Mikolaj Brzuchalski
Game Designer & Developer
2022
2020
2019
2021
Virtual Reality Simulation of Schizophrenia
September 2021 - September 2022
Unity Engine
C#
VR
Client
Design
Development
Project Management
Testing
Research
Solo development project as part of my master's degree for a client working at the University of Portsmouth as a Healthcare Simulation Technician, with a goal of creating a simulation of schizophrenia for perspective-taking exercises using a virtual reality Oculus headset and the Unity Engine, with an aim to raise both attitudes towards schizophrenics and feelings of cognitive and emotional empathy.
My yearlong master's project focused on designing and developing a virtual reality simulation of schizophrenia for a client that works at the University of Portsmouth as a Healthcare Simulation Technician. The goal of the simulation was to allow students in her department of Healthcare Services to experience the symptoms of the schizophrenia mental health disorder from the first-person perspective, learn more about it and foster stronger feelings of cognitive and emotional empathy. Furthermore, the simulation was also designed to positively improve attitudes towards patients with the disorder who often struggle with social stigmatisation.
To construct the simulation, academic literature on the topic of schizophrenia was gathered, including first and third person accounts of the symptoms of the disorder. These were critically evaluated to construct the linear experience.
Final solution was user tested, with participants completing pre and post-test questionnaires containing quantitative questions measuring their individual levels of empathy and attitudes. An additional questionnaire was employed to gather quantitative and qualitative for a general evaluation of the artefact as a product. The simulation as an intervention to improve empathy and attitudes was successfully proven to work for those that participated as results suggests, and the general feedback suggests that the simulation was well received as a learning tool and an experience. Any criticism was used to drive development of improvements before delivery to the client.
Technically, the development of the simulation has reinforced my knowledge of the Unity engine and understanding of the C# programming language. Furthermore, it also helped me to gain valuable experience designing for and working with virtual reality hardware.
However, it is evident that the creation of the simulation also highlights my growth in tackling complex problems, breaking them down and designing workable solutions that also exhibit my creative qualities.
A project of this scope and length had to be well managed, and the completion of it to the standard shown shows my potential for excellent project management, using techniques and tools such as Jira and Trello for the Kanban driven agile project methodology used. Moreover, my drive and motivation for this longer-term individual work has matched my desire to excel in my final year of university and the quality of the work produced is something I can be proud of and is a testament for my hard work and passion for the subject.
Watch the full playthrough of the final simulation below!
Augmented Reality Prosthetic Socket Visualiser App for RADII Devices
October 2020 - May 2021
Unity Engine
C#
AR
Client
Design
Development
Team
Testing
Research
Contributed to a team-based development project in my final undergraduate year for an external client RADII Devices as a lead designer, with secondary technical implementation, research, and quality assurance roles. The android application created in Unity and using the Vuforia AR platform is designed to be used by clinicians to visualise the placement of a residual limb socket and to import or draw heatmaps showing areas of pain and discomfort directly onto the residual limb model.
This project was a fantastic opportunity to develop my team working skills, as the entire project was commissioned and completed entirely remotely due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This is something that was brand new to the way that I have worked in the past, therefore I had to learn ways to articulate ideas and communicate them to my team largely through voice chat and video calls. Furthermore, I had to remain flexible to work at various hours of the day since team members would be working at different parts of the day and would at times require my advice or input as work hours were self-managed.
My role within the team was flexible to the needs of the team, which speaks of the well-rounded skillset that I have developed throughout my time at the university up to this point. At the start of the project, my role was to research and feedback findings and present ideas in neatly designed, clear and concise design documentation. Due to my more technical background and knowledge of programming, my duty was to design solutions to the more technical and complex problems that the team had. This was supported by writing comprehensive design documentation. Where it was necessary, during the development I would contribute to the development, adding in features and helping the other programmers on the team with light programming duties.
As the application grew, my role shifted to the design and implementation of the user interface. This meant working closely with the artist on the team who created a set of icons for me to use in the implementation. When thinking about how the user is going to interact with the application, I was always conscious of the accessibility of the application. As a result, I ensured that the text was easily readable, and that the application was easy to use for users of different levels of ability. Furthermore, the entire application was also translated by me into Polish, my native language, learning to use and familiarising myself with the localisation techniques in Unity.
Moreover, as the application was nearing its final stages, my focus was divided between quality assurance and using my technical knowledge to troubleshoot problems and fix them to ease the workload for the programmers on the team.
The project was managed largely using a team Trello board, later switching to Jira. The team employed a scrum project management methodology and our team met two times every week. Each week my team members would give out individual reviews and peer assessment scores to all other team members which were used for evaluation of everyone’s performances. The feedback received by my teammates was the highest in the team, showcasing my excellent ability to work in a team. This is reflective on the total number of hours logged on the project overall, which were the highest on my team compared to all my other team members showing my dedication to the overall quality of the product delivered to our client.
Watch the promotional video of the app below!
RGB Boy
June 2020
GameMaker
Design
Development
Procedural Level Generation
Testing
Pixel Art
2D Top-down Shooter
RGB Boy, developed solo in my second year of my undergraduate degree using GameMaker Studio 2, is an action-packed top-down shooter with procedurally generated dungeons, invoking nostalgic feelings with its pixelated graphics and retro audio design. It breaks up gameplay in between rounds by combining puzzle-based strategic factory building and RPG elements.
RGB Boy is a game created in my second year of university and it is the first bigger solo project that I completed at the university up to this point and therefore it was one where I had the most creative input on. The project uses original graphical assets created by me, which follow a pixel art aesthetic reminiscent of old school video games which I grew up playing but also an art style that is inspired by hit indie titles still found today, perhaps one that fans of similar games would expect to see.
RGB Boy was a lesson in creating and designing a game with procedural dungeons with an algorithm written in GameMaker’s GML programming language. I always enjoyed playing games with this mechanic and wanted to design a game that utilised it for the benefit of greater replayability and difficulty. Furthermore, the game is also packed with additional features all designed and implemented solo for example a factory strategy building incremental game mechanic and a more RPG character progression in the form of upgradable stats and purchasable weapons.
Watch the game trailer below!
Viceroy's Bounty
April 2019
UE4
Design
Team
UI
Sound
Music
Strategy Game
Contributed to the development of a strategy game in Unreal Engine 4 for my first year of my undergraduate degree. My role within the team of five was to contribute to the design of the game concept, and additionally to design and implement the user interface, all while working within C++ and the Unreal Engine blueprints system. Furthermore, my role in the team also involved sound design and composing the music in FL Studio which is used in the final version of the game.
My first big project at the University of Portsmouth was a tile-based strategy game inspired by games in the Civilization series. This was a team effort, and our team of five created a game worthy of being included in the university’s Graduate Showcase event, a big achievement for first year students.
This was a great way to learn how to be a key team player in a group of creatives, and I look back fondly on my creative input on the project, with the way I articulated my ideas clearly and used my technical knowledge to contribute to the implementation effort, with my greatest contribution being the user interface design and presentation. Furthermore, I proved to be an asset to my team as our game as the final product received very positive feedback on the sound and music design, all of which was created and implemented by me, which helped to elevate the quality of the final game and create an altogether a more complete package, something that was missing in similar projects from other teams on my course.