Brett Tipul

After years of doing this, it's still a blast bringing characters to life. #Animator #GameDev #Unreal #UE5 #Art #Rig #Manny #AdvancedSkeleton #Skeleton #Animation #Maya #Bluesky #Reload

I've been playing #Wardogs and #ZeroCompany lately but I do miss my #gamedevelopment. I've been filling animation gaps with the cover mechanic for peeking, and blind fire behaviors. Still a #WIP but it feels great to #Animate again. #UE5 #Reload #GameDev #Unreal #Art #Bluesky #Maya #Manny #Skeleton

I started contract work as an Unreal Capture Artist for a global ad agency, haven't had time to work on my game but back at it. I started implementing more animations for the cover system and blind fire animations. #Unreal #GameDev #UE5 #Peek #Cover #Blindfire #Steam #Arcade #Art #Bluesky #IndieDev

Working on poses for the player to peek and blind fire while in cover. Need to animate them shooting but going to experiment with the animation layers in Unreal to make everything feel good between poses. #UnrealEngine #UE5 #Maya #Manny #AdvancedSkeleton #Rig #Animator #Pose #Art #Bluesky #Peek

After updating my #Asus bios to 3202, system is stable again to continue #Development. I added in a #Tron like scan towards the threat when the wave starts and a blind fire shooting mechanic. Hopefully soon ill start working on the players #Animations. #UE5 #GameDev #IndieDev #Arcade #Art #Bluesky

Those years in #AfterEffects helped make the UI feel alive. #Orbitron font has been chosen as the main font. #Unreal #Widgets #UE5 #GameDev #Art #Bluesky #Highschore #Arcade #Rank #MotionGraphics #VFX #UI #UserInterface #Artist #Animator #Shooter #VideoGames #Developer

Explosive Barrels are a definite Must Have. #UnrealEngine #UE5 #Art #Bluesky #GameDev #IndieDev #SoloStudio #Animator #Artist #Technical #Barrel #Explosive #Kaboom #Arcade #Shooter #FPS #physics #Steam

Been focusing on these waves to lock down the whole feel of the game. The Area Clear cards are updated, still need to track the kill cams better but overall I'm excited how the transitions are turning out. #Unreal #UE5 #GameDev #IndieDev #Arcade #Shooter #Camera #Art #Bluesky #Widget #UI #Solo

First minute #playthrough of my game. After a few tests and great feedback, I got a playable first minute in all its glory. Need to keep the player moving with #arcade #games like this. Sound effects are temporary. #Unreal #UE5 #GameDev #IndieDev #SoloStudio #Art #Bluesky #Animator #Artist #Indie

"On A Rail" - not to be confused with a Half-Life chapter but i made a little #minigame instead of walking to the next area to trigger next event, you play an actual On #Rail #Arcade sequence. More enemies left standing, more points get deducted. #Art #Unreal #UE5 #GameDev #Target #Shooter #Bluesky

Added in an "Area Cleared" card at the end of each wave, procedural camera whips but now i really want to make it a cinematic transition since the camera blends work. This opened a whole new world of #creativity that I can't wait to dive into. #UE5 #GameDev #Director #Camera #Art #Bluesky #Indie

New #Enemy Variant : #RiotShield. They do lethal hits, if you find a way to shoot them once they drop the #Shield and become regular enemies. The shield have health to trigger a #Stagger and expose the enemy, but be quick! #Unreal #UE5 #Indie #GameDev #Art #Arcade #Bluesky #Animation #SoloStudio

Got a #Maya License so today I blocked out animations for a new character variant : #RiotShield. The shield will have a health bar to shoot at and stagger the enemy to expose them to shoot, gotta be quick though ! #Animation #Blockout #Shield #Shoot #Peek #Stagger #Fire #Art #Animator #UE5 #Bluesky

Update on Enemy #AI & #Ragdoll. Enemies can now dive out of the way from grenades. Quick animation I did today in Maya and results are still hilarious. #Unreal #Grenade #UE5 #GameDev #IndieDev #Arcade #Dive #Evade #Staydown #Comedy #Maya #Animation #Rig #UnrealEngine #Bluesky #Art #Portfolio

Experimenting with #ragdoll #physics when the enemies are in motion. They get knocked down towards the direction they move to. Still need to make a "Get Up" animation but it's fun to shoot them while they're down. #Art #GameDev #IndieDev #UnrealEngine #Bluesky #Animation #Arcade #UE5 #Studio #Indie

After the first playtest, the AI needed some improvements. They rushed the player eventually which took you out of the arcade immersion. Now when you shoot them, they find cover and hide for a bit. #behaviortrees #Unreal #GameDev #IndieDev #UE5 #AI #NPC #Bluesky #Art #Animation #Reload #EQS

