Over the course of 8 weeks, I lived in Kawasaki, Kanagawa and worked on two major projects for Kaga Studios in Tokyo, Japan.

Do So Shin Smash (Gameplay Prototype)

• Worked with the studio director to design and prototype a simple beat-em-up level featuring one character from the studio’s upcoming animated film.
• Set up and used the Sony Mocopi 6-point mocap set to record animation data performed by a stunt actor, imported into Unreal for prototyping custom ultimate moves.
• Became incredibly familiar with many Unreal-specific features, including AnimationGraph, BehaviorTrees, and GeometryCollections
• Continuing to polish work in preparation for presentation at Tokyo Comic-Con (December 2026).

Test Set Level

Playground Level - Collision

Sony Mocapi Recording

Playground Level - Hoards

Animation Retargeting / Art Pipeline Development

• Worked with modelers, animators, and riggers to develop a smooth pipeline for characters to go from concept to playable in-engine.
• Debug Blender export / Unreal import issues (rotation problems, bone disfiguration, skeleton matching, etc)
• Implemented foot IK from Unreal’s default solver and various YouTube videos
• Utilized Unreal’s Gameplay Animation Sample to retarget animations for the studio’s four major characters, as a demo for future company investments.

Initial AnimGraph Test

Foot IK