🏄🏼♂️ Overview
I am a Virtual Reality Unity Developer with half a decade of professional experience, as well as an additional three years training within an academic setting. I have professional experience building virtual, augmented and mixed reality applications for a variety of contexts including clinical research, gaming and industrial training.
I am currently the sole developer on a NIHR research project that is exploring how virtual reality can be used within cue exposure therapy to help people with both powder and crack cocaine cocaine dependence manage their cravings. The project has recently been featured by the Guardian newspaper.
I hold a Bachelors of Science in Games Design from Bournemouth University as well as an Extended Diploma in Video Game Production from Guildford College.
📽️ Show Reel
VR-based Cocaine Cue Exposure Therapy
Climate Simulation for Procedural World Generation
Climate Simulation for Procedural World Generation
Flight Path
🧑🏼🏭 Experience
Virtual Reality Unity Developer, King’s College London
- July 2024 - Present
- I am developing multiple VR simulations for a research study that aims to help those suffering from addiction, by reducing cravings through VR-based Cue Exposure Therapy. I am the only developer on the project and am therefore responsible for every aspect of the development process. My tech stack includes Unity & C# and I also regularly use Blender, Creative Cloud and Reallusion's 3D character animation software.
- I am currently the sole developer on a NIHR research project that is exploring how virtual reality can be used within cue exposure therapy to help people with both powder and crack cocaine cocaine dependence manage their cravings. The project has recently been featured by the Guardian newspaper.
- I have developed multiple immersive and interactive VR scenarios that have proved to be successful in their goal of inducing cocaine cravings during the first of two clinical trials.
- As the only developer on the project, I was responsible for every aspect of the project, which includes:
- Planning the development schedule and architecture of an application which allowed two scenario types to take place in any of four environments while still supporting additional variations based on the participant’s own preferences (with the total being 18 unique scenarios).
- Writing the scenario’s scripts in collaboration with researchers and our members from our PPI group. I also casted voice actors, recorded their performances and used it to create motion capture based facial animations.
- Creating multiple photorealistic environments through combing and editing third-party assets from multiple sources to ensure the scenarios took place in spaces that matched the real-world experience of our very specific participant’s demographic.
- Programming every aspect of the application. Which included multiple different VR interactions, the scenario management system which supported 18 unique scenario variations, an analytics collection layer that could be used to analyse each participant’s experience as well as multiple editor tools that I used to save myself time during the development cycle.
- Training the research team on how to use the VR app, supporting them with any technical queries throughout the five month trial while also managing my own development. I discovered and debugged issues that arose mid day trial, which ensured the study was not delayed.
- Regularly attended project planning meetings to update the team on my development progress and give everyone a chance to provide feedback during each stage of development. I also regularly attend meetings with the project’s PPI group so that I could familiarise myself with the culture and language of cocaine consumption.
- Delivered multiple presentations about my work for members of the VR Lab, the Addiction Science Department and during the launch of Hull Universities’ new CAMHR building. I also attended the Unite conference in both 2024 & 2025 which was an amazing experience but also very useful in helping me keep up to date with the new technology that is being added to the Unity game engine.
- During my virtual reality development work at King’s College London, I have utilised all of the following software:
- Unity Game Engine, Visual Studio & C#
- Reallusion’s Character Creator 4, iClone 8 & Accuface
- Multiple Unity Plugins & SDK including: Hurricane VR, Odin Inspector, SOAP (Scriptable Object Architecture Pattern), Realistic Eye Movements, Bakery, DoTween, Modern Procedural UI Kit and others
- Blender, Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve, Cascadeur
- GitHub, GitHub LFS, GitHub Desktop, Unity Plastic SCM
- Rokoko Studio, Manus Core 3
- Claude Code, Elevenlabs, GitHub CoPilot
- Sidequest, Meta Quest Link App
- Microsoft Outlook, Teams & Office
Game Designer & Developer, LoGaCulture
- June 2024 - May 2025
- While working full-time at King’s College London, I used my free time to complete a freelance contract with the LoGaCulture initiative (a multi-national research project focused on exploring new ways to merge cultural heritage with mobile gaming and spatial computing).
- I designed and developed two mobile games in under a year for the cultural heritage site, Avebury Henge (which is managed by the National Trust).
Full Stack Unity Developer, Sandford Tech
- May 2023 - April 2024
- At Sandford Tech (a start-up), I was one of two VR developers and was involved in every stage of the development pipeline (from design to final polishing as well as bug fixing and supporting a live multiplayer game).
- Dry Dive (Virtual Reality, Scuba Diving Training Simulator):
- I designed and built a complete VR scuba training simulation from the ground up as the full-time only developer.
- The app featured full hand-tracking support, a buoyancy simulation, and a modular event-based mission system. The app was deployed on mobile VR so I was also required to complete extensive optimisation to ensure the ocean and underwater visual effects always ran smoothly.
- On this project, I was responsible for managing and coordinating multiple subcontractors to ensure they delivered art and animation assets that met the specific needs of our project within the very tight development cycle.
- Slot Car VR (Mixed Reality, Multiplayer Racing, Sandbox Game):
- Designed and implemented networked car physics within a fast-paced, competitive multiplayer live-service game. Contributed to multiple new features through continuous development and integration without requiring any server downtime or disruption to the existing player-based.
- Developed the back-end database integration (using Firebase) to power a user-generated content system which allowed players to build and share their own race tracks.
