Portfolio / 2026

Jake Fletcher

I build games, VR experiences and the tools that make them easier to build.

Senior game developer and creative technologist with more than twenty years across Unity, C#, VR/XR, multiplayer, technical art and 3D. Most recently at ACE and Microsoft, alongside my own shipped games and Unity tools.

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Name
Jake Fletcher
Discipline
Game development and creative technology
Core tools
Unity, C#
Focus
VR/XR, multiplayer, tech art
Based
Burlington, KY
Works
Remote
Building since
2007
Sheet
1 of 1

01 / Selected work

A / Live-service VR

ACE

Role
Senior Software Engineer, VR/XR
When
2023 to 2026
Built with
Unity, C#, Photon PUN, Shader Graph, Meta Quest

VR shooting-sports training in Unity: headset-based marksmanship on virtual ranges, shipped against a build that was always live.

150 → ~50,000monthly active users over the time I was on the product

  • Architected the multiplayer with Photon PUN and wired networking through core gameplay and application systems.
  • Engineered a custom VR input system for Meta Quest hardware and a range of physical firearm configurations, keeping real and virtual device tracking aligned.
  • Built core systems: weapon customisation, authentication, player profiles, avatars, scene management and immersive UI.
  • Refactored major parts of the game for maintainability, performance and day-to-day iteration speed.
  • Carried the Unity side of the platform's move from Bubble to AWS: API integration, subscriptions and user management.
  • Designed and built ranges end to end, from level design through modelling, texturing and technical art.

What it showsOwning VR gameplay and multiplayer on a product that has to stay up while it changes.

A player in a VR headset aiming a pistol at steel targets on a virtual outdoor range.
Fig. A1Marksmanship on a virtual range
An editor view of a stage built from numbered wall and target blocks.
Fig. A2Stage layout in the editor

B / Strategy and simulation

Citywide Crisis

Role
Design, engineering and technical art
When
2026, in closed testing
Built with
Unity 6, C#, Steamworks

Run the emergency services of a living city: police, fire, medical and taxi units dispatched through real traffic, competing with rival companies for each district.

  • A whole city generated from a seed, with size, rivers, lakes, hills, highways and forest all chosen before play.
  • A traffic simulation with thousands of cars, where emergency units get right of way but still have to get through rush hour.
  • Districts mode with up to three AI companies at three skill levels, plus a single-shift score mode.
  • Online co-op and competition for up to four players, joined with a short code, with saves for solo and online games.
  • A release pipeline for Steam and a direct download with its own installer and self-updating builds.

What it showsA complete game carried from systems design through to store builds and distribution.

Downtown towers seen from a low angle, with call markers and unit pins above the streets.
Fig. B1Calls over downtown
City blocks tinted green, yellow and red by how quickly help can reach them.
Fig. B2Response-time heatmap

C / Systems from scratch

Studio Legends

Role
Design, engineering and technical art
When
In development
Built with
Unity, C#

A game built from the ground up in Unity, with building and terrain systems written from scratch instead of assembled out of packages.

  • A building system that goes from a drawn floor plan to walls, rooms and placed furniture.
  • Placement rules that validate against the terrain underneath them while everything stays interactive.
  • A techlog that walks through the real-time systems behind it.

What it showsReal-time systems built from scratch: terrain, placement, and the tools to author both.

A cutaway building on a grass field with a tiled floor, counters and a large wall screen.
Fig. C1A finished build
A room being placed, with a yellow outline on the ground showing its footprint.
Fig. C2Placement, checked against the ground

02 / More work

Tools for other developers

Unity Asset Store and editor tooling

  • A light mesh being edited in the Unity scene view beside its source code.

    2DVLS

    2D volumetric lights and shadows for Unity: real-time light meshes, authored in the scene view.

    Asset Store / Rendering

  • A coiled rope between two blocks, rendered by the QuickRopes tool.

    QuickRopes

    Ropes, chains and cables from editable splines, with joint tuning and a procedural mesh renderer.

    Asset Store / Physics / 2015

  • A chunk of procedurally generated terrain shown in cross-section.

    Terrain and foliage tools

    Mobile terrain generation and optimisation, GPU-instanced grass volumes and GPU-driven wind.

    Technical art / Contract

Shipped games and apps

Android, iOS and Kindle

  • Balencil's title screen with a pencil balanced on its point.

    Balencil

    A one-touch balancing game with unlockable skins, a currency, daily rewards and leaderboards.

