Hi, my name is Martin Tilo Schmitz and I’d like to welcome you to my online portfolio. I am a Programmer and Designer Hybrid (Technical Game- and Level Designer), currently working as a UI/UX Developer at Unity Technologies in Copenhagen.
At Unity Technologies, I work in the Profiler Team and together with my colleagues we strive to improve the Profiling Tool Stack, helping other developers analyses and improve the performance of their games as well as internal developers to improve the engine itself.
I have +13 years experience in the games industry, working as UI/UX Developer, Unity3D Developer, Level Designer and Game Designer, having been involved in the development of 8 released games.
Making and facilitating the production of games is my passion. I’m of the firm conviction, that Working, Playing and Learning are intrinsically linked and that any game has the potential to entertain and further enrich the lives of people all over the world, if it also considers what its players are learning while playing. This believe is keeping me firmly invested in the medium and has been a big driving force for me throughout the last +15 years while I’ve been programming, scripting and designing games as a hobby and in the industry.
If you are a Unity Developer with feedback on the Profiling Tool Stack, please do not hesitate to Contact Me directly or to start a forum thread under the Profiling tag or in the Profiler Previews sub-forum if it is related to Preview Packages such as the New Memory Profiler.
Unity3D Developer
I’ve started using and developing in Unity in 2010 during my studies at HTW Berlin and the Engine quickly turned into my favorite tool due to it’s versatility. Since then I worked on several games, both commercially and privately, using Unity. Drawing on my experience I’ve worked as a Unity teacher while freelancing and put it to work to create high quality, high performance mobile games at TreasureHunt. At TreasureHunt, I’ve been involved in the full development cycle of the companies first two games:
With my current job as UI/UX Developer at Unity Technologies I’ve taken a step behind the scenes. Here I am applying my experience in development with the engine, creating Editor extensions and tools as well as in UX and UI Design while deepening my understanding of the engine and the development practicalities of a software-as-a-service company.
Level Designer
My initial experience in the industry lies in work as a Level Designer. As this encompasses a wide range of topics, I have gained experiences in a lot of fields relevant to game development. These range from game-play balance, flow and UX, visuals and readability, to technical implementations such a cut-scene-scripts, over game design- and content-integration to full blown quest and event scripts.
For examples of my Level Design work, please have a look at The Dark Eye: Demonicon, CatWalk and these blog entries. If you want to find out more About Me, Contact Me for my CV and/or add me on Xing or LinkedIn.
Game Designer
What drove me to learn how to code about 15 years ago, was my passion for Games and Game Design and its fire hasn’t been quenched since then. It drove me to Berlin, where I have studied Game Design at the HTW Berlin and created my first standalone games.
Thanks to Unity3D, you can play some of them right here on this website:
Just before leaving Noumena Studios (later rebranded to Skilltree Studios) in 2013 right after the release of The Dark Eye: Demonicon, I succesfully pitched what would become Crookz – The Big Heist in an internal pitching round with the studio-owning pulbisher Kalypso.
As a freelancer (Nov 2013 – Sep 2014) I’ve written Pitches, Vision Docs, High-Concept Docs and Game Design Docs for RFPs and internal projects for my clients which led to them landing successful publishing deals. Among others, this led to it Matters Games developing these 3 titels:
- Caravan (Daedelic Enterntainment, Sep 2016, PC)
- DogHotel (Tivola, Feb 2015, iOS & Android)
- DogHotel’s success led to a long cooperation between Tivola and it Matters Games, spawning a series of similar titles.
- Cayman GTS Racer (Porshe AG, Mar 2014, Webplayer)
If you have a project that you want to set on to its feet or too many failed RFPs, I would be honored to help you out. Similarly if you need GDDs formulated or UI-Mockups ready for production, in a precision that your coders are going to love, please feel free to Contact Me.
Technical Game Designer
I also like to put my technical skills to use as a Technical Game Designer, with a primary focus on C# and Unity but experience with Lua, Java and C++.
I can set up or optimize workflows, write editor extensions, scripts and tools from the perspective of a Designer. Combined with my technical background I can ensures a clear and hassle free communication with both Designers and Coders, which puts me in a position akin to that of a Technical Artist, but for Design. A Technical Game Designer.
A role that I practically filled officially or on the side at all my positions so far. A TD can be useful for bigger teams to avoid miscommunication between design and coding departments, but is also very practical for any start-up or start-up-like company. For these I can offer the flexibility to switch roles as the need arises during production. In fact, that is my preferred modus operandus.
While freelancing, the feedback I got for my Design Documents was overwhelmingly positive, both from the developing studio, as well as the publishers. The publishers liked the clean, clear, concise and well structured nature so much, that the pitches where not just successful, but the documents even became part of the contracts. Similarly the developers could read it as a Technical Specifications document and quickly get to implementing the games.
The ability to bridge Code and Design also helped me while I taught C# and Unity 3D for Artists and Designers at the WAVE AKADEMIE in Berlin. From mixed to no technical backgrounds, I got them up to speed for their first trimester’s game project through 3-4 weeks of workshop-like classes.
More About Me
I am currently based in Copenhagen and very interested in the start-up scene, as I like their open structure with flexible roles and responsibilities.
You can take a look at some of the projects I worked on and even play some of them right here on this website.
Feel free to browse, find out more about me and send me a message via my contact form, Xing, LinkedIn or Mastodon.
Have fun!