Pending Studios was founded in 2022 by myself and my friend, James Stone with the intention of developing games in Unreal Engine. We were in the process of developing two game concepts throughout most of 2022-2023, however, we put it on hiatus in October 2023 to focus instead on SHADERSOURCE.
SHADERSOURCE.IO was founded by James in 2017 as a personal brand to develop and sell Unreal Engine Marketplace assets. Due to increased work and life commitments around 2021-2022, SHADERSOURCE became essentially unattended. In October 2023, we merged SHADERSOURCE into Pending Studios. Since then, James and I have put a lot of work into rebuilding the brand, including updating the assets already on the Marketplace, fixing up its online presence, and developing new assets.
Titles Worked On
SHADERSOURCE
Roles at Pending Studios
Business/Management
Director
- Directly invloved in setting up Pending Studios, including registering with ASIC and management through the Officeholder Portal.
- Participated in business decisions and meetings in partnership with my business partner.
- Participated in budget planning and financial reviews to assess the company’s progress.
Project Management
- Set up, managed, and maintained Asana for all projects worked on under Pending Studios/SHADERSOURCE.
- Managed schedules, deadlines, and priorities for myself and my business partner through Asana.
- Tracked and managed bugs in Yard Care Pro through an Asana form and associated Asana project.
- Set up and organised Google Shared Drives for documents/spreadsheets, and data not managed by Source Control.
- Coordinated the Unreal Engine Marketplace to Fab migration for SHADERSOURCE.
- Implemented an internal ID system for SHADERSOURCE products to make organisation and coding easier.
Documentation
- Reorganised SHADERSOURCE documentation on GitBook.
- Rewrote the majority of SHADERSOURCE documentation to make it readable, usable, consistent, and free of spelling and grammar errors.
- Created and managed user documentation for new and overhauled SHADERSOURCE products.
- Created and managed internal user and technical documentation for Yard Care Pro through Google Docs.
Technical
Lead Engineer
- Made decisions about how to best approach problems and solutions for both Pending Studios, and SHADERSOURCE products.
- Oversaw quality of C++ code.
- Responsible for upgrade of C++ Plugins when a new Unreal Engine version was released.
- Implemented a naming convention for SHADERSOURCE C++ code for consistency and to prevent conflicts with other plugins/engine code.
Unreal Engine Gameplay Programmer
- Created the majority of gameplay mechanics for Yard Care Pro.
- Created ALL of the gameplay mechanics for Top Down Shooter.
Unreal Engine Tool Programmer
- Created the entire Level Palette.
- Created the entire Waterfall Tool 2 Editor Mode with the exception of the Materials, Niagara FX, and Example Content.
- Overhauled, cleaned up, and fixed up the Landscape Material Tool Editor Mode to make the code clean and consistent with a high standard set by the Level Palette and Waterfall Tool 2.
- My business partner implemented the funcitonality connected to Materials/Material Functions.
- [Current] Overhauling, cleaning up, and fixing up the Texture Tools plugin to make the code clean and consistent with a high standard set by the Level Palette and Waterfall Tool 2. This includes:
- Converting Blueprints to C++
- Restructure of code
- Optimisation
- UX improvements
- Fixing bugs
- Implementation of new functionality
- UI overhaul.
Unreal Engine UI Programmer
- Designed and implemented UMG/C++ menus for Yard Care Pro.
- Designed and implemented UMG/C++ Player HUD for Yard Care Pro.
- Designed and implemented C++ Slate UI for the Level Palette.
- Designed and implemented C++ Slate UI for the Waterfall Tool 2 Editor Mode.
- Redesigned and implemented C++ Slate UI for the Landscape Material Tool Editor Mode to cater for a better user experience.
- Redesigned and implementing [current] C++ Slate UI for the Texture Tools plugin, eliminating the less optimised and less efficient Editor Utility Widgets.
- Created a consistency between SHADERSOURCE products that reinforce brand recognition and suggestions for other products.
- This included creating a dynamic SHADERSOURCE menu for the Level Editor Toolbar that adds all SHADERSOURCE plugins that are installed.
- This included creating a SHADERSOURCE header for Editor Modes that includes shortcut buttons for other SHADERSOURCE products, as well as links to the asset’s store page and documentation.
- This included creating a SHADERSOURCE header for other tools that include buttons that link to the asset’s store page and documentation.
Creative
Game/Tool Designer
- Concepted, planned, and prototyped new ideas:
- Gameplay/UI in Yard Care Pro
- Gameplay/UI in Top Down Shooter
- New plugin/tool ideas for SHADERSOURCE
- Improved UX and additional functionality for existing SHADERSOURCE products.
Marketing
Social Media Manager
- Managed social accounts for Pending Studios and SHADERSOURCE.
- Redesigned Pending Studios website.
- Researched and organised platform best practices for posts, such as number of hashtags, image dimensions, algorithm favourability parameters.
- Responsible for wording and hastags for posts across platforms.
- Managed posting schedule.
- Rewrote ALL SHADERSOURCE pages on Unreal Engine Marketplace/Fab for clarity and consistency.
- Added suggested products to Unreal Engine Marketplace/Fab pages.
- Fixed up/managed SHADERSOURCE ArtStation page.
Discord/Community Manager
- Reorganised entire SHADERSOURCE Discord Server including the forum channels for support, and turning it into a community Discord.
- Managed the SHADERSOURCE Discord Server by posting updates, moderating, and engaging with customers through text/forum channels.
Aythan Maconachie 