Open to Internships & Junior Game Roles

GAME
DESIGN/craft

A portfolio of three ZBrush characters and a custom-built RTS in Unreal Engine — a study in form, systems, and the quiet mechanics that make worlds feel inhabited.

Portfolio — Vol. I — 2026
Chapter 01 — Character Sculpts
ZBrush only

Studies in sorrow & sinew — sculpted from the inside out, 100% ZBrush.

01
Turntable view
Niagara VFX · Taunt Preview
Process TimelineLow-Poly → High-Poly
Tank · Taunting Sentinel · The Crimson Dirge

Heartwood Golem

“Carved from the bones of an old-growth forest, the Heartwood Golem walks where its kin once stood — a sentinel pulled out of stillness, taught to draw fire so smaller things can survive.”

A wood-golem-inspired tank for The Crimson Dirge. Sculpted in ZBrush from a PureRef board, textured in Substance 3D, with a Niagara taunt VFX authored in Unreal.

ZBrush Substance 3D Painter PureRef Niagara
Chapter 02 — RTS · RPG Campaign
Unreal Engine
A Real-Time Strategy with an RPG campaign · Working title

The Crimson
Dirge.

Logline — Story Spine

For thousands of years, the war has refused to end. Two tribes — Humanity and the Demon Kingdom — fight not just for territory, but for the right to exist.

Each believes they are the victim. Each believes they are justified. And every death on both sides is called honor.

Context

This prototype was built as my Master’s degree project — a first-ever game where I could stress-test elements, mechanics, style and art all at once. It’s the piece that taught me how to ship, not just design.

Built With · Following

Authored end-to-end in Unreal Blueprints, learning-as-I-built alongside YouTube tutorial series from:

UNF GamesTwoNeuronsBuildGamesWithJon
Chapter 03 — RPG · Prototype
Unreal Engine · Ongoing
A third-person action RPG prototype · Working title

Asha.
A brighter tomorrow.

Logline — Story Spine

She spent one life being told she was nothing. She was given a second one to prove them wrong.

Asha — “hope” in Sanskrit — lived her first life as a shadow of herself. Bullied at school, unseen at home, she carried the quiet hurt of a life that never asked her opinion. One afternoon, lost inside her own head, she stepped onto a road. The truck did not slow down.

She opened her eyes in unfamiliar arms — a mother’s, a father’s — young, warm, and terrified. She was an infant again. And the world she had been reborn into was one that held magic like a birthright.

Fifteen years pass in a village that will one day matter — every kind neighbour, every difficult sibling, every shopkeeper’s daughter is a seed for what comes later. On her fifteenth birthday, Asha makes the only choice her first life never let her make:

She becomes an adventurer. This time, she will live.

Following

I’m building this prototype alongside a YouTube tutorial series by Gorka Games that lays down an Assassin’s Creed-flavoured baseline. Every system is then re-approached and rewritten to fit Asha’s world — not copy-pasted.

Narrative Influences
Black CloverKingdomSolo Leveling

Tone and pacing borrow from these anime — underdog rise, world-building weight, and the quiet cost of ambition.

Prototype in Motion
Watch on YouTube

Video from my ongoing RPG series — press play to watch, use the YouTube controls for volume and fullscreen.

Mechanics · Prototyped
Live

Actions

The verbs. Everything the player can do on the ground — movement, traversal, interaction.

  • Locomotion
    Base movement with directional blend + animation state machine.
  • Sprint · Running
    Toggleable sprint tied to stamina drain.
  • Crouch
    Stealth-oriented crouch with a dipped camera rig.
  • Dodge
    Directional dodge with i-frames for combat spacing.
  • Vault
    Trace-driven traversal over waist-height obstacles.
  • Pick Up Equipment
    Contextual interact prompt for gear on the ground.
Live

Player System

The stat and inventory scaffolding — the RPG loops that hang off every action.

  • Progression · XP + Level
    XP-to-level curve with a UI meter feeding future skill trees.
  • Stamina
    Drains on sprint / traversal, regenerates on idle — pushes pacing.
  • HP · Death State
    Health pool; zero HP transitions the character into death + input lock.
  • Inventory & Equipping
    Swap and equip weapons from the inventory with a live on-body visual update.
Live

Combat

What makes the fight feel alive — offense, reaction, and enemy behaviour.

  • Combo Attack + VFX
    Chained light-attack combo with Niagara VFX per hit.
  • Assassination
    Contextual takedown from behind on an unaware target — one-shot payoff.
  • Target Lock
    Camera-locked focus for readable duels and precise inputs.
  • AI Patrol & Detection
    Enemies patrol routes and engage on sight or sound — light stealth-vs-combat loop.
HUD

A lightweight combat HUD reads the three vital loops at a glance — XP + level, stamina and HP. Sprinting or dodging spends stamina; empty stamina forces a walk; empty HP ends the run.

Stephanos Papas — portrait
About

A player-first designer crossing over from live ops into game design.

I’m Stephanos Papas — an aspiring game designer based in Hamburg, currently completing my MA in Game Design at the Berlin School of Business & Innovation. I sculpt characters in ZBrush, prototype mechanics in Unreal and Unity, and ship board-game-style design docs in Illustrator.

Before design school I coordinated live operations at Hermes Airports (200+ flights a day) and ran Discord communities for 100+ players — experience that taught me to read systems under pressure and design with the player firmly at the centre.

Based in
Hamburg, Germany
Studying
MA Game Design · BSBI Berlin
Currently
Community Game Tester · Keywords Studios
Software & Engines
UI / UX Testing & QA
Game Tester
ZBrush
Unreal Engine
UI · Blueprints · Mechanics · Environment
Adobe Illustrator
Unity & Unity AI
Substance 3D Painter
Tools Knowledge
Miro
Microsoft Office
Microsoft ClipChamp
Mixamo
Coggle
Resume / CV

Stephanos Papas — the condensed version, in PDF.

Game Designer · 3D Artist · Hamburg

Studios, shipped titles, tooling and a list of the engines I speak fluently. One page. No filler.

Download ResumeView in Browser
/ Resume.pdfMA Game Design — BSBI BerlinRTS Prototype — UnrealQA — Keywords StudiosUpdated · 2026
Contact

LET’S
talk.

Open to junior positions, internships and part-time roles in game design, character art, and gameplay engineering. Drop a brief — I read every message myself.

Email
stephanos.papas@outlook.com
LinkedIn
/in/stephanos-papas
Based in
Hamburg, Germany · Open to relocation
Replies within 48 hours · No spam, ever.
STEPHANOS/PAPAS
© 2026 · Hamburg · Crafted with intent.