Hey! Look! Listen!

I'm Akshay Bharadhwaj.


Here's a bit about myself, I love video games and I love learning new skills. I recently tried to BMX and lost two teeth, so I decided to stick to what I do best which is building games and experiences. I code, I do pixel art and graphic design, build levels and design systems. Jack of All Trades isn't exacly how I'd like to describe myself but that's the closest to what I can be called. Currently, I'm trying to pick up Shaders/HLSL because you can do cool and fun things with it and I want to do cool and fun things!

Work Experience

Columbia University - Game Research Lab

June 2023 - Present
Game Programmer

  • Built the gameplay and mechanics for the mini-games
    in Unity 3D.
  • Prototyped gameplay ideas and mechanics to test if they
    aligned with the project's requirements.
  • Wrote custom physics behaviours for projectile movement.
  • Wrote modular code that allowed for faster prototyping.

New York University

Sept 2022 - May 2023
Esports Athlete

  • Hero Pool : Raze, Neon, Fade, Sage, Skye, Brim
  • Gained insight into level design as not just a tool to
    guide players and push narrative but as a gameplay system
    that allows for strategy which requires regular balancing
    and tuning.
  • Understood player-player interactions and strategies
    and counter strategies that are dependant on the current
    maps in competitive play and how the meta in each map
    changes based on hero nerfs or buffs.
  • Researched map layouts and studied existing strategies
    to formulate new strategies or rework existig ones to
    fit the team's playstyle.

New York University

Sept 2022 - Dec 2022
Teaching Assistant

  • Supervising and supporting in class
  • Grading and Attendance
  • Helped with Processing and Gamemaker Studio 2

Warhorse Innovations Pvt. Ltd

June 2019 - Jan 2021
Game Designer, Graphic Designer & Teacher

  • Designed classroom content which used Dungeons
    and Dragons-like gameplay and systems for a
    better learning experience.
  • Worked on balancing in-class progression, levelling up systems,
    power-ups and economy.
  • Built a power-ups system that incentivised learners.
  • Created a syllabus, gameplay and campaign for a science
    course dubbed "Art of Science".
  • Worked on deliverables for class and designed
    social media posts, advertisements and assets
    for videos.

Ankor

June 2018 - December 2018
Head of Content & Design

  • Proofread content which went on the
    apps and websites developed by Ankor.
  • Developed wireframes and designs according to client's needs
  • Worked on deliverables for clients and designed
    social media posts and advertisements as per
    client's requirements.

Education

New York University - Tisch School of the Arts
2021 - Present

MFA in Game Design

Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College
2016 - 2019

B.Sc Physics

Skills

Game Design

Rapid Prototyping,Gameplay and Systems Design, AI Design, Combat Design,
Game Balance and Tuning, Level Design and UI/UX Design

Programming/Scripting

C#, C/C++, Lua, GLSL/HLSL, Shader Lab, Game Programming Design Patterns,
Data Structures and Algorithms, Git

Game Engines

Unity, Unreal Engine 5, Gamemaker Studio 2, Source2 Engine, Pico-8

Math

Linear Algebra, 3D Geometry, Calculus, Trignometery, Probability

3D Modeling & Texturing

AutoDesk Maya, Substance Painter, Substance Designer, Blender,
MagicaVoxel

Design

Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premier Pro, Adobe XD,
Figma, Aseprite, Krita

Organization

GitHub, Miro, Trello, Notion