    Unity / Mobile

  • Overlap mid-run: pieces arranged around a ring with the score in the centre.

    Overlap

    A minimalist timing game: land each piece inside the ring without overlapping the last.

    Unity / Mobile

  • Sol Defender: enemies closing on a glowing sun along orbital lanes.

    Sol Defender

    Arcade space defence along orbital lanes, with weapon and shield upgrades as waves escalate.

    Unity / Arcade

  • Project Stardust running on a tablet: arcs traced across a night sky over a skyline.

    Project Stardust

    Trace arcs across a night sky to catch falling stars and chain them into multipliers.

    Touch arcade

  • Dollar Origami showing a duck folded from a dollar bill, with step controls.

    Dollar Origami

    Origami from dollar bills, rated by difficulty and walked through one fold at a time.

    Android / iOS

  • Balloon Animals: a red balloon dog animated in 3D with large playback buttons.

    Balloon Animals

    A kids' app of balloon animals animated in 3D, each build played back twist by twist.

    Unity / 3D / Kids

  • Ansel and Clair: an illustrated Egyptian scene with a robot and a travel log.

    Ansel & Clair: Jurassic Dinosaurs

    An educational adventure: explore, photograph what you find and arrange it in a travel log.

    Developer / Educational

Web products

Built with AI assistance

  • The BookJake home page with its estimate form.

    BookJake

    My booking and estimating site: describe a project, get a number, and it becomes a written scope and fixed-fee proposal.

    Next.js / TypeScript / SQLite

  • The Aupex home page: Senior talent. Built to ship.

    Aupex

    A marketplace for project-based senior talent, where every bid arrives as the same structured statement of work.

    Marketplace / TypeScript

  • The SOW Generator: a form on the left and the formatted document on the right.

    SOW Generator

    A statement-of-work builder that renders the document live beside the form and totals hours and cost as you type.

    Tools / Documents

03 / Experience

2023 to 2026

Senior Software Engineer

ACE · Dallas, TX, remote

  • Developed and maintained a commercial Unity VR shooting platform as it grew from roughly 150 users to nearly 50,000 monthly active users.
  • Multiplayer, custom VR input, weapon and avatar customisation, authentication, profiles and UI.
  • Ranges, 3D assets and technical art, plus instructional experiences with holograms, video and narration.

2020 to 2023

Senior Artist, Azure

Microsoft · Redmond, WA

  • Produced, lit and recorded live all-hands events and monthly conversations for Azure's leadership.
  • Created 3D animation and motion graphics used in internal presentations and events.
  • Maintained the team's asset server and a local render farm.

2019 to 2020

Unity Developer and 3D Artist, HoloLens

Microsoft · Redmond, WA
First year on contract through Robert Half

  • Built HoloLens 2 experiences in Unity, including koi, piano, harp and language-translation experiences.
  • Built proprietary tools for optical engineers and internal developers.

2007 to now

Independent contracting

Burlington, KY, remote

  • Technical art and tools: terrain generation, GPU-instanced grass, wind systems and rope generation with shader-driven animation.
  • Mobile releases on Android, iOS and Kindle, and three tools on the Unity Asset Store: 2DVLS, QuickRopes and QuickLocalization.
  • A terrain tech demo for the Unity 2.0 release and product visualisation for an Intel conference.

Before software

I spent my first twelve years working on machines, and for most of them I was building games and tools on the side.

2009 to 2019

Maintenance Mechanic A

Boeing · Everett and Auburn, WA

  • Diagnosed, repaired and maintained CNC machine tools, robotic systems and automated assembly equipment.
  • Led and coordinated a crew of 14 mechanics on first shift in Everett.
  • Developed custom tooling and troubleshooting procedures where no documentation existed.

2007 to 2009

Spindle Repair Technician

Mazak · Florence, KY

  • Rebuilt high-precision CNC machine tool spindles to OEM specification.
  • Isolated failures in bearings, alignment, vibration and wear, and tested each rebuild before it shipped.

04 / Toolbox

Engines
Unity, Unreal Engine with Blueprints
Languages
C#, C++, HLSL, TypeScript
XR
Meta Quest, HoloLens 2, custom VR input
Multiplayer
Photon PUN, Steamworks
Technical art
Shader Graph, GPU instancing, procedural terrain, editor tooling
3D and motion
Maya, Substance, Cinema 4D, Octane, Redshift, After Effects
Platforms
Windows, Android, iOS, Kindle, Quest
Web and services
Next.js, SQLite, AWS, and AI tools such as Claude used with care