Andrey Chen

Advanced Artist — Schell Games

Pittsburgh, PA · Oct 2024 – Dec 2026 · Full-time

• Served as the studio’s in-house lighting expert and lit every project I worked on.
• Created custom materials and shaders in Unreal Engine 5.
• Set the baseline art style and the look of the tree-growing dynamics for Dragon Grove (Meta Quest) in pre-production.
• Established the visual art direction for Project Freefall in pre-production, building its lighting, VFX, custom shaders and level transitions.
• Built procedural tools with Unreal Engine 5's procedural generation tool and Geometry Scripting.
• Wrote Python and Maya tooling to speed up development, set up physics-based systems, and helped 3D artists and game designers with blockouts.
• Served as Multimedia Gameplay Producer & Technical Artist on a large-scale interactive ride attraction (NDA), aligning creative direction with client leadership and coordinating a 10+ person team through installation.

Tools & skills: Unreal Engine 5, Materials & Shaders, Procedural Generation, Geometry Scripting, Python, Maya, Lighting, Houdini, Substance Painter, Substance Designer, Unity, SpeedTree, Blender

Game Artist — Schell Games

Pittsburgh, PA · Sep 2022 – Sep 2024 · Full-time

• Created 3D hard-surface and organic environments for Among Us VR: Polus Point (Unity), then lit the scenes for optimized mobile VR gameplay.
• Used modular and procedural art pipelines to streamline production.
• Optimized lighting, blended assets into real-life physical spaces, and tuned art performance on two cutting-edge unannounced MR projects (Unreal).

Tools & skills: Unity, Unreal Engine, Lighting, Mobile VR, Mixed Reality, Modular Pipelines, Houdini, Substance Painter, Substance Designer, SpeedTree, Blender

Technical & Lighting Artist — Synodic Arc

Aug 2022 – Sep 2022 · Contract

• Modeled, textured and implemented population assets with a high-to-low poly pipeline, within the established game aesthetic.
• Relit game environments and optimized lighting setups.
• Contributed props, level design, environment art and VFX to The Boo Croo — my first professional game credit.

Tools & skills: High-to-Low Poly, Texturing, Lighting, Optimization

Lead Lighting & Environment Artist — FAFO Studio

Salt Lake City, UT · University of Utah EAE · Aug 2021 – Apr 2022 · Lead

• Sole 3D artist on Sword of Atlas, a strategy RPG released on Steam in April 2022: defined the look of the world and built every 3D prop and environment.
• Designed dynamic interior and exterior lighting for every environment, from crystal caverns to forest villages.
• Optimized lighting setups for a stable frame rate and fixed lighting issues in level streaming.

Tools & skills: Art Direction, Environment Art, Props, Dynamic Lighting, Level Streaming, Optimization

Lead Lighting & Environment Artist — Ottercide Studio

Salt Lake City, UT · University of Utah EAE · Aug 2021 – Apr 2022 · Lead

• Led the art direction and environment art style of La Villa De La Muerte, a looping psychological horror game released on Steam.
• Lit the village and the mansion at its heart, using light to carry the game’s uneasy, shifting atmosphere from loop to loop.
• Optimized lighting for frame rate and kept it stable across level streaming.

Tools & skills: Art Direction, Environment Art, Dynamic Lighting, Atmosphere, Level Streaming

Technical Artist & UI/UX Designer — GApp Laboratory, University of Utah

Salt Lake City, UT · May 2021 – Apr 2022 · Lab

• Led the visual rebrand of the UI/UX across all Virtual Social Work Trainer applications.
• Created promotional and marketing materials and reimagined logos for brand consistency.
• Introduced templates and built tools for animations and in-game transitions.

Tools & skills: Tech Art, UI/UX, Branding, Animation Tools

Laboratory Technician — Myriad Genetics

Salt Lake City, UT · Sep 2017 – Sep 2019 · Science

• Processed patient specimens and traced the causes of outlier data to keep test results accurate.
• Established a maintenance procedure for medical equipment that raised productivity and cut repair costs.
• Onboarded and trained new employees, and served as the liaison between laboratory departments.

