about
Starting her path in visual arts in 2014, Erisa specializes in low-poly 3D, pixel art, and UI/UX.Erisa has extensive experience in community management, business administration, and marketing.She has since been delivering fun and visually appealing experiences using Unreal Engine and in-house scripting languages.Erisa completed her BFA in Fine Arts majoring Game Art at Ringling College of Art + Design in 2019, and is now a Creative Director continuing work on her first release, Snacko.
snacko
Snacko is a 2.5D life sim made in Unreal Engine 4. Launched in Spring 2025, Snacko is currently available on Steam with an overwhelmingly positive review score.As the co-creator, I was in charge of progression design, narrative and writing, UI/UX, 3D art, 2D art, marketing, trailer creation, community, and project management.Featuring over 250 unique quests and 24 lovable characters, Snacko is a labour of love that shows my dedication to creating a world that feels alive.* Specific examples of my work in Snacko can be found in each section of my portfolio.
3d art
low-poly models
Assets made for Snacko. Time and care were put into grouping textures into sets for items, allowing me to fit multiple objects into small 64px sheets.The build mode in Snacko is highly flexible, allowing players to change the colours and place without restrictions. This meant objects had to be optimized and have strong silhouettes for all camera angles.Creating furniture sets to appeal to a broad audience of players was important, as was creating environments that felt distinct and magical to make progression fulfilling.
stylized environments
Traversable environments with assets made using Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter & Designer, and hand-painted textures using Photoshop. My focus has been on utilizing shaders, post-process, and lighting to efficiently craft story-rich spaces under time and team size constraints.
2d art
characters
Character portraits done for Snacko.Research and iteration were important in order to create 24 distinct personalities and appearances that could appeal to different players to make sure there was someone for everyone.Each character had 4 to 5 expressions used in the in-game dialogue system, as well as a sprite set that I designed.
marketing assets
In addition to taking screenshots for Snacko's Steam page, I was also responsible for the copywriting, store assets, and library assets as well as the key art illustration. I also made all GIFs, images, and graphics used in Snacko's marketing and social media accounts.I was also responsible for designing and setting up Snacko's convention booths, business cards, and merch for shows including Canada's GDX and Seattle's PAX West.
illustrations
ui.ux
Snacko uses a custom UI system dubbed Snacko UI. All UI screens are navigable with mouse and keyboard or game pad.One of my focuses as a UI designer is to make sure that elements and text are readable, even on smaller screens, and that no information is ever communicated solely by colour.Below is a small selection of the UI screens I designed and help implement from wireframe to final.
cooking & recipes
I usually make colour-coded block outs of UI screens before they get thrown onto a canvas inside the engine to test in-game. Once the basic framework is there is when I go in and refine the layout, size, and add in the visual elements.The UI needed to address maintaining ease of use on small screens using game pad when selecting different quality and type of ingredients in the highly flexible cooking system.
build mode catalogue
Build mode posed a challenge as it's a main selling point of the game but has a learning curve due to all the options, items, and features you're able to access freely as a player. Making sure the HUD and catalogue screens always had the information needed on-hand was crucial to making build mode feel good to use.Colour blocking and animations are added to make the interface feel fun to use, without locking player input. Many players spend a lot of time in build mode, so keeping it fluid while easy on the eyes was important to me.
quest system
With over 250 quests, the quest tree was important to help map out dependencies and view pre-requisites for unlocking content.One of Snacko's charms are the often humorous quest descriptions and task text. The UI needed to accommodate for this, as well as a large amount of information for Tasks and Rewards while still maintaining game pad support. Horizontal space, tabs, and scroll boxes were used to utilize the space without losing text readability.
buffs & extractor
In Snacko, players may explore mines and find buffs, items, or Loom recipes. Inside the loom, loot can be processed to find other, rarer loot.I enjoyed making the animations, sounds, buff icons, and responsive layouts that would accommodate variable text length for buff descriptions.Obtaining a buff, reward, or finding rare loot needed to feel rewarding and special. Extra attention was paid to creating the composite sounds and animations for these features.
misc
tech
shader/ snacko shrines
Tasked with creating a mod kit for puzzle dungeons two weeks before early access launch, I utilized shaders and secondary UV sets to create the atmospheric shrine interiors.
shader/ custom linear burn in ue4
For simplicity sake, dyeable materials are set up as colour → blend → textureRegions that are “dye-able” are controlled by a black and white mask. The dyes are a colour multiplied onto a texture. The texture is not grayscale - shadows are often tinted with purple or blue to give it more depth.