- Utilised multiple plugins and SDKs during development, including the Meta SDK, Firebase, Unity’s UGC system, and a wide variety of plugins from the Unity Asset Store.
- Other Achievements & Responsibilities
- At Gamescom 2023 in Germany, I represented the company as the sole developer showcasing SlotCarVR which was a career highlight as I watched players positively engage with the game we had worked so hard to develop.
- Another key achievement was co-founding the company's proprietary code base, Rufas (Reusable Unity Framework and Systems), which is now integral to all the company’s projects.
Research & Development, Bournemouth University
- August 2022 - April 2023
- Post my graduation I was hired to lead a three person development team across two European research projects: iGame and ASPIRE.
- I developed a total of six mobile games for clinical trials designed to promote physical activity and long-term lifestyle change.
- Acted as technical liaison during international secondments in Hungary and Spain, representing the University and coordinating with partner teams.
- Led development of Seed & Sowe, a game that blended augmented reality, exercise-based progression gameplay with farming gameplay that aimed to educate players on ways to have a healthy diet. Integrated multiple third-party SDKs including Go Maps, Firebase, and OpenCV.
Operations Team Member, FunTech
- September 2021 - July 2023
- After working as a tutor for the summer, I was offered a position as an operations team member during the academic year of 2021-22. I was responsible for overseeing classes at Funtech, which range from creative courses for younger children all the way up to A-Level & GCSEs. My role required me to communicate with parents and students alike, fix technical problems, mark student’s work and help out with any other problems that may arise throughout the academic year.
- I also taught a wide variety of courses this year to cover for tutors (often on a moments notice). The software and tools I have taught includes: Python, Unreal Engine, Unity, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Construct 3, Ableton, Filmoria, Animate & Microsoft Office.
- During my last year at FunTech, I did not work regular hours but instead took on an advisory position / support role to the new operations team. I occasionally stepped into cover shifts, train new team members, mark students’ work and advise the new team on any problems that they are unsure on how to deal with.
- References: Available upon request.
Game Development Tutor & Assistant Lead Tutor, FunTech
- July 2021 - September 2021
- Throughout the summer of 2021, I taught over sixty children (with ages varying from 7 to 16) the core principles of programming and game development. My favourite course to teach was Unreal Engine 4. It was incredibly fulfilling to pass on my knowledge and witness the start of some potential future game developer’s careers.
- I taught at multiple schools across London including schools in Wimbledon, Richmond and Barbican. I ask to move schools to cover over teachers or resolve scheduling issues multiple times which I always did; I think this proves my flexibility regarding problem solving and wanting to do what is best for the team as a whole.
- At Wimbledon, I was asked to be the assistant lead tutor. This meant I was responsible for communicating with parents, organising early drop off and late pick up, making lunch for the students. I would also be expected to provide any other additional support to the other tutors in any way I could; this often included helping to calm down a energetic classroom or support a struggling student 1-1.
- For this role, I was required to pass a DBS check and get a certification in Emergency Pediatric First Aid.
🎓 Education
Bachelor of Science, Games Design
- Bournemouth University, Faculty of Science & Technology, Class of 2021
- Final Grade Achieved: Second Class Honours (Upper Division)
- Dissertation Grade & Topic: How AI can promote Emergent Narrative (First Class)
Extended Diploma, Video Game Production
- Guildford College, Class of 2019
- Final Grade Achieved: Distinction, Merit, Merit
🛠️ Hard Skills
- Unity Game Engine (Over Eight Years Experience)
- Virtual Reality & Mixed Reality
- OpenXR, Oculus SDK (Hand Tracking, Meta Avatars, Presence Features)
- C# Programming Language (Over Six Years Experience)
- Unreal Engine 4 & 5 (Experience in Teaching UE4)
- Python (for Data Analysis and game development)
- Godot 3/4 & GD Script
- Modelling & Animation in Blender & Maya
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Version Control (Git & Plastic)
🧠 Soft Skills
- Experience working on complex and undocumented projects
- Experience supervising and supporting employees as well as coordinating with external contractors
- Experience developing within a tight deadline
- Experience working independently and part of a small team
- Experience working with new technologies (both hardware and software)
- Experience showcasing a game in front of press, publishers and the general public at Gamescom 2023.
- Effective communication and listening (both written and verbal)
🏕️ About Me
I have been developing in Unity for over eight years and am currently looking for new opportunities on commercial projects where I can further develop my skills. I have experience developing with a wide variety of programming techniques and mediums. These include VR & MR, Networking, Spatial Computing, Speech Recognition, Procedural Generation, and most recently goal-based AI simulations.
What excites me most about game development is designing and programming complex systems that create believable and immersive worlds for players to explore. Over the last few years, I have developed a passion for both AI programming and emergent narrative design. These two topics were the focus of my undergraduate dissertation in 2022, for which I achieved a first class grade. Since then, I have continued my research and experimentation in this area, I plan to experiment on using goal-based AI in combination with systemic gameplay in order to promote emergent narrative.
Outside of the office, I love to keep myself active with my favourite hobbies: Camping, Climbing and running. In April of 2023, I ran the London Marathon on behalf of the RNLI which is a charity I am passionate about supporting. I am lucky to say will be running again for charity in 2024.
I am prepared to relocate for work for the right position, but I am also open to working remotely. In the past I have taken on roles working both remotely and in person as well as having experience travelling for work.
📬 Contact
Email: joe.duffy21@outlook.com 📧
Linked In 👨🏼💻