.5D movement with lateral repositioning.
• Implemented cutscene-to-gameplay transitions and pawn switching for trailer sequence support.
• Created all real-time VFX in Niagara: attack sparks, character damage, footstep effects, flying car ambience, and a procedural trash vortex.
• Profiled and optimized VFX using distance-field tuning and particle count adjustments to recover frame budget.
• Designed and implemented the complete sound pass from scratch: locomotion, combat, finisher, ambience, and character voice SFX.
• Replaced and adjusted graffiti, billboard, and decal textures for trailer-ready presentation.

Tech: Unreal Engine 4, Blueprints, Niagara, Ableton Live, synthesizers, sound libraries, Windows

Role: Co-Founder / Generalist - Audio, Narrative, Level Design, Game Design, Blueprints
Project: Boomer-shooter FPS, UE4, Windows, paused

Case study: https://arturasvarkalis.dev/work/v1ral/

V1RAL, originally Project Black, is a fast boomer-shooter FPS with wallrunning, wallclimbing, sliding, gravity inversion, dark comedy, and an 8-level campaign concept. I co-founded the project and worked across audio, narrative, level design, gameplay design, and Blueprint programming.

This was my first game development project, and I learned Unreal Engine, Blueprints, sound design, narrative design, and level design while contributing to a live multi-year team project.

Key contributions

• Built a custom real-time sound occlusion system entirely in Blueprints, with distance-based prioritization and support for multi-source emitters.
• Paired occlusion with convolution reverb and spatialization to create room/space-aware audio behavior.
• Designed an inheritance-based Blueprint audio component architecture with base components and specialized child components for player and enemy types.
• Created and implemented 50+ SFX for weapons, locomotion, combat, ambience, pickups, UI, tutorial voice, and enemy voices.
• Performed mixing passes, fixed concurrency issues, and built modulation behavior for heavy combat audio loads.
• Wrote most of the 8-level campaign scripts, including the tutorial, weapons lab, hive, sewers, space port, bank, pre-boss sequence, and Deep Blue encounters.
• Designed/tutorial blockouts, combat prototypes, sewers blockout, encounter scripts, puzzle notes, player choice branches, and composer story briefs.

Tech: Unreal Engine 4, Blueprints, Reaper, Ableton Live Suite, Replica AI, convolution reverb, sound occlusion, Blueprint audio components

Role: Audio/Systems Programmer / Freelance Contractor
Project: Story-driven action-adventure platformer, UE4, Windows

Case study: https://arturasvarkalis.dev/work/karyn/

Website: https://mythoworks.com/videogame%3A-karyn

Karyn is a story-driven action-adventure game led by MythoWorks, built around fourth-wall-breaking dialog, stylized facial performance, adaptive music, and narrative interaction. I joined as part of a contractor team and became the owner of the audio and dialog systems.

Key contributions

• Architected a fully data-driven procedural dialog manager with base/child classes for level-specific scripting.
• Built 5 priority levels for dialog queueing, including “add to end”, “insert after active sequence”, “insert after active line”, “interrupt active line”, and “interrupt same character”.
• Implemented interruption behavior, sequence tracking, simultaneous voicelines, delayed playback, and death/respawn queue handling.
• Built facial mocap playback synced to voiceline audio using LiveLink LevelSequence assets, additive animation blending, and per-take sync offsets.
• Designed an adaptive music manager with Quartz beat-accurate stem switching, extension stems, bounces, fades, and trigger-volume transitions.
• Wrote a Reaper Lua export script that generated Unreal DataTable rows from voice recording timestamps, eliminating manual data entry.
• Documented the voiceline pipeline so non-programmers could prepare and implement dialog independently.
• Migrated the project from UE 4.23 to 4.27 and reworked dialog data around soft references to reduce memory pressure.

Tech: Unreal Engine 4, Blueprints, C++, Quartz, LiveLink, LevelSequence, DataTables, Reaper Lua, Ableton Live Suite

Role: Application Framework Developer and Audio Designer / Contractor
Project: Interactive Twitch broadcast tool, UE4, Windows, delivered

View this post on Instagram

Case study: https://arturasvarkalis.dev/work/ayezee/

AyeZee Game Arena is a dual-window interactive entertainment app built for Twitch streamer AyeZee. It contains seven mini-games for live audience participation: wheel spin variants, ball drop, lucky case selection, card pick, and a meta-game that selects which game is played.

The app separates the audience-facing game window from an operator control panel, letting the streamer manage the show while viewers only see the polished broadcast output.

Key contributions

• Built the top-level application framework and game switcher that routes operator inputs to the active game mode.
• Integrated the framework with a teammate’s cinematic camera state machine through experience interfaces.
• Implemented UE4 multi-window architecture: one broadcast-facing game view and one operator control panel.
• Built operator tools for game switching, round control, case opening, prize configuration, visual customization, and live diagnostics.
• Created a runtime texture importer so the client could swap prize images in packaged builds without Unreal Editor.
• Designed and implemented UI for the control panel, prize editors, results screens, settings, and in-game mini-game interfaces.
• Designed and integrated the full SFX pass for wheel spins, ball drops, card reveals, case openings, win/loss states, and live show feedback.
• Delivered the core framework, UI, audio, runtime content pipeline, diagnostics, and player pawn in approximately 1 month on a 5-person team.

Cover image: https://arturasvarkalis.dev/images/ayezee-cover.png

Tech: Unreal Engine 4, Blueprints, UMG, multi-window UE4 application, runtime asset loading, Windows