Malignant
Technical VFX Artist (Freelance) · Client: Buzzkill Interactive · 10/2025 - 5/2026
My Contribution
Combat & weapon VFX (SMG muzzle flashes, recoil integration, projectile hits)
Blood simulation & Niagara optimization (LiquiGen flipbooks, 0.1s hit throttling)
UMG & screen FX (mutagen syringe HUD, radial cooldowns, low-health overlays)
Environment VFX & level dressing (dynamic fires, burning debris, localized lighting)
Technical Notes
LiquiGen fluid blood simulations exported as optimized sprite sheets and flipbooks into UE5
Blueprint rate-limiting logic (0.1s cooldown throttling) to mitigate frame hitching during automatic weapon fire
Dynamic UMG HUD widgets and fullscreen low-health post-process overlays
Selected Breakdown
In-Engine Profiling & Live Combat (UE5 PIE)
Live Play-In-Editor profiling against sewer mutant hordes (AIC_SewerMutant) using STATGROUP_game. Monitored draw calls (574), primitive counts (2852k), and tick times; maintained 40+ FPS in the captured heavy-combat test scenario.
Environment Fire & Level Dressing (L_Town1)
Authored environment fire emitters, floating paper debris, and ember particles in L_Town1 (Daybreak town) within Unreal Engine 5. Tuned dynamic point lights to illuminate dark streets without blowing out shadow contrast.
Blood Splatter Fluid Simulation
Simulated high-velocity blood splatter trajectories using LiquiGen (JangaFX). Generated multi-angle flipbook sprite sheets for in-engine Niagara burst emitters.
Mutagen Syringe UMG & Screen Overlay
Engineered the core WBP_ActiveSyringe widget blueprint with a stylized ink-brush health bar and mutagen gauge. Added dynamic full-screen red vein overlay shaders that trigger when health drops or when mutant powers activate.
Mutation Skill Cooldowns & Overlays
Designed WBP_InactiveSyringes for mutant ability states (Boneblades, Abomination, Tox). Implemented material-driven radial fill meters to communicate cooldown progress clearly during fast-paced encounters.
Weapon VFX & Muzzle Flash Logic
Blueprint logic in BP_SMG controlling dual-side muzzle flash point lights with a 0.02s auto-cutoff timer, weapon recoil integration, and randomized impact VFX.
Niagara Blood Hit Rate-Limiting
Performance optimization gate for bullet impact blood VFX. Uses a 0.1s timed boolean flag to throttle particle system spawns during automatic weapon fire, preventing particle flooding while spawning 30-second persistent blood decals (MI_BloodDecal).
Role
Technical VFX Artist (Freelance)
Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Platform
PC (Steam)
Client
Buzzkill Interactive
Production Credit: Buzzkill Interactive / Upwork
Steam Store