Jñani Crawford



Hi!

Hello and welcome! Take a look around :)

Are you on socials?

Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn!

...and check out my portfolio, itch.io, and GitHub :)

What's your favorite gif?

I'm currently pursuing an M.S. in Games and Playable Media at UC Santa Cruz, where I'm gaining lots of hands-on experience with game development in a small studio-style capstone team. Formerly an Inference Software Developer at FlexLogix. I earned a B.S.H. at Stanford Univeristy, majoring in Symbolic Systems.


Could I see a copy of your résumé?

Glad you asked! You can find it here.



Thanks! What else do you like to get into?

On a lighter note, I also really like:

Smite
The Transformers
Hiking

How can I get in touch?

You can email me at dev@jnani.me!

👋👋 Hi! I'm Jñani -- a game dev student at UCSC and programmer with a passion for

gameplay systems and bringing game characters to life. Welcome to my portfolio!

Developer
Hyperthetical

ChatGPT-powered card battler -- assemble your team and engage in a battle of concepts!

What did this entail?
  • Novel battle system powered by ChatGPT storytelling.
  • I apply the model to generate the outcome of battles, post-combat statuses for units, and even commands that the player can choose from each round.
  • Designed 50+ cards based on nouns and adjectives to create synergistic teams, and 20+ unique battle modifiers.
  • Utilized Blueprints for rapid prototyping of deckbuilding and online multiplayer.
  • Online multiplayer utilizing Epic Online Services.

More info + Download!

Unreal EngineGenerative AIBlueprints
Developer
Bot Race Ranch

A monster raising and racing game!

What did this entail?
  • 1-month game jam project for the BiG Byte Game Jam 2024.
  • Pet sim gameplay with stats, energy levels, and moods that respond to player dialogue and world events.
  • Procedural art and animations generating distinct Bot species, short cutscenes, and walking animations.
  • Physics based vehicle system and automated steering using physics forces and constraints.
  • NPC wander behaviors implemented in behavior trees.

More info + Download!
Read the postmortem!

Unreal EngineProcedural GenerationBlueprints C++ Physics
Technical Director & Programmer
(13 person team)
The Secret Dungeon

My capstone project for the Games & Playable Media MS! A multiplayer turn-based dungeon crawler with a unique die rolling mechanic and a social deduction twist -- one of the players is a traitor!

What was your role?
  • Set and documented coding standards, asset/source control, and core C++ abstractions.
  • Guided junior teammates by leading Unreal Engine tutorials, Perforce tutorials, and debugging.
  • Implemented 3-5 player networked asymmetrical multiplayer RPG gameplay utilizing Epic Online Services.
  • Provided technical input and work estimation for the producer and creative director through the stages of pre-production and production.

This was a great experience not only because of the fun and challenging journey of programming the game, but also the bond I made with my team and the surprisingly rewarding opportunity for leadership that came with being the project's Technical Director.

I'm most proud of the fact that I was able to help guide the junior teammates by learning their interests and finding them tasks that made real contributions that lined up with their career and skill development goals!



(Link Coming Soon!)


Unreal Engine 5C++ BlueprintsOnline MultiplayerReleased!
Developer
Farmer's Bargain

Mini simulation game where you negotiate with NPCs to barter for fruits and veggies!

What did this entail?
  • Novel dialogue system specialized for negotiation.
  • Utility-based AI for an immersive economic simulation.
  • Procedural generation of levels and objectives.

More info + Play in browser!

AIPython Research
Gameplay Programmer
(3 person team)
Paperations

Playful sandbox game where you sit in the back of class, play with paper, and toss things at your fellow naughty classmates!

What was your role?
  • Designed and implemented origami-like 3d mesh folding system.
  • Implemented physics-based projectile system and dodging.
  • Programmed UI and implemented sounds.

More info + Download!
GitHub Repo

3-Person TeamGame DesignUnreal Engine 5 Blueprints
Developer
Bloom Brawlers

Monster battling game where you assemble your monsters from plant parts and duel on a grand stage!

What did this entail?
  • Full turn-based combat and movement system in 3D.
  • Monte Carlo tree search (MCTS) algorithm for opponent AI, implemented in C++.
  • Procedural mesh generation using Geometry Script.
  • Modular ability system that also supports procedural ability generation, written in C++.
  • Vertex-based animations using shaders made using Unreal Material Editor.

This is part of a larger project that I am hoping to have playable soon. You can see my pitch for this project here! (Pitching this was really fun.)


Unreal Engine 5AIC++ BlueprintsIn Progress
Game & UI Programmer
(2 person team)
Scrap

Global game jam - Battle robots and use their parts & abilities for yourself!

What was your role?
  • Created turn-based combat system with buffs/debuffs, costs, and cooldowns.
  • Designed modular gameplay ability system that applied to players and enemies symmetrically.
  • Implemented animations and UI for battle and inventory management.

More info + Play in browser!
GitHub Repo

5-Person TeamGame JamGame DesignUnity C#
Developer
Trailblazer

Infinite runner style mobile game!

What did this entail?
is the first project I fully polished and released to a storefront!
  • Designed gameplay, powerups, and difficulty scaling.
  • Leaderboard system and interstitial ads implemented using android-native Java.
  • Gameplay code, graphics, sound, and inputs implemented using Java + the libGDX library.

trailblazer iconAndroid app on Google Play

Mobile/AndroidJava LibGDX
Developer
Labyrinth

An NPC AI framework that uses a linguistic modeling and context-free grammars to parse sentences, store knowledge, deduce information, and plan, all using human readable sentences.

What did this entail?
  • Linguistics-inspired system that tracks relationships between words.
  • Goal-oriented action planning (GOAP) algorithm implementation, in C#.
  • AI scripting language that uses logic and planning systems to generate behaviors and intentions in readable English.

Full explainer video!
GitHub Repo

SimulationAIUnityC#In Progress

Thank you for reading through! Game development has been a lifelong passion of mine. Older projects I developed, games made with GameMaker, are archived and playable on my itch.io profile.


These are very early work but are part of my history as a developer. Sucky Mouse is my favorite!

Itch.io Archive

Game CollectionGame MakerArchival Playable Downloads

Older projects I developed, games made with GameMaker, are archived and playable on my itch.io profile.

Example screenshot of my itch.io page showing a few games
View at itch.io

Wow, why so much AI and procgen?

For me, those areas have been in a good sweet spot of my technical, game design, and research interests. I came from a background of non-game AI research, and many of these projects leverage that background.

Nice!

Thanks! With every project, I aim to learn something new and build something creative. I'm proud of what I've done so far, but I'm also really excited for what's to come!


Lastly, how can I get in touch with you?

I'm most responsive via email, you can reach me at dev@jnani.me! Thank you for coming by! 👋👋

Time-appropriate vibes for: 08:54:34 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)Photo by Oscar De La Lanza on Unsplash