Tools & skills: Data Analysis, Quality Control, Process Improvement, Training

Master of Entertainment Arts & Engineering — University of Utah

Salt Lake City, UT · 2020 – 2022

• MEAE, 3.93 GPA — Technical Art I–IV, Environmental Art for Games, Level Design, Rapid Prototyping and Game Projects.
• Asset Pipeline Teaching Assistant: updated course materials, led lab sessions and held office hours.

Bachelor of Science (BS) in Chemistry & Physics — Westminster College

Salt Lake City, UT · 2013 – 2017

• Double major in Chemistry and Physics with an Applied Mathematics minor; Dean's List every year.
• Computational thermodynamics research with the Johnston Research Group, presented at the American Chemical Society National Conference (honorable mention, top 15%).
• Student government Vice President — led the initiative that made Westminster the first "Safe Haven" institution in Utah.

The Superman Experience

Schell Games × Warner Bros. · 2026 · Location-based experience

Role: Art Lead · Production Support

Art Lead and Production Support on Warner Bros.’ Superman attraction — I created the Fortress of Solitude and delivered props, VFX, interactions, lighting and level design, while collaborating with clients to define requirements, share creative vision, and communicate dependencies.

The Superman Experience is a location-based attraction at Warner Bros. Studios, developed by Schell Games in partnership with Warner Bros. I led the art on the project from 2025 until it opened in 2026, working to keep every piece of the experience faithful to one of the most recognizable heroes in fiction.

“A remarkable recreation of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude… Believe me, there’s plenty to see and do within it!” — Joseph McCabe, DC.com — “Defenders Unite: A Look at Superman’s New Immersive Experience” (June 2026)

What I did

• Led the project’s art under Art Director Vincent Maccioli, holding a high bar for visual fidelity and respect for the source material.
• Collaborated with clients to define requirements, share creative vision, and communicate dependencies.
• Brought the Fortress of Solitude to life from the ground up as its sole artist.
• Built a dynamic day/night cycle and weather effects that deepen immersion in the Fortress.
• Developed VFX particle systems and interactive elements.
• Handled lighting and level design across the experience.

Skills: Art Lead, Environment Art, Lighting, Level Design, Props, VFX Particle Systems, Interactions, Materials & Shaders, Production Support

Official site

Project page with gallery

Dragon Grove

Schell Games · Announced · releasing Spring 2027 · Meta Quest 3 / 3S

Role: 3D Art · Exploration

Set the baseline art style in pre-production and early production, exploring how the look of the tree-growing dynamics could support gameplay. Created the interactable props and hero assets.

Dragon Grove is a Schell Games title for Meta Quest 3 and 3S, announced in September 2026 and releasing in spring 2027. Players raise and care for a dragon in a grove that grows around them.

I worked on it from 2025 to 2026, joining in pre-production and early production when the game’s visual identity was still being found, and helped define how it should look and feel from the ground up under Art Director Ouafae Taame.

What I did

• Established the baseline art style for the project.
• Set up the overall look of the tree-growing dynamics.
• Created the interactable props and hero assets using a high-to-low poly pipeline.

Skills: Prototyping, 3D Art, Cosmetics, Look Development, Mixed Reality, Meta Quest

Meta store

Project page with gallery

Project Freefall

Schell Games · 2025 · Early Access · PC · VR (cross-platform)

Role: Art Direction · Lighting · VFX · Shaders

Set the visual art direction in pre-production and built early versions of the obstacle assets, lighting, environmental VFX, custom shaders and level transitions.

Project Freefall is a chaotic multiplayer action game in which 2–8 players skydive from a plane and race to claim the only parachute before they hit the ground. Physics-based aerial movement, gadgets and environmental interactions let players outmaneuver, sabotage and evade each other, and the game brings PC and VR players together in one cross-platform match. Developed by Schell Games, it entered Early Access on Steam in October 2025 and is free to play.

