Tyler Koa
VFX Artist
I'm a current Games student at the University of Utah with ambition to learn and pursue what I love, gaming. Expected graduation May 2028. Currently looking for all types of work and creative projects to gain more experience and improve my skill set.
Showcase Reel
Team Projects
VFX
Over the past two years, I have had many wonderful opportunities to collaborate, connect, and learn with others
I'm constantly pursuing my passion by refining my craft to build immersive effects.
[email protected]
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Beniprawna: Krill or be Krilled
My responsibilities were to create a cozy Japanese inspired restaurant as well as satisfying eating vfx for the customers.
My role: 3D Art + Texturing + VFX
Team size: 8
Project Time: 1 Week
(Unity - Maya - Substance Painter)
Environment
Process: Before any modeling began, I started my planning process. Finding and collecting references for stylistic choices and props I would like to include into the scene.Texture Style: For this project I decided to create a hand simple hand drawn stylized look for all the props to add a cartoonish aesthetic to match the players hands and other characters.Note: 3D modeled all assets except for plates and cups. I textured everything in the scene except for the orange snake art work
Consumption VFX
Project: Beniprawna: Krill or be KrilledDescription: Designed stylized eating effects to provide player feedback.Assets: Modeled star, and confetti paper meshes in Maya to create more depth. Textures created in Photoshop.Focus: Prioritized readability and timing to ensure player actions felt responsive and satisfying.
(Unity’s Particle System - Unity Shader Graph - Maya)
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Toy Racing!
Collaborated with classmates to create time trial racing game.
My role: UI + UE Blueprints + Car
UE Bleuprints: Drifting car with speed boosts, Lap time tracker, Garage with customizable car, Waving flags speed scale based on speed
Teamsize: 8
Project Time: 5 Weeks
(Unreal - Maya - Photoshop - Perforce)
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FishSlap!
Role: Solo Developer (Design, Art, AI-Assisted Scripting)Key Achievements:
Rapid Prototyping: Designed and delivered a fully playable game prototype in exactly 7 days.Asset Creation: Produced 100% of the visual assets, including all 2D art, 3D models, and textures.Game Mechanics: Developed a complete fishing loop featuring distinct fish varieties, 4 rarity tiers, and a player-driven fusion/upgrade system.Live Playtesting: Successfully pitched the game and orchestrated a 10-player concurrent live test to gather actionable user feedback.
(Roblox Studio - Maya - Photoshop)
Ice Tornado
Techniques Used:
Tornado Model: Created custom model with non-uniform vertices to create interesting silhouette will spinning (Image Right)
Tornado Shader: Used moving radial noise, combined with moving swirl noise to create the tornado shader. In the VFX graph I used three layers of this tornado to create more depth. (Image Right)
Snowflakes: Used texture sheet to spawn different types of snowflakes with random color for uniqueness. Velocity from Direction and Speed (Spherical) with a random integer to pull the snowflakes to a random point within the entire height of the tornado. (Image Left)
(Unity Shader Graph, Unity VFX Graph - Maya - Photoshop)
Consumption VFX
Project: Beniprawna: Krill or be KrilledDescription: Designed stylized eating effects to provide player feedback.Assets: Modeled star, and confetti paper meshes in Maya to create more depth. Textures created in Photoshop.Focus: Prioritized readability and timing to ensure player actions felt responsive and satisfying.
(Unity’s Particle System - Unity Shader Graph - Maya)
UFO Tower Explosion
Academic VFX Study (Transformers Tactical Area)
Description: I was tasked with creating two custom tower explosions, one small and one final death sequence. These explosions are tailored to fit the theme, style, and constraints for Transformers Tactical Area mobile game. (The effect is not implemented in game and I am not affiliated with Red Games Co.)Assets: Modeled alien and ufo in Maya. Other assets provided by professor for educational use.Focus: Prioritized impact and wow factor to create visually interesting effect.Constraints: Mobile shaders and locked vertical perspective.
(Unity's Particle System - Maya)
Star Gun
Fully original asset designed, modeled, textured, animated, and VFX produced by me. Still under development and subject to changes.
(Unity's Particle System - Unity Shader Graph - Maya - Substance Painter)
Monday Lasagna Short Film FX
Visualized composition and timing of gun shot fx and blood in scene from short film
(Adobe After Effects)
VFX Sketches & Studies
Short projects and visual experiments used to push my technical boundaries and learn new workflows.
Fire Beam VFX
Used Unity's shader graph, particle system, and vfx graph to create effect. Explored laying effects in vfx graph to create depth and more interest. Used voronoi scaling, tiling, and displacement to create dynamic shapes and interesting depth.
(Unity's VFX Graph - Unity Shader Graph)
Tutorial Link: Gabriel Aguiar Prod.
Sword VFX
Used Unity's shader graph, particle system, and vfx graph to create weapon effect and trails.
(Unity's VFX Graph - Unity Shader Graph - Unity Particle System)
Tutorial Link: Gabrielf Aguiar Prod.
Sword Asset: Unity Store Link
Smoke Texture Sheet: Gabriel Aguiar
Animations: Unity Store Link
About Me
Hello, I am Tyler Koa. I have been passionate about games every since I was young. My first video game was Mario Kart Wii and Minecraft. At the moment, I enjoy casual shooter games with friends. I am very inspired by weapon skins effects in game like Valorant and Fragpunk. Currently attending University of Utah majoring in Games and wanting to specialize in VFX. Expected graduation 2028. I am looking to learn as much as possible and open to new opportunities.
(Unity - Unreal Engine - Maya - Substance Painter - Photoshop - Premiere Pro)