khaela
Hi! I'm Michaela Taweel, a junior game programmer based in Sydney. I just recently graduated from the Academy of Interactive Entertainment and am now looking for work in passionate and innovative studios.
I have a passion for creating fun and interesting games and a drive to polish projects
to the best of my ability. I enjoy tackling complex challenges and am interested in creating games in a wide variety of genres.
♥ Unity, OpenGL
♥ C#, C++, HTML, CSS
♥ Code Design
♥ 2D/3D Maths and Physics
♥ Artificial Intelligence
♥ Cross-platform Development
♥ VR Development
♥ Production teams
Qualifications:
♥ Advanced Diploma of Digital and Interactive Games, Computer Games and Programming Skills, Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) 2019-2020
♥ Certificate 3 in Information, Digital Media and Technology, Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) 2018
GRIMRED is a horror survival game based off the tale of Little Red Riding Hood.
The game is set in the depths of the woods where players play as Red, who has made a desperate deal with the Grim Reaper to keep her grandmother alive.
In exchange, Red must take on the task of helping Grim, but as she journeys through the woods to her grandmother's cottage, she comes to the realization of the true terms of the deal she has made.
Red's signature brooch lights her way, revealing dangerous enemies and hidden collectables. Along her journey, she can find resources to sustain herself, crafting material to upgrade her brooch,
and notes and artifacts that shed light on the story of the game.
This game was produced as a major project for uni and has been in production since July 2020. Produced by a group of six students at AIE Sydney, it is currently available to play even though it is
still undergoing improvements.
Frenzy Darts is a dart-throwing VR game designed for the Oculus Go. The goal of the game is to score as many points as you can by popping balloons before the timer runs out. Different balloons
reward different amounts of points. The smaller the balloon, the better the reward! Special green balloons act as powerups when hit, giving you either extra time or giving you a score multipler.
Once the game is over, you will be rewarded a special item. Reward items are given out based on what score ranking tier you land in, and if you collect certain sets of items, you can even unlock
trophies.
Created by a team of 5 students, this game was produced as a short 1 week group project for uni.
Coffee Run is a coffee themed, single-player endless runner! Players have the option to play in Quest mode,
where they have to collect a set amount of coffee beans to win; and in Freeplay mode, where they can run endlessly,
trying to beat their high score. Players can customize their game experience by unlocking outfits, accessories, and upgrading the effectiveness of powerups.
This game was produced in a three month time period by a group of five students at the Sydney AIE Campus.
We were presented with a clients brief, in which the game had to advertise their product through our game (this being a coffee company releasing a new coffee product).
Conscience Clash is an Angel vs Devil themed local co-op game of Tag!
Players must attempt to tag each other to win. The player who fills up their tag meter first wins.
The meter only starts to fill when a player is not tagged, and pauses once tagged.
This game was produced in a two day Game Jam by a group of five students at the Sydney AIE Campus.
Our theme was "Playing both sides". We took this quite literally with the Co-op feature,
but also played with the idea of going back and forth between good and bad conscience decisions (hence the Angel vs. Devil theme, and the tagging mechanic).
To demonstrate the capabilities of my physics engine, I created a simple game of pachinko. Both the physics engine and game were made in C++.
Features of the physics engine include:
• Dynamic rigidbodies
• Static rigidbodies
• Collision detection
• Realistic collision reactions
• Collision callback events
• An assortment of different physics materials
• Tags to sort out what objects collide with what
• Trigger colliders that don't cause physical reactions on collision
This 3D graphics engine is capable of rendering 3D models, 3D lighting, post-processing, and creating particle effects. The project was created in OpenGL
using C++.
Features of the graphics engine include:
• 3D models rendered with custom GLSL shaders
• Texture mapping (including normal mapping)
• 3D lighting (directional, point)
• Post-processing (edge detection, blur, greyscale)
• Particle effects
This real-time simulation demonstrates my own custom-made A* pathfinding algorithm (with a variety of heuristics algorithms) and FSM-driven AI behaviour. The project was made
entirely in C++.
To demonstrate the capabilities of the AI systems, I created a simple game where you can spawn in and destroy AI agents. Agents use A* pathfinding
(driven by user selected heuristics) to maneuver around the map and reach their objective. The agents use a Finite State Machine to determine their objective. If they have
high health, they will head to the center of the map; if they have low health, they will head to the nearest healing area; and if they are in a healing area, they will stay
still and wait until they are fully healed.
Heuristic algorithms in the simulation include:
• Manhattan
• Diagonal
• Euclidean
Created in C#, this local chatroom makes use of Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) to pass data between the client(s) and the server. Clients can send messages to the server, change their
username and change the color of their messages. If they are disconnected from the host server, they also have the option to attempt to reconnect.
Features:
• Server can host multiple clients
• Clients can send messages to the server
• Clients can change their usernames
• Clients can change their message colors
• Clients can attempt to reconnect to server if disconnected
This windows tool created in C# is capable of creating and editing waypoint paths. Paths can be easily created by clicking on the drawing board to add/remove points in the path. You can
save, export, and import paths as json files for use in other programs or for future editing.
Features:
• Add, remove, sort, and find waypoints in a path
• Preview path movement
• Save, export, and import path json files
• Add background image for scale reference
Custom math library created in C++.
Features:
• Vector classes for 2D and 3D vectors, including homogenous 3D vectors
• Methods that can translate, scale, normalize, and get the magnitude and dot product of vectors
• Matrix classes for 3D matrices, including homogenous 4D matrices
• Methods that can multiply, transform, transpose, and set up matrices as rotation matrices
• Casting operators and sub-script operators implented in all classes
• Methods for converting between binary and decimal numbers
• Methods for manipulating a bitfield, using bit shift operations
To demonstrate the capabilities of the math library, I created a simple game where players can control and move around tanks. A side feature of this game is a seperate helper application that
demonstrates Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) by communicating information between the applications.
A custom binary tree I created from scratch in C++. It is capable of inserting, removing, searching and finding items in a templated binary tree format.
Features:
• Templated and generic
• Insert elements
• Remove elements
• Search and find elements
A custom templated Double-Linked List that I created in C++.
Features:
• Fully templated and generic
• Push Front
• Push Back
• Insert After
• Pop Front
• Pop back
• Remove (removes all elements with the given value)
• Erase (removes the first element with given value)
• Clear
• Sort
• Search
This project demonstrates the use of HLSL shaders and post-processing in Unity.
Features:
• Gaussian blur post-processing
• Edge outline post-processing
• Cartoon-style shader
• Comic-style shader
• Rim lighting shader
• Transparent shader