I joined in pre-production, when the game’s look was still being defined, and helped shape its visual identity from the ground up — then built the systems that carry that look through every drop.

What I did

• Established the project’s visual art direction and helped define its visual identity in pre-production.
• Developed the lighting and visual effects.
• Created custom shaders.
• Built the level transitions.
• Kept the visuals consistent while optimizing for performance across PC and VR.

Skills: Art Direction, Lighting, VFX, Custom Shaders, Level Transitions, Optimization

Steam page · Meta Store page

Project page with gallery

Among Us VR: Polus Point

Schell Games × Innersloth · 2022 · VR · Unity

Role: Game Artist — environments & lighting

Built and lit hard-surface and organic environments across the Polus Point map, tuned for smooth mobile VR.

Among Us VR (now Among Us 3D: VR) brings the social-deduction phenomenon into virtual reality — crewmates race through tasks and emergency meetings while impostors sabotage and deceive. Developed by Schell Games with Innersloth and Robot Teddy, it launched in November 2022.

On the Polus Point map I built environments and lit them for mobile VR headsets, where every light has to earn its place in a tight frame budget without losing the game’s bold, readable style.

What I did

• Created hard-surface and organic environments across Polus Point — from the reactor and dropship to oxygen, the office, ejection and the connecting hallways.
• Lit every scene for mobile VR, balancing mood and readability against performance.
• Worked with modular and procedural art pipelines to keep production fast and consistent.

Recognition

• Winner — Best AR/VR Game, The Unity Awards.
• Nominee — The Game Awards 2022.

Skills: Unity, Mobile VR, Environment Art, Lighting, Modular Pipelines

Steam page

Project page with gallery

The Boo Croo

Synodic Arc · 2026 · PC · Steam (Early Access)

Role: Technical & Lighting Artist — props, levels, environments, VFX

My first professional game credit — props, level design, environment art and VFX for a co-op party game.

The Boo Croo is a co-op party game from Synodic Arc: grab your friends, choose your ghost and survive a collection of chaotic long-form minigames where teamwork is optional. It entered Early Access on Steam in September 2026.

It was my first step into professional game development, and I worked across the art pipeline — building the objects, spaces and effects the minigames are played in.

What I did

• Created props and environment art for the game’s minigame arenas.
• Contributed to level design, shaping the spaces players compete in.
• Added VFX work alongside the prop and environment pipeline.

Skills: Props, Level Design, Environment Art, VFX

Steam page

Project page with gallery

Sword of Atlas

FAFO Studio · University of Utah EAE · 2022 · PC · Steam

Role: Sole 3D Artist · Lead Lighting & Environment

As the sole 3D artist, defined the look of the game’s world, created every prop and environment, and lit every interior and exterior while keeping the frame rate steady.

Sword of Atlas blends fast-paced real-time strategy with grid-based combat in a character-driven RPG. It was built by FAFO Studio in the University of Utah’s Entertainment Arts & Engineering program and released on Steam in April 2022.

I was the team’s sole 3D artist, working alongside our concept artist. Every 3D prop, environment and light in the game is my work: I set the visual direction for the world — from crystal caverns to forest villages — built it in 3D, and used light to give each space its own mood while keeping performance in check.

What I did

• Served as the project’s only 3D artist, building every environment from concept to Steam release.
• Led the art direction and style of the environment art.
• Created every prop and environment in the game.
• Designed dynamic interior and exterior lighting for every environment.
• Optimized lighting setups to hold a stable frame rate.
• Diagnosed and fixed lighting issues in level streaming.

Skills: Sole 3D Artist, Art Direction, Environment Art, Props, Dynamic Lighting, Optimization

Steam page

Project page with gallery

La Villa De La Muerte

Ottercide Studio · University of Utah EAE · 2022 · PC · Steam

Role: Lead Lighting & Environment Artist

Shaped the environment style of a looping horror game and lit it throughout, keeping lighting stable across level streaming.