An alternative that's closer to what you'd expect linear burn to do in Photoshop: add the two and subtract by 0.5 (as opposed to 1), and multiply that together to give it back some depth. It's only slightly different from how the vanilla linear burn node works, but the visual difference is quite large.
shader/ custom stencil buffer selection
One of the challenges with Snacko's flexible build mode was communicating the myriad of features to players - including different selection modes. Utilizing the post-process volume to create selection highlights, and then designating stencil IDs to filter out objects, I was able to visually communicate which objects were locked, selected, or currently active.
game jam/ barely paid
Co-op puzzle platformer made for Global Game Jam 2017 within 48 hours using UE4
game jam/ zappy boy
Draw lines across the world for Zappy to get to the end! Singleplayer experience made for Global Game Jam 2018 within 48 hours using UE4
text
Below are samples of writing for games. Included are humorous cutscene dialogues, item and quest descriptions, as well as character response rubrics and more serious background setting pieces that help establish the tone of a story and its characters.
cutscene dialogue/ snacko
This is a cutscene that happens after the player is sent around hunting for a mysterious speaking scarecrow that asked for 20 turnips from a chest that spawns in front of it.
Land Sprite: Here it is again! Did it move?
Scarecrow: ...
Scarecrow: ...Yes.
Land Sprite: That's Trava.
Land Sprite: I'll bet my last Softwood Chair that the voice is Trava's.
Player: (...Sprite has more Softwood Chairs?)Scarecrow: You got me 20 veggie-tables, but you've yet to give me 20 veggie-chairs.
Land Sprite: ...
Scarecrow: What do you think? I spent the time it took you to get here to come up with that one.Land Sprite: ...
Land Sprite: .....
Land Sprite: ........Dumbass.
Scarecrow: Did you say something?Land Sprite: Well, I hope wherever he's pointing to now is the last stop. We've walked pretty far into the plains...
Land Sprite: ...so we should be close to the end!Player: (...)
Scarecrow: ...Player: (The Scarecrow is pointing that way with passion and an undercurrent of sadness.)
cutscene dialogue/ snacko
This is friendship event that the player can experience once getting to know Kiryl in order to get to know him better.
Kiryl: Ain't feeling the best today. You should just go home.Player choices:
- Do you want to talk about it?
- Something with work?Kiryl: Really? You'll listen to me yap?
Kiryl: Well...
Kiryl: ...Kiryl: Actually, part of my job is delegating new Myst lines to areas that don't have coverage. The Myst levels are so low in the city the government is in charge of distributing it. We build out lines and whatever. Not important. Anyways, I've been trying to get this rural area outside of town hooked up for a while now. Had the reports done and everything.Kiryl: I met a family there, they had 3 kids. All wanted to go into the city for school. Parents moved there to see if they could get 'em in, but the only place they could afford had no Myst lines. I promised 'em I'd get it done within a month. I worked my tail off every day to get this in front of my supervisor.Kiryl: And then what?! They tell me it's not enough? There's not enough houses in the area? What does that even mean? Isn't my job to make sure everyone who lives in Capital City has access to Myst?!Kiryl: Nah, they just said we'd need at least 6 more households before they'd consider building out there. What was I supposed to do? I took a train out there to meet with them, tell 'em what's up... And they're just gone. Dunno where they went. Either went home or found somewhere closer to downtown. No idea.Kiryl: What am I supposed to do??
Kiryl: I feel so useless! I finally got a job in the ministry and I can't even make a difference! So...yeah. That's all. I'm just going to have to get over it soon and go back to work.
Kiryl: Do this all over again for a different area and hope it goes better.
Kiryl: ...(I stayed with him until late into the night...)
item text/ snacko
Apple
An apple a day can keep anyone away. Just throw it. Hard.Corn
It's an ear of corn. Don't worry about it eavesdropping, it doesn't understand English.Metal Framing
Despite what it likes to think, it isn't much more hardcore than Wood Framing.Scrap Metal
Metal chunks from an unknown source. Whether or not it's safe to craft with is something for future you to find out.Ink Bottle
A small and surprisingly heavy bottle of ink. Comes with a free-range feather, whatever that means.
quest description/ snacko
Someone's Garbage...
