https://tylerwalters.xyz/header 2026-08-11T05:38:32+00:00 always 0.5 https://tylerwalters.xyz/resume 2026-08-11T04:17:55+00:00 always 0.5 https://tylerwalters.xyz 2026-08-11T02:54:35+00:00 always 0.5 https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Y3067926191620397956257884385491/L1100633-copy.jpg https://tylerwalters.xyz/portfolio 2026-08-08T21:07:18+00:00 always 0.5 https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/U2570625867619055502905280233767/horizontal.svg Miscellaneous https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/C2730105327435681609334636654803/Untitled-2.png 2013 Infected Wars (2013) https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/P2730105748335041139165475877075/Untitled-6.png Farlands (2016) https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/X2730106142560408738412303462611/Untitled-4.png Dreamdeck (2014) https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/G2731357286262593245920381874387/Untitled-10.png Glassbreakers (2025) https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Y2731360180206250273548548944083/Untitled-1.png Primal Carnage (2012) https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/U2732127505471881137993275650259/misc.png Miscellaneous https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Q2733226018175715370130817396947/Untitled-8.png Moss (2018) https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/W2733226061673137895937940107475/Untitled-7.png First Contact (2016) https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/A2736244909580900928859799007443/Untitled-9.png Moss: Book II (2022) https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/K3061583280091052220610358259923/MFR.png Moss: The Forgotten Relic (2026) https://tylerwalters.xyz/misc 2026-08-11T04:15:33+00:00 always 0.5 https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/U2570625867619055502905280233767/horizontal.svg These are clips from an unannounced Polyarc game demo that I worked on from start to finish. My efforts overlapped with nearly all of the content presented, with more complete development ownership of visual elements like; weapon shaders, blast vfx, spline cursor visuals, entirety of the INDIGO intro scene visuals, enemy and companion shaders, hazard barriers, target gates, destructables, and level transition portals. Beyond these specific assets, I worked closely with all diciplines in developing our vision and gameplay, as well as profiling and leading optimizations. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/K2732121341326328211283217199315/tyler-walters-percyscreenshot3.jpg Bust of our Boston Terrier named Percy. Sculpted, baked, hand painted, and rendered. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Z2732122135753808489658767093971/tyler-walters-scootsfinalshot2.jpg Personal learning project to better familiarize myself with Blender after having used Softimage and Modo for many years prior. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/T2732124134495422364236103790803/HighPolyChair.png High poly model and sculpt of a chair that I grew up with. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/E2732124881680791069841491996883/tyler-walters-moonhouscreen.jpg Procedural moon setup in houdini that I did for fun as a learning exercise https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/I2733174673618941071407106732243/ArtStyle1.mp4 This is from a small personal project where I explored various approaches in creating a sci-fi styled screen effect with triangular pixeliation. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/R2733182359823794263965978570963/ImpactTest.mp4 During a personal research project I built a data driven hit impact system that allowed for creating and storing a wide range of unique visuals using a small fixed cost that could be applied to any mesh without any shader branching. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/F2736329588640148273681819742419/Desktop-2026.01.08---11.52.39.11_1.mp4 These are a variety of hand tracking experiments I setup while at Oculus, retargeting raw hand tracking bone transforms to custom skinned meshes. The first 3 examples I modeled quickly from scratch, the following alien hands I pulled and reskinned from Farlands characters which were made by others, and the last human hand examples are my hand which I first generated via photogrammetry, retopologized, and skinned. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/B3063108541912109962065292538067/JiggleFish.mp4 Jiggle Fish interaction prototype https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/M3063127219461845521870818357459/DropShadows_1_1.mp4 I built out a Niagara and Blueprint based solution to support hundreds of drop shadows for a game that was being designed to run on low spec hardware with runtime world editing in gameplay. The workflow included full developer controls in visualizing and editing local placements, scales as volume components, and intensities of shadows. Also shown is a shader solution I built for projecting and mixing dappled lighting across the world. This proved to be visually satisfying in AR creating stronger depth cues and parralax. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Q3064580306053978377343941980371/Two_Sided_Shader_-_Marmoset_Toolbag.mp4 For fun I wrote and released a free custom two sided shader for Marmoset Toolbag 3, allowing for unique texture inputs and controls to be exposed per side. This effort required some collaboration with engineers at Marmoset to expose necessary calls to access the state of backfaces that was not available when initially starting the project. It was hosted on the official Marmoset website as a community addon until they transitioned to Toolbag 4. (Still downloadable through my Gumroad: <a href="https://tylerwalters.gumroad.com/l/JOYsS" target="_blank">https://tylerwalters.gumroad.com/l/JOYsS</a>) https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/G3070888746060439851583815528659/TinyTools.mp4 During pre-production of the previously mentioned unreleased game, I also spent a few days conceptualizing and prototyping a set of mini tools for interactive gameplay. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/V3070889383524574806764790722771/AR_Research.mp4 These are clips from an unannounced Polyarc game where I took initiative to prototype and present various visual formats that could be utilized for an augmented reality experience. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/P3071129650170972328903152480467/Indigo_1.mp4 These are clips from an unannounced Polyarc game demo that I worked on from start to finish. My efforts overlapped with nearly all of the content presented, with more complete development ownership of visual elements like; weapon shaders, blast vfx, spline cursor visuals, entirety of the INDIGO intro scene visuals, enemy and companion shaders, hazard barriers, target gates, destructables, and level transition portals. Beyond these specific assets, I worked closely with all diciplines in developing our vision and gameplay, as well as profiling and leading optimizations. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/X3072817116297152278774625579219/PoleVault.mp4 These are clips from a tiny PC game I made with two friends. My focus was primarily on pole physics interaction logic, input feel refinements, level & gameplay design, vfx, sound, and music. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/F3077895527187417871228229628115/L1100596.jpg A photo I took while hiking Rainier https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/J3077905410454830474815827587283/L1100338.jpg A photo I took while driving through Glacier https://tylerwalters.xyz/moss-the-forgotten-relic 2026-08-11T02:58:09+00:00 always 0.5 https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/U2570625867619055502905280233767/horizontal.svg https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/C3069926521591171000355523113171/OwlAmbush2_1_1.mp4 Throughout production I setup and directed all major cinematic camera sequences. About 50 in total. This was an interesting puzzle to navigate because we didn’t want to redo any of the animations, timings, or audio originally built for VR, creating unique challenges around how to best frame essential story beats while threading a consistent style. Some behind the scenes effort I took on also included extracting gameplay state driven cinematic character animations for editor playback reference while keyframing camera motion, taking nearly as much time as the keyframing itself. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/M3074339429000341468136123904211/MB1_VibeCheck1_1.mp4 Here is another small set of clips from my cinematic camera work. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/T3074432914941037971519696253139/MB1_NoA_2_1.mp4 Excitement grew after sharing the results with others at the studio, leading to a full android based demo created by myself and an engineer. This gave the studio confidence to continue with further explorations and full development soon after. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/D3074437821738068090113007005907/Swamp_040Gameplay_1_1.mp4 I collaborated with individuals across art, design, and engineering to build out and implement gameplay camera solutions. Since Moss was created for VR first, our need to improve depth perception on traditional screens required a lot of effort to successfully guide players through complex spaces. This is an example of one setup that I implemented using our near final tooling. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/G3075958172427110855652885901523/TiltShifted.mp4 This is a capture from 2023 when I made a non-vr prototype of Moss, spending about 3 days scripting a new programmatic follow camera solution and screen space interaction paradigm. https://tylerwalters.xyz/glassbreakers 2026-08-11T02:59:19+00:00 always 0.5 https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/U2570625867619055502905280233767/horizontal.svg https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/I2731986081294830754870665392339/Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss | Official Steam Trailer https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/N2736709659562765346138516598995/Crimson-2026.01.07---10.57.05.01_1.mp4 Early on in production the team asked me about supporting a mirror in the game lobby. Given that we were planning to ship on low spec standalone VR headsets, it was clear to me that going with a common render target solution would be too costly, low resolution, and flat in appearance. With this in mind I proceeded to conceptualize, prototype, and implement an alternative solution that relied on something more akin to a shadowbox, with meshes that extend back behind the free floating mirror, using world positioned masking to encapsulate and show only on the inner bound pixels. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/X2738081089945155471500133249235/Desktop-2026.01.09---14.32.52.01_1.mp4 The min spec standalone VR headset we were shipping on only allowed for about 250 draw calls total. I supported the team with profiling, guidance, as well as hands on content optimizations throughout the duration of the project to reach a consistent 72fps. One example of this effort I took on involved converting the overhead Champion UI visuals into much more efficient assets, requiring remodeling, uving, and scripting of runtime animation attributes through new shader paths. The end result took about 150 draw calls down to 30, as well as greatly reducing the shader instructions. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Z2738296071325856510703032578259/Masks_1.mp4 The art team had a goal to create a bunch of visual customization options for players. To support this, I provided mesh specs, shaders, tools, and example assets for the art team to more easily create expressive & performant variants of their work within a fixed cost pipeline. https://tylerwalters.xyz/moss-book-ii 2026-08-11T03:01:38+00:00 always 0.5 https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/U2570625867619055502905280233767/horizontal.svg https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/M2733055502302669126327897403603/Moss: Book II | Accolades Trailer https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/B2734664471316262689217125527763/Comp-2_4_1.mp4 Examples of visual elements that I created (lava fluid, smasher impacts, lava bubbles, villain shader, and procedural burning feathers) https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Q2734675726855413680131977752787/Comp-1_1_1.mp4 I setup a function based shader workflow and built 2d vfx for all of the game’s 100 unique story book pages. During this process I worked closely with the artist Chris Alderson, who was painted each page in parallel. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/P2738319905976492525266775027923/Grass.mp4 I evolved a shader from Moss 1 to include more intricate and believable physical wind interaction movements. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Q3064608501533360160919396004051/tyler_walters_-_moss__book_ii_-_technical_art_v1-1440p_1.mp4 This is an automation workflow I developed in unreal allowing for me to quickly capture any desired number of mesh screenshots using a fibbonaci sphere distribution, which I then processed through 3rd party photogrammetry tools to produce new optimized assets. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/L3077516331673487560732014260435/WallClimb.mp4 Developed modular asset pipeline to support our wall climbing solution and visuals. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Z3077689468718186214219961577683/IngameWallClimbAndVineBridge.mp4 Conceptualized, prototyped, and built final shipping versions of interactive leaf painting and vine bridge creation. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/M3077788904582396716324569460947/Random.mp4 Niagara based vfx systems using procedural mesh attributes to drive particle behaviors, and Houdini mesh simulations. https://tylerwalters.xyz/moss 2026-08-11T03:02:29+00:00 always 0.5 https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/U2570625867619055502905280233767/horizontal.svg https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Q2733069764199935530056924246227/Moss Launch Trailer https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/F2736506734605056002024362455251/Desktop-2026.01.08---14.42.41.13_1.mp4 This is 1 example of the 100+ levels that I optimized by myself to work on Oculus Quest 1. The effort involved reformatting nearly every mesh, material, and texture in the game. Coverting thousands of drawcalls in each level, to less than 150 each. As well as significantly simplifying shader instructions, overdraws, and texture memory usages through atlasing and proxy solutions. All while holding onto as much of the original artistic intent as possible. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/D3077747315530885566676102262995/LibraryProjection.mp4 This is one of my favorite optimization solutions. I projected a sphere mesh from the players default location out to the architectural surfaces within this library, creating a new mesh, which I could then project a cubemap texture of the original environment onto the surface. The result was a near indistinguishable representation of the original art for a tiny fraction of the cost. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Y3077782043555746173015070060755/QuillSleep_1.mp4 We had a decent amount of performance headroom for the release on PSVR2 so I implenmeted indirect shadow capsules across all characters. https://tylerwalters.xyz/first-contact 2026-08-10T22:26:28+00:00 always 0.5 https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/U2570625867619055502905280233767/horizontal.svg https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/D2734861114235277731543476842707/Oculus First Contact https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/C2734861361458541807398887600339/FirstContact_Screens.mp4 Built out screen material with performant baked local lighting approach and a workflow to support artists in creating animations that were performant for VR https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/I2734862462618482543416861765843/tyler-walters-tyler-walters-lightingonly.jpg Screenshot of baked lighting that I drove from start to finish https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/D2736562364192904670887237103827/Desktop-2026.01.07---16.41.50.05_1.mp4 Setup holographic butterfly materials and blueprint logic to support hand velocity based interactions https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/X2736562410235977878866277937363/Desktop-2026.01.07---16.41.50.05_1_1.mp4 This is an example of what the dynamic lighting adjustments https://tylerwalters.xyz/farlands-1 2026-08-11T03:05:07+00:00 always 0.5 https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/U2570625867619055502905280233767/horizontal.svg https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/L2731768161218671565220226773203/Farlands_Camera.mp4 Helped build a camera system that relied on head position, before motion controllers were available. This involved some research into finding paths of hud like UI rendering that would be comfortable in VR. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/N2731768212814214739385842643155/Farlands_Scanner.mp4 Conceptualized and built various gameplay vfx systems, including this example of a world scanner. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/L2731768268873869979389170004179/Farlands_Ship.mp4 Supported multiple artists to bring the spaceship hub interior and exterior visuals to life, creating shaders, skybox projection solutions, and high quality baked lighting approaches that fit within our limited performance budgets. