Elliot is available for hire
Hire ElliotElliot Pjecha
Verified Expert in Engineering
Virtual Reality (VR) Developer
Location
Kansas City, MO, United States
Toptal Member Since
May 20, 2015
Elliot has been developing games for 12 years, almost entirely in Unity. He has done substantial work in extending Unity's functionality, building networking and application development frameworks within Unity, and robustly implementing traditional C# paradigms via Unity's user interface. Elliot is an articulate, effective communicator who prides himself on his creativity and flexibility throughout all phases of development and enjoys working on teams of all sizes.
Portfolio
Spatial
Unity, Photon Unity Networking (PUN), State Pattern, C#, .NET, LINQ...
Toptal
Unity, Photon Unity Networking (PUN), Oculus
F of X Development
MonoDevelop, C#, Unity, Software Development, Object-oriented Programming (OOP)
Experience
Availability
Part-time
Preferred Environment
Visual Studio Code (VS Code), GitHub, Slack, .NET, C#, LINQ, Unity, State Pattern
The most amazing...
...thing I've developed is the real-time social platform Spatial, which allows users on the web, mobile, AR, and VR to interact in fully realized 3D environments.
Work Experience
Architecture and Feature Engineer
2017 - 2022
Spatial
- Developed a real-time peer-to-peer social platform from the first line of code to full, cross-platform deployment over numerous release cycles.
- Architected and developed a flexible application framework capable of performant real-time cross-platform communication out of the box.
- Developed and implemented features and modules from conception through to deployment and post-deploy support.
- Helped to define and enforce high-quality code standards through exhaustive code reviews and codebase maintenance.
- Led small teams over the course of months in implementing extensive features which fundamentally changed the function of the existing application.
- Managed an engineering team during the extended absence of that team’s manager.
- Helped form and guide both the application roadmap and the company culture during high-volatility periods within the company.
- Concepted and developed entirely new UI/UX implementations for VR and AR platforms.
- Built tools and methods to be used by my fellow engineers, increasing their velocity and the reliability of their features.
- Implemented user permission tools without guidance or prompting, which went on to be the main source of recurring income for the company.
Technologies: Unity, Photon Unity Networking (PUN), State Pattern, C#, .NET, LINQ, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Cross-platform App Development, Slack, GitHub, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Software Development, Android, Microsoft Visual Studio, Oculus
Contract Software Developer
2015 - 2017
Toptal
- Entered into a variety of projects already in progress.
- Read and interpreted existing code bases in order to make stable improvements.
- Ran Unity3D projects through GitHub, Sourcetree, and Bitbucket.
- Structured and documented code in a clean, easy-to-interpret, easy-to-edit manner.
- Produced and translated textures, models, and animations into Unity-compatible formats.
- Worked individually and on teams of varying sizes on both full-stack projects and individual modules.
Technologies: Unity, Photon Unity Networking (PUN), Oculus
Lead Plugin Developer
2014 - 2017
F of X Development
- Formulated, designed, and developed Unity extensions and plugins for sale on the Unity Asset Store.
- Filled in major gaps in Unity's functionality, allowing for everything from in-editor delegate pointing and event subscription to debug visualization and Bezier curve-based pathing.
- Wrote extremely reusable modules and components in order to achieve quicker turnarounds and shorter development times in a C# environment.
- Increased Unity's usability and flexibility to allow for common C# design paradigms to be implemented via Unity's user interface.
- Extended Unity Editor functionality in order to make creating new, specific, and reusable tools quick and intuitive.
Technologies: MonoDevelop, C#, Unity, Software Development, Object-oriented Programming (OOP)
Lead Programmer
2010 - 2014
Bazillion Pictures, Inc.
- Designed, built, tested, and supported mobile and web-based games and applications.
- Aided in requirement gathering, initial layout, conception, and storyboarding.
- Created tradeshow experiences and performance art installments allowing free-form, intuitive user interaction with minimal instruction or oversight.
- Designed and implemented reusable, animated GUIs capable of cross-platform implementation and deployment.
- Created reusable Unity plugins for sale on the Unity asset store and for extensive use on company projects.
Technologies: MonoDevelop, Microsoft Kinect, Augmented Reality (AR), C#, Unity, Software Development, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Android
Experience
2010-2014 App Development Demo Reel
This is my interactive demo reel for the years 2010-2014. It contains several projects mentioned in this section, along with some others not yet documented. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have about any of these projects or ones like them!
Inferno DUO Augmented Reality App
I developed an augmented reality (AR) app for the agricultural company Arysta LifeScience. I had a hand in all parts of development and handled all direct programming myself. Technologies used include Unity3D, and the Vuforia augmented reality SDK.
Please refer to my 2010-2014 demo reel for a look at this and other applications I helped develop.
Please refer to my 2010-2014 demo reel for a look at this and other applications I helped develop.
Autodesk Digital STEAM Applied Mechanics App
On this project, I worked as the sole programmer in charge of all user interaction and GUI creation, as well as all testing and debugging. I also aided in the development of the app's look and feel and each individual game's concept. The application was developed for both web and mobile deployments with an emphasis on iPad.
Attack of the Zombie Sheep
A Kinect-based game used in a tradeshow to attract potential clients. The user would interact with the game using the Kinect's Point Cloud data, which enabled them to use any real-world implement they chose to fight off the zombie sheep. Technologies used include Unity3D and Microsoft Kinect SDK.
Quixotic's 'Stimulus' Performance
A fully interactive stage performance set to music. By tracking the dancer's motions, we were able to project an interactive digital overlay on to a semi-transparent fabric hung between the stage and the audience. After the performance, the public was invited to interact with the piece themselves. I developed all code and helped in the conceptualization of this piece. Technologies used include Unity3D and Microsoft Kinect SDK.
Bird Bounce
Bird Bounce was a mobile app I developed as part of Toptal's entrance exam. During a two-week period, I developed the game concept, designed all characters, UI, and animation, developed art assets, levels and enemy AI. This app used most of Unity's 2D capabilities, as well as Mecanim, Inkscape, and the GIMP image editor.
Skills
Languages
C#
Frameworks
Microsoft Kinect, Unity, .NET, Photon Unity Networking (PUN)
Libraries/APIs
LINQ
Tools
MonoDevelop, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, GitHub, Slack, Microsoft Visual Studio, Blender
Paradigms
Object-oriented Programming (OOP), State Pattern
Platforms
Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Oculus, Android
Other
Augmented Reality (AR), Software Development, Cross-platform App Development, Virtual Reality (VR)