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Patrick Byers
Selected work

2024–2025 · MMKPC Studios · In development

RHM: The Foundation

A third-person game in the RhythmVerse. I authored diegetic holograms in the material editor, built the attic they belong to, and laid out a secret stage whose Niagara effects change color and intensity with the song. I also managed the prop assets so they stayed inside acceptable size and budget.

Role
Prop designer & level designer
Platforms
PC · Steam
Focus
Environment · Props · Level
RHM: The Foundation key art

The problem

Holograms can look like glass planes if the material isn’t doing enough. An attic can look like furniture dropped on a greybox if the dressing doesn’t belong together. The secret stage needed its own language — particles that listen to the music instead of looping the same burst. I also had to keep the prop set inside the project’s size and budget so the room still loaded.

The loop

  1. Pattern
  2. Dress
  3. Stage

What I owned

  • Hologram set as diegetic UI: bars, caution, barrier, sphere, terminal — patterned in the material editor
  • Attic structure: timber, loft, openings
  • Area rug, neon music signs, and a vinyl set
  • Secret stage level with custom audio-reactive Niagara (color and intensity follow the song)
  • Prop asset management so meshes stayed inside acceptable parameters

Secret stage

Secret stage — custom Niagara, audio-reactive. Color and intensity follow the track. Sound on.

Stills

Holographic bars — a doorway that reads as blocked without a mesh fence.
Holographic bars — a doorway that reads as blocked without a mesh fence.
Caution hologram — scanlines and a silhouette you can parse at a jog.
Caution hologram — scanlines and a silhouette you can parse at a jog.
Holographic sphere — the same scanline language on a volume, not a card.
Holographic sphere — the same scanline language on a volume, not a card.
Attic rug — pattern and pile as dressing, not a decal on the floor.
Attic rug — pattern and pile as dressing, not a decal on the floor.
Vinyl on the beam — a set, hung where the room can use them.
Vinyl on the beam — a set, hung where the room can use them.
Beast pressing — pattern generated in the material editor, label and all.
Beast pressing — pattern generated in the material editor, label and all.

Process

  1. 01

    Pattern first

    The holograms started in the material editor — scanlines, falloff, a warning that still reads as a triangle. Once the pattern felt right on a plane, it could move onto a bar or a moon. That work sits next to my thesis: information that belongs in the space.

  2. 02

    Dress the attic

    Structure first, then the things that suggest someone lives there: rug, neon, a beam of vinyl. I kept the prop set inside the budget so the room stayed light enough to play in.

  3. 03

    Hide a stage

    The secret level is a DJ booth over water, then a particle tunnel. Custom Niagara, driven by the audio — color and intensity shift with the song instead of playing a canned loop.

Outcome

An attic that feels occupied, holograms you can treat as world UI, and a hidden stage that actually listens to the track.