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AetherCore
An editor-first Vulkan game engine for 2D and 3D games, with hot-reloadable C# gameplay, reflection-driven tooling, and an end-to-end asset and publishing pipeline.
Role Designed and built the engine architecture, Vulkan renderer, editor workflows, managed scripting bridge, asset pipeline, diagnostics, and project tooling.
- A working 2D and 3D editor with project templates, sprite authoring and animation, scene tools, C# gameplay, physics, and Vulkan rendering.
- Projects can move from imported assets and authored scenes to hot-reloaded gameplay and packaged standalone builds without leaving the engine workflow.
Case study
AetherCore
An editor-first Vulkan game engine for 2D and 3D games, with hot-reloadable C# gameplay, reflection-driven tooling, and an end-to-end asset and publishing pipeline.
Role
Designed and built the engine architecture, Vulkan renderer, editor workflows, managed scripting bridge, asset pipeline, diagnostics, and project tooling.
Problem
I wanted the renderer, authoring tools, scripting layer, and shipping workflow to evolve as one usable engine—not become another technically interesting renderer demo that never supported making a game.
Approach
- Kept engine-facing GPU abstractions separate from the Vulkan backend and moved frame data through immutable render packets rather than reading the ECS from the render thread.
- Made reflection a single source of truth for editable component fields across the inspector, scene serializer, and editor-control surface.
- Built the editor, standalone Launcher, managed gameplay SDK, diagnostics, and asset pipeline around the same project model so iteration and shipping use the same foundations.
Outcome
- A working 2D and 3D editor with project templates, sprite authoring and animation, scene tools, C# gameplay, physics, and Vulkan rendering.
- Projects can move from imported assets and authored scenes to hot-reloaded gameplay and packaged standalone builds without leaving the engine workflow.
- The Launcher and Editor can be driven and inspected programmatically for reproducible scene authoring, screenshots, diagnostics, and end-to-end validation.
