Kerem Pauwels Portfolio
Ember Character Design
Ember is the magical mentor of the player as they go through each level and plays a driving role in the story of the game.
The Brief: Design Ember, a magical mentor from Star City. Starting point: just a name.
My Process: I defined three core traits—fire, space, playfulness—then explored every possible form through sketches, Procreate animations, and Unity prototypes.
The Result: A breathing, glowing character modeled in Blender, with a sine-wave script animating their gentle rise and fall.
In the end I modeled the final product you see at the end of the video in Blender and wrote a Script to change the size of their body along a sine wave to make Ember "breathe."
About ShepherdXR
Weekly deliverables. Deep understanding. I learned to prioritize ruthlessly, research thoroughly, then build with intention. This workflow transformed how I approach every project.
VFX Breakdown
The Challenge: Transform placeholder numbers and basic colors into a cohesive visual language.
My Approach: I gave operands a wooden texture for warmth and groundedness; operators became stone—like an axe head shaping wood. This visual metaphor reinforced how operators transform numbers.
The Details:
Color-coded particle bursts on each operator, scaled by impact (multiply/divide hit harder than plus/minus)
A reflective pool beneath the equals sign reveals the equation's mirror image—players physically lift terms to balance both sides
Confetti explosions celebrate "hidden multiplications" when expanding terms like 2x → 2 × x
Magic energy orbs pulse from the player's palms, with wind particles and light rays tying hand movements to mathematical operations
A lot of separate elements go into everything you can see in a game like animation, scripting, particle effects, 2D and 3D asset creation, shaders and camera behavior. Not to mention how every visual aspect of a game must consider its narrative purpose. I make it my mission to learn as much as I can about all these elements to take control of a full workflow.