About Me

Who?

I'm Riikka Kilpeläinen, a dev with experience and interest in game graphics, programming and production, all things games. Worked as a producer, an art lead and a VR-programmer. I also happen to be the local seamstress and a hardcore naptime enthusiastic.

Hobbies

I enjoy various types of games, that have shorter sessions or gameplay that does not need your constant attention. Overwatch, Prison Architect, Last of Us and Minecraft are titles I hold close to heart, each for their own reasons.

Outside of gaming, I enjoy tinkering around with my aquariums, sewing and learning about 3D-graphics. Game jams give me life and allow me to fully exercise my jack-of-all-trades -muscles and love for prototyping. It's not unheard of to find me at networking events, so hit me up if you happen to see me!

Contact

Feel free to contact me on LinkedIn and check out my projects at ArtStation, Sketchfab and Itch.io.

Games

Here are my published titles and some other accomplishments. I have mostly worked in lead positions, be it as a producer or as an art lead. On all of the project that I've worked on, I've done some programming and/or work in-engine. As an artist I enjoy implementing my assets and as an lead I encourage my fellow artists to do the same. Version control is also close to my heart, and I always use version control in my projects whether I'm working in a team or alone.

JANITOR BLEEDS (Demo: 2020)

A PSX-esque first person horror game. Working as a producer/technical artist. The game is still in development, a demo version was published on Steam and itch.io on Q1 2020.



Turn-based VR strategy with time manipulation (2020)

WIP A VR-prototype for MeKiwi Oy. The prototype included 1st person shooter mechanics with time manipulation in a turn-based setting. This was my first project working as a full-time programmer and at first I was afraid If I had chewn off more than I could handle! But getting a prototype working, that is descpribed with words like VR, time manipulation, multiplayer, FPS and strategy, was as satisfying as programming gets! I've done some Unity and VR development before, but I learnt much about things such as events, state machines and good practices. The first week of production was used on learning about SOLID-principles and general programming practices, which proved to be very valuable the further the development went. Total production time was around three to four months and I was the only programmer.



Korpus: Buried Over the Black Soil (2019)

Production of Korpus: Buried Over the Black Soil started in January 2019 and was launched in early January 2020. I was the art lead and occasionally did some bugfixing and special effects on top of 3D assets and managing the art team. The art team has had up to 6 people at a time and we've had people joining and moving on to other projects, so managing each person's workload was quite the challenge. Published on Steam and Itch.io.



Santa's Calendar Gift Throw (2018)

I worked as the lead artist in the android mobile game Santa's Calendar Gift Throw. I coordinated the work of our four-person team of artists, made backgrounds, other in-game sprites, UI-assets and UI-design. The game was made on UE4 and I made all the in-engine particle effects and animations. Published on Google Play.



Sabreurs - A Noble Duel (2018)

Sabreurs - A Noble Duel was our first game on Steam. Our team had a total of seven people and I handled the production tasks like scheduling, working with our publisher Kajak Games and team management. I also handled the marketing which included handling our Twitter account, contacting influencers, updating the devlog and handling the production of physical promotional assets. VFX and shaders were also my responsibility in this project. Published on Steam.



Panic! At The Kitchen (09/2018)

Panic! At The Kitchen was a game made in two weeks for the International Game Concept Challenge with international teams set by the organizers. The game is a 4-player local multiplayer with a heavy emphasis on player communication. Our team had a total of six people. Due to us having only one programmer, I also did some programming like the level randomization, shaders and worked with Unity's NavMesh. VFX, implementing the assets and making colliders was my responsibility. Our team won the challenge, due to the most market potential and refreshing take on the communication between players.



Skills

My strongest skill is my ability to keep the project under control with good communication skills and level-headedness. I'm a flexible worker, but most often I've been either a producer or an art lead. I enjoy learning about 3D-graphics, and I would descpribe myself as an artist if I had to pick a label. That is, if Unity-dev-generalist or art-lead are not acceptable labels. Be it the whole team or the art department, I feel like I'm responsible for everyone's peace of mind they're hard at work. When the times are hectic, I enjoy getting my hands dirty and lifting some of the workload off of the team. Be it importing assets, prototyping or helping out with marketing, I'm more than happy to jump in and do my part.

Software and tools

Through previous and current education and hobbies, I've become familiar with multiple sofware ranging from video editing to spreadsheets and version control. My go-to method for project management: scrumban.

Development

  • Unit (3D, 2D)
  • C#, shaders (HLSL, Shader Graph)
  • Version control (Git)

Team management

  • HacknPlan, Jira
  • Agile methods and tools (kanban, scrum)

Documentation

  • Google Sheets/Slides/Docs/Forms
  • Microsoft Office software, Word, PowerPoint, Excel

Graphics

  • Blender
  • Substance Painter
  • Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator

Social media, publishing and analytics

  • Facebook, Twitter
  • Steam, itch.io
  • Google Analytics

Misc

  • Audacity
  • Sony Vegas

Experience

Project Manager & VR/AR Developer - MeKiwi Oy

12/2020 - present

Working as a project manager on B2B VR/AR productions. Developing VR/AR (Oculus Quest), PC and android games with Unity.


Project Worker - Online courses, KUAS

09/2020 - 01/2021

Creating online courses. Courses included topics such as game development (production and design), python, IoT, cybersecurity, and machine learning.


VR-developer - MeKiwi Oy

03/2020 - 09/2020

Developing VR-prototypes as an intern. Unity programming. Prototypes include a programmer simulator, shooter with time manipulation and an action horror game.


Board Member - Kajak Games Co-Op

05/2019 - 01/2021

Keeping the vision of Kajak Games clear along with other board members and the chairman. Guiding the operative team and taking a part in the decisions made by the board.


Coach - Game Programming Intensive Course, KUAS

03/06/2018 - 07/06/2019

Keeping the vision of Kajak Games clear along with other board members and the chairman. Guiding the operative team and taking a part in the decisions made by the board.


Kajak Art team lead - Kajak Games Co-Op

12/2018 - 05/2019

During my time as the art lead, the team produced assets for the Unity Asset Store. It was my job to organize team meetings, keep the scope in check and handle the contracts with Kajak Games. Created and published an asset pack for Unity Asset Store.


Producer/Designer club organizer - KUAS

09/2018 - 05/2019

I'm one of the club organizers that ran ProduSigner club at KUAS during my second year. We held weekly lectures/workshops where we taught the freshmen about game production and design. We also organized the appearance of guest speakers who were either older students or industry professionals. The subjects taught varied from team management, publishing your first game to basic of different agile methods.


Partnership Manager- Northern Game Summit

12/2017 - 05/2018

As a partnership manager, my job included things like contacting potential partners, handling partnership negotiations and ordering of the staff uniforms. I learned a lot about running a large event and got to visit other big game events like Nordic Game and Pocket Gamer London.


Education

Kajaani University of Applied Sciences - BBA, Information Technology
(2017-2020)


Vocational College Lappia - Product Design and Manufacture, Crafts and Design
(2014-2017)