About me
Hi! My name is Kacper Szelest. I am a 21-year-old aspiring game developer passionate about game design and music production, with a drive to create immersive game experiences through sound, story and intuitive mechanics.
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Born in Poland but raised in the UK I bounced between both countries throughout my childhood. Whilst I didn't grow up in Poland, I carried the culture with me throughout my life.
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Outside of gaming and game development, my hobbies consist of Basketball, Music production, Gym/exercise and Cooking. I also really like to travel, with a special love for Japan.
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My most recent achievement is that I am an IG 50 Design/Narrative Winner! I'll go into detail later on this page.
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Why games?
Gaming has always been a lifelong hobby. Ever since I played Smarties Meltdown on the PlayStation 2 as a 4-year-old, I fell in love with gaming. I love a wide array of genres like FPS games, RPGs, Hardcore survival, Competitive multiplayer and more.​ I have always been a creative person and ever since I was a kid I desired to make a game experience that moved the player and created a lasting impact on them.
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To pursue my goal, I enrolled in college and took the course Creative Digital Technologies, in which I studied how to make games and game art. We studied how to identify and capture an audience, creating a product that would appeal to them. We made a few very very rudimentary games and some animations. Ever since learning the basics of game development, I was hungry to learn and make more, leading me to university.
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I would then apply and attend Falmouth University to study Games Development: Writing, where I learnt how to craft stories and characters that invoke emotion out of the player. Throughout the years at Falmouth, I would extend my skills into Music/Sound and more importantly Game Design. With the music, I would learn how to compose expressive music tracks that would, in turn, affect the player's game experience. With game design, I would focus primarily on system and gameplay design, discovering the best way to find the most engaging and effective ways of creating a pleasurable experience for the target audience. (Click here to view my music if you want to see what I can do!) (click here for my writing projects!)
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After graduating with a high 2:1, I am currently focusing on finding a job in the industry as a game designer, whilst working on some personal projects between finding a job placement and my part-time bartender work.​
IG 50 Award!
The IG 50 is a yearly award for the most employable unemployed game developers. It's to help people from low-income, working class backgrounds get a fair shot at a chance in the game industry, from graduates to industry changers or even bedroom game devs.
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The award, which is sponsored by playground games, is based on each candidate's CV and portfolio, with the best of the best making it into one of their 6 categories, with me winning the Design/Narrative category.
I am very proud of winning this award, as it proves to myself I have what it takes to make it in the games industry. All my work and skills are at a professional level which, paired with my drive and hunger, proves I am a valuable asset to any studio looking for fresh new talent.
If you're interested with Into games, the other award winners, then hit this link to check out the IG 50 website.
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My skills
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Agile - Throughout my time at Falmouth, we practised agile and used it in all our game projects.
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Scrum - I understand the concept and uses of scrum and have acted as the scrum master for all my projects.​
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Desire to learn - I am eager to find new methods of completing my tasks to a higher quality and with better efficiency.
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Team worker - I can professionally collaborate with my peers whilst building relations to conclude our collaborative project.
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Stress resistant - I can perform effectively in a demanding environment without a quality loss to my work.
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Experienced in Unreal Engine with basic C++ knowledge.
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Strong Proficiency in creating prototypes of game mechanics and loops through the use of blueprints.
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Adept with production tools, such as Trello, HacknPlan and GitHub.
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Proficient with spreadsheet software such as Exel and Google Spreadsheets.
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​Confident with the use of design tools such as machinations and Draw.io.
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Strong understanding of player-character interactions based on academic research.
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Able to create innovative and unique characters and storylines, through the use of idea generation techniques.
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​Able to create an industry-standard quality game script detailing dialogue, player actions and game states
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Proficient use of music production software such as FLStudio, with a detailed understanding of the effects of music in video games through academic research.