I exported my first build this morning in #Unreal after wrestling with Visual Studio versions. Definitely a milestone worth celebrating with my first little playtester who likes the #grenade key. #art #gamedev #playtest #ue5 #indie #indiedev #artist #videogames #diehard #virtuacop #bluesky

Object pooling deep-dive on PRECINCT ZERO 🔫 Every muzzle flash, blood splatter, shell casing & explosion is pulled from a pre-spawned pool instead of spawning at runtime — plus off-camera culling. I'm still exploring more ways to optimize. #gamedev #indiedev #UE5 #screenshotsaturday #art #bluesky

The henchmen showed up to work. Suits, attitude, and bad decisions. My solo arcade shooter is starting to feel like a real firefight. #indiegame #gamedev #UE5

Player can take damage from grenades if they're exposed now. I'm going to work on an alert indicator when there's an incoming "lethal" hit / projectile on the HUD next. #Grenade #Alert #UE5 #Unreal #GameDev #Arcade #Art #BlueSky #SoloDev #Shooter #VideoGames #Reload #TimeCrisis #verticalslice

I wanted to sketch again and plan out level design for my game. I need to close some gaps when choosing objectives in random order. Feels therapeutic especially since I'm back on the job market. #Art #sketch #games #design #drawing #pencil #figure #layout #level #map #gamedev #indiedev #bluesky

Weekend at Bernie's (1989) #gamedev #indiegame #WishlistWednesday

Bad news is I found out I'm about to be let go from my job, currently applying for new opportunities. www.brett-tipul.com is my portfolio. The Good news is I have a working vertical slice with my game. #VerticalSlice #Art #GameDev #UE5 #IndieDev #Gameover #Unreal #Arcade #VideoGames #Shooter

Tuned up the lethal hit system today. Peek out of cover too long and you've got under a second to slam back behind the wall before enemies punish the mistake. Feels mean. Feels right for a retro arcade shooter #gamedev #indiedev #UE5 #indiegame #madewithunreal #fps #retrogaming #Art

Took a break to play #Expedition33 and finally back at #GameDev. I started working on lethal hits to pop up randomly on all enemies. If you're not in cover these will trigger. Once this is done invite others to test it out. Interested? #Unreal #Art #IndeDev #UE5 #Tester #VideoGame #FPS #Arcade

Introducing quick mini game events and mini bosses like the Armored Vans that will spawn enemies if you don't taken them out in time. #UE5 #Arcade #VideoGame #Indie #IndieDev #SoloStudio #Maya #UnrealEngine #Unreal #Art #BlueSky #Physics #Explosion #Reload #Grenade #Movies #Action #Shooter #GameDev

Revisited the grenade deaths with #ragdoll #physics. Added angular impulses to randomize rotations on the blast. Had to throw in a #MichaelBay #Explosion reference and #SteveJablansky to top music off from #Transformers3 #Unreal #UE5 #Art #Boom #Grenade #GameDev #Indie #IndieDev #SoloDev #Bluesky

Quick video showing an objective completion / boss fight concept. It's tempting to add more art now as I progress. #Unreal #UE5 #EpicGames #Art #BlueSky #GameDev #IndieDev #SoloDev #Indie #Developer #Animator #Artist #3D #VideoGames #80s #ParkingGarage #Arcade #Shooter #HighScore #UnrealEngine

Lately I've been working on one #Objective which is to destroy the enemies "Weapons Cache". Here's a small playthrough. This is a good area to introduce #Grenades to the #Player. #UE5 #Unreal #GameDev #SoloDev #IndieDev #Reload #HighScore #Shoot #Shooter #Arcade #CoinUp

I wish knew about #Sequencer sooner. This is going to be a blast to work with. #Unreal #UE5 #EpicGames #Art #BlueSky #GameDev #IndieDev #SoloDev #Indie #Developer #Animator #Artist #3D #VideoGames #80s #DieHard #ParkingGarage #Arcade #Shooter #HighScore #TimeCrisis #VirtuaCop #UnrealEngine

#ResisentEvil9 on the #Switch2 is incredible. #re9 #requiem

It's an absolute shame #Firefly TV show was cancelled after one season. The show still holds up to any modern TV / Sci Fi series.

