Javier Madariaga

About me

I'm a software developer from Ermua, Spain. My love for videogames began at a young age, when I first played Super Mario Land on a Game Boy Color at age 3. Today, I make games for PC and mobile platforms, among other things.

I've always had a keen eye on technology, so I dedicate large batches of time learning new languages or creating my own frameworks in order to learn, whether it's web development, AI or database management.

If my main drive is curiosity, my supporting power is creativity. From novel storytelling and designing narrative plots for story-driven games, to basic 3D modelling knowledge and artistic fundaments.

I also have a background on music. Starting from learning music theory and at age 4 and playing the guitar since age 6, to learning audio engineering and composing soundtracks for my projects, music is one of my favorite side hobbies.

Do you have an idea you'd like to be brought to life? Let's talk!

Projects
Astrality

A retro-themed 3D rail shooter built entirely with a custom C++ engine, created by me and my teammates in our 3rd year of college. Astrality is the first Junior-year game developed entirely in Digipen Europe-Bilbao to be published on Steam.

My initial role as tool programmer involved building an integrating a dynamic audio engine, debug tools and fixing graphic flaws. However, with no artists onboard, I was soon in charge of modelling and texturing the game backgrounds and ships, composing the entire soundtracks and additional sound FX, as well as writing the little lore of this little universe.

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AI Frameworks
As Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning gained relevance over the years, so too did I grow interested in these topics. However, I wanted to know the basic infrastructure behind basic systems, then continue my research from that foundation. That's why my first AI project was a Multi-Layer Perceptron class on C++, using SFML libraries as a helper to visualize the network.
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Godot games and tools
Aside from making games using Unity, Unreal and custom C++ engines, I recently began developing games with Godot. It turned out to be quite easy to learn and expand upon. While I can't disclose much about what's coming next yet, I can showcase some of the tools I created to help me make some bigger projects.

The first one is a world map creation tool for a rogue-like game. Includes map generation parameters, combat and events and the ability to add extra gameplay variables (i.e: money, keys, etc.).
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The second one is a dialogue script creator for a visual novel game. The system includes transitions, background and sprite changes and tools for localization.

If you are still interested, stay tuned for future updates!
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Experience

During my 4th year of college, I was granted an 3-month internship at VICOMTECH Foundation in Bilbao. Here is where I realized that my skills can be applied to fields outside of videogames.

During the internship, I was assigned a role of technical designer. I was in charge of running, populating and optimizing a 3D simulation of Miramon Park (Donostia), in order to train automonous and remote-controlled cars in a safe environment. This job required my knowledge in Unreal and basic 3D modelling, but I also learnt a lot about virtual machines and working with Docker containers.

Education

I enrolled at Digipen Institute of Technology Europe-Bilbao in 2019, where I began learning the basic of Object-Oriented Programming and basic 2D game design. During the following five years, I had the chance to works alongside other programmers and artists to bring fun game concepts to reality.

From 2nd year onward, after having to design and build our own 2D and 3D game engines for future projects, I became specially keen on figuring out how each piece of the system worked, and how it could be optimized.

Videogames are not only made of code - there's lots of artistic work involved, such as modelling, texturing, narrative writing and sound design. And while it's a broad topic to cover, I'm slowly improving my craft with every little piece of work I create.

Contact

Now that you got to know me a little bit better, feel free to contact me through e-mail or social media!