La Villa de la Muerte is a looping psychological horror game: players move through an ever-changing environment in pursuit of the truth behind a family’s disappearance. It was built by Ottercide Studio in the University of Utah’s Entertainment Arts & Engineering program and released on Steam in April 2022.

As Lead Lighting & Environment Artist I shaped the look of the village and the mansion at its heart, using light to carry the game’s uneasy, shifting atmosphere from one loop to the next. I worked on La Villa at the same time as Sword of Atlas, in the same role on both games.

What I did

• Directed the environment art style of the village and the mansion.
• Built dynamic interior and exterior lighting throughout the game.
• Tuned lighting performance to keep the frame rate stable.
• Resolved lighting issues caused by level streaming.

Skills: Art Direction, Environment Art, Dynamic Lighting, Level Streaming

Steam page

Project page with gallery

Large-Scale Interactive Ride Attraction

Themed Park Client · Unreal Engine 5

Role: Multimedia Gameplay Producer & Technical Artist

Client work under NDA. Shaped the interaction vision and visual legacy with client leadership, bridged communication across a 10+ person team through installation, managed team bandwidth, and implemented optimizations hands-on.

XScape

Mixed-reality R&D · Meta Quest 3 · Mixed Reality

Role: Technical Artist

Explored MR lighting, shadows and seamless transitions between digital and physical space, inspired by Meow Wolf’s immersive exhibits.

XScape explored mixed-reality strategies for lighting, shadows and seamless transitions between digital and physical objects. Drawing inspiration from Meow Wolf’s immersive art experiences and interactive exhibits, the goal was to blend virtual elements into a real physical space with convincing cohesion, built for the widely used Meta Quest 3.

As the project’s technical artist I worked across asset creation and technical implementation, and acted as the bridge between engineering, design and art.

What I did

• Developed lighting and shadow approaches that ground virtual elements in the real room.
• Designed and developed the anchoring and nudging system for Quest 3 passthrough mode.
• Assisted with asset creation and their technical implementation.
• Mediated between the engineering, design and art disciplines.
• Drove performance optimization for Quest 3 and produced live builds.

Tech demo

Skills: Mixed Reality, Spatial Anchoring, Lighting, Shadows, Performance Optimization, Live Builds

Project page with gallery

Arboreal

Schell Games · team project · PC · Unreal Engine 5

Role: Environment & Lighting Artist

A stylized UE5 environment built with Lumen, SpeedTree foliage and Runtime Virtual Texture terrain blending, with a dynamic day/night cycle.

Arboreal set out to explore the newest techniques in Unreal Engine 5 by building a captivating stylized environment. Lumen lit and shaped the scene, SpeedTree generated its lush vegetation, and Runtime Virtual Textures blended the terrain seamlessly with the surrounding meshes.

Working closely as a team, we pushed for high-end visual quality while embracing the engine’s cutting-edge features.

What I did

• Blocked out the environment and laid out the scene.
• Created much of the foliage, plus hard-surface and organic models, such as the well, lamps, cart, a flag with cloth simulation, the doorway and smaller trees.
• Lit the scene and optimized it for performance.
• Implemented a dynamic day/night cycle.

Skills: Unreal Engine 5, Lumen, SpeedTree, Runtime Virtual Textures, Day/Night Cycle

Project page with gallery

Tyto

Schell Games · fan project · Meta Quest 2 · VR · Unreal Engine 5

Role: VR Lighting & Environment Artist

An Avatar: The Last Airbender fan project in VR — I built a fake-glow lighting technique within mobile VR limits and modular building assets.

Tyto was a passion fan project to bring the universe of Avatar: The Last Airbender into VR. A dedicated team of artists took on the challenge of recreating the show’s signature animated style while meeting the performance limits of the Meta Quest 2, and validated that the look held up across many environments and lighting scenarios.

Built in Unreal Engine 5, Tyto combined baked lighting with a custom material-based dynamic lighting system, which met and exceeded the Quest 2’s demanding requirements. Early development also extended to characters and visual effects.