...will be someone else's decoration. Is that how that works? I dunno. But like, if you wanna give your town a more rustic feel with some clutter, you can always MAKE more debris. I know, you probably cleared out a bunch, and you're thinking "why should I put them back?! On purpose???" Give it a try, you never know. Maybe this will unlock some clutter hoarding tendencies within you.Giving Back to Nature
We have received a...strongly worded letter from the Farmer's Guild to research more ways to make fertilizer. Fertilizers are an efficient way of raising the quality of your crops using materials obtained from the land. To make sure we don't get any more...letters...from the Farmer's Guild, we are sending you the crafting recipes for the different ways you can make fertilizer yourself.Kiryl's Arrival
Hi, I'm Kiryl. I really wanna move to the island. Even just a Simple House would make me happy. Please, I'm so burnt out at my job. I need a change of scenery.
sample interaction/ TBA
This is a short piece to establish the family connections of the main characters and how they interact with each other.
Dinner with the Family
Sitting at the dinner table, Rayla kicks her brother Tommy.
“Pass the soda,” she said casually, earning a tongue click from the eldest sibling.“Mind your manners. Don’t kick me. What do you say when ya ask for somethin’, brat?”“Please,” Rayla rolled her eyes, earning a giggle from Teo. With a serious expression, Tommy hands her the pitcher of sugary drink.“Don’t drink too much of that stuff, ya hear? It ain’t good for your teeth.”The parents scrolled through their respective phones while the family ate. After all, this was the one of the rare moments in the house where they had some relative peace and quiet after work.“Ugh! Teo! Stop chewing with your goddamn mouth open!” Rayla fumed, much to the amusement of her younger brother.“Guys,” Isaac said through his teeth, “come on. Let’s eat normally, alright? Give Ma and Pa some peace.” Isaac knew that if he didn’t step in, Tommy would start going off about Rayla’s use of language. Seeing the fatigue on his parents’ faces, he tried his best to interrupt his older brother before it was too late.As the dinner continued on without incident, the rift had already formed. What used to be lively banter between all four siblings now quieted down as the oldest brothers ate their food, only talking occasionally to their younger siblings. Even sitting side-by-side, neither brother ever spoke much to each other.After all, what was there to say?Taking the peace and quiet for granted, the Mackovich’s continued on like this, not knowing the mundane domesticity was something they would give everything to bring back in the future.
character behaviour rubric/ TBA
| Situation | Issac | Tommy |
|---|---|---|
| When getting pushback during a conflict | I can see where you're comin' from but let's not make a big deal out of it. Just go along with it for now, alright? Always tries to defuse the situation, even if he believes he's in the right. In the mindset of "let's calm down first and fix it later", as he is always optimistic the other party will come to understand reason (see it his way). | That ain't right, yeah? You see somethin' wrong an' you're just keeping your mouth shut? That's all kinds of fucked up, man. Is extremely stubborn and headstrong on his beliefs. If he thinks something is the right way, he will argue with you to hell and back. |
| When faced with anger | Don't start that shit with me, man. Shuts down anger quickly and walks away from the situation. Gets protective if the anger is directed at his friends and family. Doesn't like to raise his voice. | Man, shut the fuck up. You ain't even know what you're talking about. Gets riled up easily, even if he doesn't mean to. Doesn't get violent with friends or family, but has a big mouth on him. |
| When faced with disappointment | Tends to stay silent and withdraw into himself; while normally good at caring for others, Isaac becomes paralyzed with fear and guilt when faced with disappointment from others. Will usually try to detract from the situation by changing the subject or doing someone a favor to make up for it later. | Bro, come on, let's not do this right now, yeah? Go take a jog or whatever and cool your head. It's not important. Is dismissive of other's feelings. Whether that's due to feeling shame, not knowing how to handle it, or he genuinely does not care depends on the situation. |
| When faced with praise | Yeah? Thanks, man. Wears his heart on his sleeve and is not afraid to voice his happiness and gratitude with friends and family. | ...Sure. Hell yeah! Told ya, I'm just the best, ain't that right? Hah! Gets flustered easily and doesn't know how to take genuine compliments and praise. However, if it's his buddies gassing him up, his cockiness increases tenfold. |
| When shown genuine kindness | Heh, you got a good head on your shoulders, huh? More laidback than his older brother, Isaac is quick to compliment others and point it out when they have a good character. He makes note of who is kind in his life and pays it back. | 'Course. You know I'll always have your back. Even though he gets flustered easily when praised, he is oddly serious when it comes to reciprocating what he believes to be genuine kindness and loyalty. He will always be straightforward when he thinks someone is "good" and "just". |
character background/ TBA
This is a short piece to establish the background of a main antagonist to set the tone of his interactions in the game world with other characters.
