Tom Jackson

I'm Tom, a graphics and games programmer with an MSc in High-Performance Graphics and Games Engineering with research on marching cubes algorithm for low-poly mesh generation.

In my personal time I'm working on a 3D multiplayer pirate game called Buccaneer Battles in Unreal Engine 5 and hope to soon release my first mobile game, Crystal Cavern, on the Google Play Store.

Hardworking and always eager to improve, I enjoy making efficient and readable code to produce exciting gameplay.

Throughout my journey as a games programmer, both with personal projects and my academic studies, I have employed the usage of C++ and C# to create interactive game environments.

My masters course also introduced me to the graphics programming side of game development which allowed me to build skills with the Vulkan and OpenGL graphics APIs.

Through self-interest and personal projects I have also developed my skills with the Unity and Unreal game engines. Furthermore, I have experience using debugging tools, IDEs and version control software found commonly in the game development pipeline.

High-Performance Graphics and Games Engineering MSc

As part of my masters degree at the University of Leeds, I have gained experience with cutting edge graphics techniques necessary for optimised and visually appealing game experiences.

Dissertation: Low-poly mesh generation with marching cubes

Mesh repair and subdivision
UV texture mapping
Bump / displacement mapping
Preprocessing & postprocessing

Collision & response physics
Skeletal Animation
Raytracing & Pathtracing
Parallel computation

Low-Poly Mesh Generator

This is a C++ application produced for my MSc dissertation in High-Performance Graphics. It is capable of massively reducing polygon counts in complex models. The following techniques were used to create the program:

Signed distance field generation
Isosurfacing using Marching Cubes
Quadric Error Metrics for edge collapse
Parallelisation using OpenMP
Data structure manipulation for efficiency

The report detailing the project can be accessed here: Low Poly Mesh Generation Report.
The source code can be found here: GitHub Repository.

Vulkan Renderer

This is a real-time graphics renderer built using the Vulkan API and C++. It supports the following:

Alpha masking
Render to texture
FBX Data loading using the FBX SDK
Cook-Torrance shading (GGX based)
Directional shadows (using shadowmaps)

The source code can be found here: GitHub Repository

The Aire Engine

(Finalist for the Game Technology award at the Game Republic Student Showcase 2024)

An open world game engine built as part of a group. My contributions consist of:

Project manager & presenter
Custom collision system
Player movement & camera view
Configuration file management

The full project can be found here: Gitlab Repository

Washed Up

Washed Up is a game made in Unity for my 3rd year dissertation project during my undergrad.

Made with Unity
URP lighting
Binary formatted save files
Singleton game managers
Code coverage & Unit tests

Available at: Github source code or Itch.io download

Buccanneer Battles

Buccanneer Battles is one of my current projects. The aim is to create a multiplayer pirate game with a king of the hill style.

Made with Unreal 5
Blueprints / C++
AI Controller with patrolling and chase logic
Collision Interations
Custom water floating algorithm

Crystal Cavern

Crystal Cavern is a mobile game set for release on the google play store in 2025. It involves firing crystals at dragons to shatter the gems beneath them.

Made with Unity 6
C# scripts
Progress Saving
Self made sprites

Contact me for an early copy of the game!

Myself and Professor Gordon Love at the University of Leeds graduation event where I was awarded for the highest degree classification in the 2023/2024 cohort.

Games have been a passion of mine ever since my first playstation 2 game and that enthusiasm has only grown over time. Nowadays, I enjoy playing online multiplayer games on PC, with a particular preference for the survival genre.

Based in the north of England, I studied my bachelors degree at the University of York, graduating in 2023 with a 1st class in computer science. During my time at York I represented university esports, attending workshops with the National University Esports League and organising competitive events with other universities. I also held a committee position on the game development society, contributing to small in-house game jams and helping to organise them. Since then, I have graduated from a masters in high-performance graphics and games engineering at the University of Leeds.

If I'm not creating or playing games in my free time, I love going for walks in the countryside or hunting for fossils on the Yorkshire coast. On top of this I enjoy swimming and cycling and once cycled 105km from York to Bridlington in a single day after completing my undergrad.