What I did

• Led VR lighting implementation for the project.
• Introduced a fake-glow lighting technique that works within mobile VR restrictions, strengthening immersion and the player’s sense of presence.
• Designed modular building assets that streamlined asset creation and scene composition.

Skills: Mobile VR Lighting, Baked + Material-Based Dynamic Lighting, Modular Assets, Stylized

Project page with gallery

Oracle

Unreal Engine · Unreleased · Unreleased · Meta Quest 2 · Unreal Engine

Role: Environment & Lighting Artist

A short Unreal project: I assembled the scene, created many environment assets, and handled shaders, lighting and optimization.

Oracle is a short, unreleased project developed in Unreal Engine, with art direction and concept art by Vincent Maccioli.

I assembled the scene in Unreal, created many of its environment assets, and set up its shaders and lighting. Most models used a high-poly-free workflow: low-poly meshes baked and textured directly, with normal-map detail added in Substance Painter.

What I did

• Constructed the scene in Unreal Engine and created many of the environment assets.
• Set up shaders and lighting, and optimized the scene.
• Modeled with a high-poly-free workflow, adding normal-map detail in Substance Painter.
• Engineered mobile-friendly shaders for the effects the Quest 2 couldn’t afford to render the usual way.

Oracle runs standalone on Meta Quest 2, a mobile chipset that has to render every frame twice, once per eye, at a high, steady refresh rate. That budget rules out the usual tools: real-time reflections, extra render passes, post-process effects and dense background geometry. So I had to find efficient solutions for the moments that mattered most: a possessed TV, windows onto a street that isn’t there, and a haunted mirror. Each one is faked inside a single material.

Skills: Scene Construction, Shaders, Lighting, Optimization, Blender, Maya, Substance Painter

Project page with gallery

Johnston Group Research

Westminster College · Johnston Research Group · Computational chemistry

Role: Undergraduate Researcher

Modeled the SN2 mechanism of ammonia loss from protonated methionine; presented at the ACS National Conference (honorable mention, top 15%). Plus an analytical study of lead in cigarette smoke.

Before moving into games, I worked in computational chemistry. With the Johnston Research Group at Westminster College, I ran a computational study of how ammonia is lost from protonated methionine (H⁺Met), comparing two candidate pathways: a molecular rearrangement and an SN2 backside attack.

Electronic structure calculations were run in Gaussian at the B3LYP level of theory, using the 6-31G(d) and 6-311+G(d,p) basis sets. I mapped the rearrangement and the SN2 displacement step by step, located the transition states with dihedral-angle and bond-distance scans, and confirmed them with IRC calculations. The analysis found a plausible route in which sulfur attacks the carbon bonded to NH₃, forming a four-membered ring, consistent with experimental bond-dissociation data. The work was presented at the American Chemical Society National Conference, where it received an honorable mention (top 15%).

What I did

• Modeled the ground state, intermediates and transition states of the reaction in Gaussian.
• Mapped the potential energy surface with dihedral-angle and bond-distance scans.
• Verified the proposed mechanism with IRC calculations.
• Presented the results as a scientific poster at the ACS National Conference (honorable mention, top 15%).

From research to technical art

The toolkit carries straight over: building physical models, solving them numerically and checking the results against measured data is how I now approach lighting and shading, which are physics problems at heart.

Other research

At Westminster I also ran an analytical chemistry study measuring lead (Pb) in cigarette smoke by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy, comparing filtered and unfiltered cigarettes; a spike recovery of 86.26% validated the method, and t-tests compared the two conditions.

Credits

• Andrey A. Chen, Jessica C. Johnston, PhD (Westminster College), Peter B. Armentrout, PhD (University of Utah).
• Computing time provided by the University of Utah Center for High Performance Computing.

Skills: Computational Thermodynamics, Gaussian, DFT (B3LYP), Reaction Mechanisms, Scientific Poster

Project page with gallery