Inside a spare bedroom in the Messana Family’s main house stood the Family Head watching over the delivery of a newborn.“Nobody outside of this room hears of this birth, understood?”Francesco "Francis" Messana was an imposing man - he towered over the doctor who meekly nodded, holding the IV bag higher as he injected the last drops of chlorine into the liquid that made its way into the woman who laid there with labored breathing, blood and flesh strewn across the sheets.Her panting quickly turned into pained gurgles as she struggled against the bed, the doctor holding her still until she drew her last breath. Not even allowing her the dignity of a quiet passing, the Family Head pulled out his polished S&W revolver and painted the walls of the bedroom with a deep red splatter.It was at 10:42 PM on a rainy Wednesday that Deacon Messana was born to no witnesses.Four years later, Francis brought in an orphaned boy named Deacon. Those around the Boss noticed the similarity between the two, but didn’t dare speak up.Those closest to the Boss were instructed to train him as a potential heir. No questions were asked, and Deacon’s early childhood slowly trudged ahead with a crowded schedule full of academics, combat, and arms training.Years went on. Deacon learned fast, fought hard, and somewhere along the way, stopped flinching when Francis raised his voice...which only made the man hit harder.“You worthless BASTARD!” The gilded frames on the walls clattered against the oak panels. “Know your place, you useless scum. Bottom of the shit pile.”Scowling, Francis spat on the floor as he closed in on his son, spittle formed at the edges of his mouth as he looked into the young teen’s eyes with dripping contempt. “If it weren’t for the fact your mother was a lying whore, you wouldn’t even exist, you understand?! You’re so incompetent, you couldn’t have even made it in this world as a worm.”Picking up the boy with one arm, Francis watched as the shadows extended from his feet and swallowed up the room, writhing along the walls into the corners.“You should be dead in a ditch, just like your mother. Both of you, worthless, worthless, WORTHLESS!”Deacon flinched. Not from fear, but from the first mention of his birth parent since he could remember. He swallowed silently, his eyes following the creeping shadows closing in on him.“You know? It makes sense now, hah! She was a dumb one; you must’ve taken after her. Even as she lay there dying and wheezing like a fuckin’ dog, she pleaded with me. She wanted to make sure you wouldn’t be thrown off the pier. Even after fucking me and screwing me over, she still didn’t understand–”The Boss fell silent, his forehead pressed against Deacon’s as he narrowed his eyes. “A Messana..."“...Never gives up what is his,” Deacon whispered back quietly, a line drilled into his psyche longer than he knew how to walk.Deacon mustered up his best poker face as he processed this new information about himself, but Francis could see through his juvenile attempt at remaining calm.“Maybe you aren’t as empty-headed as I thought. You pieced it together fast, eh? Ha! Ahahaha!”The man laughed as if he found the situation amusing, but Deacon could only feel the bile rising up in his throat. The shadows slowly retreated, returning to their original form cast against the desk.“Now that you figured it out, you better step it up. Embarrass me, and I’ll have every single thing in your life taken from you in front of your eyes. Who knows? Maybe you whimper less than that bitch of a mother you had!”The Boss left and slammed the heavy office doors behind him, leaving Deacon alone. Trying to summon his own shadow, he became painfully aware of his powerlessness as he saw the pathetic spikes barely make it across the desk."I'll be the perfect heir," Deacon whispered to himself. "Watch yourself, old man. I'll become the Messana family's king slayer."