// game developer

Juan Contreras

Game Programmer & Software Developer

I build gameplay, AI, animation, and save systems in C++ and C# - across Unreal Engine 5, Unity, and a custom Vulkan stack. Four team games and a playable arcade shooter behind me; an engineer's process underneath all of it.

B.S. Game Development - Full Sail University, Valedictorian (2026)
B.S. Industrial & Systems Engineering - University of Michigan-Dearborn (2023)
Web Development & IT Manager - The Wooden Stone, LLC (2025-present)

View my games Résumé Get in touch

// what I work with

Tools & systems

Languages

C++ (primary), C#, TypeScript / JavaScript, SQL, Python, HTML/CSS

Engines & graphics

Unreal Engine 5 (C++), Unity, Vulkan API (Gateware), EnTT ECS, wxWidgets

Game systems

Enemy AI & behavior trees, player combat & movement, save/load & persistence, animation systems, inventory & game state, UI/menus

CS foundations

Data structures & algorithms, memory management / RAII, operating systems, computer architecture, networking, databases

Web & backend

Node.js / Express, REST APIs, MySQL, production deployment - two live business sites

Process

Git (documented branching strategies), Jira & Scrum, unit testing, code reviews, root-cause debugging

// game development

Games

Four team games across three engines - including a custom C++/Vulkan stack with no engine at all. Each breakdown covers exactly which systems I built, verified against the git history.

Playable build

Nutty Pursuit

C++ · Vulkan (Gateware) · EnTT ECS

Oct 2025 · 5-person team · top contributor (72 of 147 commits)

Robotron-inspired 2.5D arena shooter built from scratch - no commercial engine
8-directional player combat, all three enemy AI archetypes, wave spawning
Procedural animation system and combo scoring, all data-driven from config
Wrote the team’s Git branching workflow; every sprint ended in a packaged, demo-ready build

C++VulkanECSEnemy AI

Full breakdown → Code available on request

In development

Fluxuate

Unreal Engine 5.4 · C++ · Perforce

Dec 2025 - Feb 2026 · 3 programmers · Engine/UI programmer

3D hack-and-slash where the player turns UE5 physics against enemies
3-slot save system, game-state flow, and the full menu/UI framework
Climbing via component reparenting, weapon animations, health/stamina bars
Diagnosed and fixed an enemy-persistence save bug across successive builds

UE5C++Save systemsUI

Full breakdown → Code available on request

Vertical slice

Earth Untamed

Unity 6 · C# · URP

Jan - Feb 2026 · 5-person capstone team · weapons, audio, UI, movement

Survival horror on a flooded Earth - manage health, stamina, and sanity
Interface-driven weapon system with ScriptableObject data + editor tooling
Animation-event hit detection so swings land when they visually connect
Player audio system synced to UI state; climbing and viewmodel overhauls

Unity 6C#ScriptableObjectsAudio

Full breakdown → Code available on request

Team project

Project Galaxy (Orbit Unknown)

Unity 2022.3 · C# · NavMesh

Dec 2024 - Jan 2025 · 5-person Scrum team · #1 committer (141 of 400)

3D sci-fi FPS carried through Alpha, Beta, and QA sprints in four weeks
Enemy AI hierarchy on an abstract base - including a stun enemy that steals from your inventory
Boss abilities behind an interface; ScriptableObject inventory with a singleton manager
JSON save/load with editor-generated GUIDs so scene state survives restarts

UnityC#Enemy AIPersistence

Full breakdown → GitHub

more projects

Solo Arcade Project (P&P IV)

C++ · Vulkan (Gateware) · EnTT

Solo Asteroids-style arena game - 105 of 109 commits are mine (rest is course scaffolding)
OBB collision math and recursive asteroid shatter, data-driven design

C++VulkanSolo

FPS Team Project (P&P II)

Unity · C#

First team FPS with the crew that went on to build Project Galaxy (~100 commits)
Enemy AI with class inheritance, orb-capture objective mechanic, game manager

UnityC#Team GitHub

END2508 - UE5 Combat Prototype

Unreal Engine 5 · C++

Component-based character architecture: base class inheritance + health component
Weapon system with child actors, event-driven design, animation blueprint integration

UE5C++Components

Calculator - Desktop App

C++ · wxWidgets

Singleton core processor and Factory Method across 10+ math functions
Shunting Yard expression parsing; validated with unit tests across 50+ cases

C++Design patternsTesting

Conway's Game of Life

C++ · wxWidgets

Grid sizes to 100×100, color themes, seeded randomization, HUD
Resolved 15+ rendering and input bugs through systematic debugging

C++GUIDebugging

Systems & CS Coursework

C++ · SQL · MIPS · MATLAB

Console chat server/client in C++; AI path-planning project
Data structures from scratch (BSTs, hash tables, Huffman), MySQL/EER design, MIPS assembly

NetworkingAlgorithmsDatabases

// about

Hi, I'm Juan

I'm a game programmer and software developer in Detroit with two engineering degrees and a habit of owning problems end to end. I came to games from industrial & systems engineering - processes, measurement, continuous improvement - and that shows up in how I build software: documented Git workflows, Jira epics with acceptance criteria, changelogs, and tests.

At Full Sail I graduated valedictorian in Game Development (computer science focus), where the program ran like a studio: five-person Scrum teams, sprint deadlines, and code that had to survive QA. I've built C++ combat and AI systems on a custom Vulkan stack, gameplay and state-management systems in Unity, and save/UI systems in Unreal Engine 5 - on top of coursework spanning data structures, operating systems, computer architecture, networks, databases, and AI.

By day I'm the Web Development & IT Manager at The Wooden Stone, a Michigan manufacturer, where I built and launched two production websites and I'm the technical point of contact when anything breaks - web, infrastructure, or internal tooling. Production responsibility teaches you what "done" really means.

Education

B.S., Game Development (Computer Science)

Full Sail University - March 2026

Valedictorian · 3.76 GPA · coursework from data structures and OS to graphics, networks, databases, and AI

B.S., Industrial & Systems Engineering

University of Michigan-Dearborn - April 2023

Six Sigma & statistical process improvement, simulation, human factors, HCI for UI/UX design

Experience

Web Development & IT Manager - The Wooden Stone, LLC

Clinton Township, MI (manufacturing) · March 2025 - present

Technical point of contact: diagnosis, root-cause analysis, and fixes across websites, infrastructure, and internal tooling
Architected and launched two production full-stack sites (Node.js/Express, Helmet.js, Postmark REST API) - 12+ responsive pages
Automation cutting manual data entry ~30%; reliability infrastructure (NAS, RAID 1, UPS-triggered safe shutdown)

How I work

Documented Git branching strategies my teams actually followed - I wrote the workflow doc on Nutty Pursuit
Jira epics with story points and acceptance criteria; Scrum through Alpha, Beta, and QA sprints
Unit testing (50+ case suites), code reviews, and keep-a-changelog versioning
Root-cause debugging as a discipline - every case study on this site includes a real bug story

// contact

Let's build something

Looking for a game programmer or a software developer who owns problems end to end? I'd love to hear about it - based in Detroit, Michigan, open to relocation and remote.

juan@codejuan.com LinkedIn GitHub Résumé (PDF)