#Navigation points were next to learn. I also did a few more artwork on the elevator spawns with the green light to trigger enemy spawns. #VerticalSlice is nearly complete. #Art #DigitalArt #Artist #Animation #MotionGraphics #CharacterAnimation #BlueSkyArt #GameDev #Unreal #UE5 #IndieDev #SoloDev

I started working on a #verticalslice. You take on a few waves before reaching an objective. Shoot a keypad to gain access and trigger story cutscene. 3 shootable objective panels will pop up for the player to choose / shoot #UE5 #Art #bluesky #GameDev #IndieDev #Animator #followme #Arist #wip

Elevator spawners are working now during an enemy wave. I can customize how many enemies can spawn during phases and will randomize every time you play. #Spawn #Elevator #Shooter #Arcade #Unreal #UE5 #Bluesky #Art #Animation #Reload #GameDev #IndieDev #Action #VirtuaCop #TimeCrisis #Maya #Aiming

#Score #Points working great so far. I also added in camera shake from enemies hit locations for some extra #Immersion. This could also factor in with #Difficulty settings. #Bluesky #Art #GameDev #Unreal #UE5 #HighScore #VideoGames #Arcade #Nostalgic #ActionMovie #DieHard #Shootout #Grenade #Reload

Started working on more #UI #Interface animations. I got a #Score ticker working like a #BulletSponge. Anything you shoot and is #destructible will populate the score just like in a classic #Arcade #Shooter. #Unreal #GameDev #IndieDev #UE5 #Art #SoloDev #HighScore #VideoGame #Developer #Animation

Little help with #AfterEffects to show the widgets rendering behind the grenade to stand out more. Still tweaking what type of alert widget animation this shoot be when a #grenade is thrown at the player. #UE5 #UnrealEngine #GameDev #IndieDev #Art #BlueSky #Arcade #PlayStation #Develop #Shooter

Enemies now #Shoot and throw #Grenades at the player. You can also shoot them out of the air as you should in a typical #Arcade #Shooter. The target widgets are temporary for now. Should the grenades explode when shot at? #Unreal #GameDev #Indie #Art #Bluesky #UE5 #Projectile #Mechanic #Feature

Here's a quick #Grenadier #Animation in #Maya took me an hour to block out. This new #Enemy type will throw more than just #Grenades down the road like Molotov's or Knives that the player can shoot at once thrown just in an #ArcadeGame. #UE5 #Autodesk #Manny #Projectile #Throw #BlueSky #Art #GameDev

First look after a year of learning UE5 - bringing back the arcade shooter glory days! 🎮 This is my homage to Virtua Cop and Time Crisis. I fed those arcade cabinets way too many quarters growing up. #gamedev #indiedev #unrealengine #arcadegames #madewithunreal #wip #retrogaming #gaming #BlueSky#Art

Enemies are peeking left & right with #reload #animations. I need to look at the IK Foot Trace since they are hovering above the concrete slab when #Peeking. I also want to add offsets for the arms to aim at the player eventually but it's working. #UE5 #GameDev #IndieDev #Art #BlueSky #Arcade

A year ago I started learning #UnrealEngine with an idea for a game influenced by 80s and 90s action movies. It's definitely been a journey to learn and create in this engine. More to share in 2026. #Art #Arcade #Shooter #reload #UE5 #Gamedev #IndieDev #Animator #Maya #Bluesky #Deadzone #Target #car

I got the Enemy Peeking logic working. I'm excited how this looks because as an #Animator, I can make a bunch of random peek behaviors and #Unreal can choose a new montage instead of the same #Peek #Animation over. #UE5 #GameDev #Arcade #Shooter #ActionMovie #DieHard #VirtuaCop #TimeCrisis #Art

Started working on the Enemy Peek and Shoot. #BehaviorTree does not like multiple montages I learned so I'm using Animation Composites. I'll add notifies down the road but this opens up to have multiple variations of peeking animations and logic. #Peek #Unreal #UE5 #Aim #GameDev #Art #BlueSky #Shoot

Started looking into movable objects on #splines. I want to get guys spawning out from the windows shooting at you eventually since this is my main focus now. #BabySteps #art #ShootOut #UnrealEngine #UE5 #GameDev #Bluesky #VideoGames #Photography #Cinematography #followme #fiction #digitalart #

More #Optimization. Learned a lot of how incredible this technique is absolutely needed. #Performance is still my priority. I also redid the #Car #Explosion with matching fire color from 80's #Action #Movies. #UE5 #Unreal #UnrealEngine #GameDev #IndieDev #Art #Bluesky #VideoGames #Physics

#screenShotSaturday #Art #GameDev #UnrealEngine #UE5 #Epic

#HappyThanksgiving! I've been busy learning #optimization. I've pooled a ton of #Niagara #Particles, got rid of collision boxes on #Tracers and did #Camera culling on all particles. #Performance is getting better. Also #Puddles on the sprinklers. #BlueSky #Development #UE5 #GameDev #IndieDev #Art

I keep testing the hell out of this system and I still find input gaps to plug so nothing breaks. I added a focus lerp on the pistol while #Reloading to give more immersion while you're #peeking around the pillar. #GameDev #IndieDev #Development #Art #BlueSky #VideoGames #HighScore #Unreal #UE5