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/P2731769231406529001479863775443/Farlands_Water.mp4 Built a water shader that was both optimized and comfortable to look at for long durations in VR. As a polish step, I worked with an artist to project custom hand painted textures to build more connective tissue between the landscapes and water surfaces. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/L2733067283537132729817551581395/Introducing Farlands https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/N2736576770122348802140442964179/Rocky_-_Day_-_Night_Cycle_-_Oculus_Farlands-1_1.mp4 I developed a highly optimized skybox and time of day solution while working closely with artists and a rendering engineer. Most of my time was spent scripting parameter structures with shader states, and packing the results into a development tool for easy drag and drop implementation with editor debug time scrubbing. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/W2736577810223566654179801280723/Giffle_-_Day_-_Night_Cycle_-_Oculus_Farlands-1_1.mp4 Worked closely with character artists to build textures and shaders. https://tylerwalters.xyz/dreamdeck 2026-08-10T22:57:55+00:00 always 0.5 https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/U2570625867619055502905280233767/horizontal.svg https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/R2734930957057881937689581170899/Oculus Dreamdeck (VR) ★ GamePlay ★ Ultra Settings https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/B2736860436331294820372343926995/Dreamdeck_Alien.mp4 Worked with multiple artists to bring this experience to life with vfx systems and shader support across all assets. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/E2736860641108600782622076416211/Dreamdeck_LowpolyForest.mp4 I developed the entirety of this experience outside of primary character animations and audio. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/I2736860696873108117446050951379/Dreamdeck_Mirror.mp4 Provided team with logic to drive mirrored character representations and physics driven animation solutions. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Q2736860779293160638780327571667/Dreamdeck_Paper.mp4 Supported this experience with vfx systems https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/X2736860839281972366483789426899/Dreamdeck_Robots.mp4 Built our lighting solution, and supported with shader development and vfx, worked with vfx artists at Epic to integrate outsourced assets. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/A2736860930943843668746551406803/Dreamdeck_Trex.mp4 Developed trex shader, vfx, and optimization solutions. https://tylerwalters.xyz/2013-infected-wars 2026-08-11T03:06:42+00:00 always 0.5 https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/U2570625867619055502905280233767/horizontal.svg https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Y2734694420343136119622556168403/2013 Infected Wars PS Vita Official Release Trailer - Download Now! https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Q2736328155512601187186754695379/Desktop-2026.01.08---11.46.43.09_1.mp4 Examples of cineamtics and gameplay events that I setup with most character animations done by others. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/R2736331384781171986707151040723/950x0_p180onu4e5bn71j9it0r1is81r2u5.png iPad capture to show off latest rendering abilities during the mobile game boom https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/O2736455177486449741945488519379/Desktop-2026.01.08---11.37.54.06_1_1.mp4 Supported project with various sets of keyframed animations. One of my favorite results was from implementing additive head roll/bob animations that made the zombies appear weak in the neck and much more unique/dynamic. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/J3077706205393744058675014119635/950x0-5_p180opulo315p71p0g601jlf1imrh.png Visually clean gameplay scripting solutions were a bit limited using UE3 Kistmet back in the day, but we made it work.. :O https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/P3077707406996206276041496834259/950x0_p180opulo2m0p1lcf17vt79v9d78.png Led friends and family playtests. https://tylerwalters.xyz/primal-carnage 2026-08-10T22:54:27+00:00 always 0.5 https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/U2570625867619055502905280233767/horizontal.svg https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/L2734696259465073524391142731987/Primal Carnage Launch Trailer https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Q2734721706582502510054211039443/tyler-walters-p180oob095r7e1jk5tdhgot97g7.jpg Shotgun I made from start to finish. HP/LP bakes textured in Photoshop. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/R2734721855742875090069645406419/tyler-walters-p180oob08m1r8i1e8lmvc4cs5hc6.jpg Revolver I made from start to finish. HP/LP bakes textured in Photoshop. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/M2734721964873813030135352766675/tyler-walters-p180oob08m1j76fjhcfovjj14fg3.jpg Hunting knife I made from start to finish. HP/LP bakes textured in Photoshop. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/G2734722892412998544399027122387/950x0_p180oqjkdr1agqcog1ae1kevpcod.png Built modular assets and tiling textures for for security wall. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/M2734724320541477986918803681491/950x0-5_p180orhium1vl11d4s18olru89po4.jpg I captured and processed foliage assets that were used for the Unigine reveal trailer, as well as incorporated Speed Tree made meshes and textures. https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/Z2734880205508589376506826305747/DarkTrexScene.jpg I ported and setup various assets the team had made for an early announcement that we had decided to move from Unigine to Unreal Engine 3 https://tylerwalters.xyz/footer 2026-08-10T00:16:41+00:00 always 0.5