Contact

Matthew Lowe

A full-stack developer who cares about the business as much as the code.

I find the slow, manual parts of a business and build the systems that take them away.

Game Development Lead at Veyra

Veyra case study Download CV
Matthew smiling, seated at a table with his hands clasped
126 orders and 2,000+ lines in one live record
27 factories
Built automatically in the system's first week
41 purchase orders
Checked against what was agreed
138 contracts
Of admin saved every week
About 15 hours

My story

I started out making games, and it taught me to think in systems. When I joined my family's import business, I set up its online retail side on Amazon UK, then built the system it now runs on: one live record of 126 orders across 27 factories, purchase orders that build themselves, every contract checked against what was agreed, and emails drafted in each person's own style for them to send. It saves the team about 15 hours a week.

I was fortunate that Veyra's founder took me on to lead game development. The team had spent weeks trying to get the game running on iPad. I worked it out over a weekend and had a build out in my first week. As I kept delivering, I was given more and more responsibility, and today I lead the technical side of Veyra, where my two passions meet: games and business.

What I do

I look at how a business runs, find what slows it down, and build the systems that fix it.

Selling on Amazon, and the systems behind it

I run the online retail side of my family's import business on Amazon UK, from sourcing new products at factories overseas to shipping containers to the warehouse, and I built the systems it runs on, which save the team about 15 hours a week. AI drafts and checks the routine work but people make the calls.

See operations

Veyra and games

I led game development on the twelve short game tasks students play to measure skills like working memory, attention and planning. Now I lead the technical side, from the front end students see to the science and data behind it.

Veyra case study

Front end and gamification

Gamification is where my interests meet. A task that feels like a game gets better data and a student who wants to come back, so I spend a lot of time on the small things like feedback, timing and how it feels to play.

See the games
Veyra · Nov 2025 to present

Leading the technical side of a cognitive assessment platform for schools

I led game development on the short game tasks students play in UK schools and took them onto iPad, iPhone and Mac.

  • Nov 2025 to presentGame Development Lead
Highlights of what I led
  • The game build from first tasks to the version used in schools
  • The move from keyboard and mouse to touch, shipped on iPad, iPhone and Mac
  • Tutorials, onboarding and voiced narration in three guide voices
Read the case study
Matthew sitting at the Veyra stand beside an iPad running the game, under a banner showing one of the tasks
On the Veyra stand

From Veyra's twelve game tasks

See all twelve
  • Veyra task 01, Planning: coloured shapes to order against a targetPlanning
  • Veyra task 03, Working memory reverse: a row of shapes to recall in reverseWorking memory
  • Veyra task 07, Processing speed: find the matching shapeProcessing speed
  • Veyra task 09, Inhibition: look for the oppositeInhibition

The cognitive tasks I built and redesigned: working memory, verbal memory, processing speed, inhibition, task shifting, selective attention, visuospatial memory and planning. Built in Unreal Engine 5 and shipped on iPad, iPhone and Mac.

Projects I've led

Games in Unreal Engine 5 and Unity, each built around a system I wanted to learn properly.

All games
Project Extract: the player at a door in the compound, rifle raised Gameplay
Unreal Engine 5.7 · C++

Project Extract

A single-player tactical extraction shooter. You rescue a captive and fight out to extraction alongside an AI companion you command, against an enemy force paced by a director system.

See the project
Atlas: a wizard casting lightning at enemies in a dungeon
Unreal Engine 5 · C++

Atlas: Defender of Dungeons

A dungeon RPG with 12 spells, more than a dozen dungeons and a boss, built on Unreal's Gameplay Ability System.
Path of Noah: towers around a castle on a tile-built level
Unity · C# · Project lead

Path of Noah

A tower defence game I led for a team of four, with 329 of its 673 commits.
Tower Blitz Battleground: towers firing on enemies along a path
Unity 6 · C#

Tower Blitz Battleground

An arcade tower defence game you can play in your browser.
After the Fall: the player character in a ruined, misty city
Unreal Engine 5

After the Fall

A post-apocalyptic shooter with a custom climbing system and zombie AI.
Also built

Day 1 Veyra · 2026

A school life simulation and the playable demo for our Epic MegaGrants application.

How I work

My part is making sure what we build works, ships and stays safe for the students using it.

Close to design

I like working closely with design to make things people want to use.

Owning the build

Planning the work and owning every build we put in front of schools and funders.

People make the calls

AI drafts and checks the routine work. Nothing ships until it's been tested and signed off.

Cost and time count

Running real systems taught me to think about cost, time and what actually moves a business forward.

Read the CV
Operations · Mar 2026 to present

The Amazon side of my family's import business

I run it, and I built the systems it runs on: a web dashboard with iPhone and Mac apps the team uses every day for orders, shipping and email. Less time chasing and re-typing, so the team spends it on decisions.

  1. Coming inSales, stock and containersForecasts and live container tracking
  2. One placeOne live order recordEvery order from the factory to the warehouse
  3. DraftsRoutine emailsIn each person's own style, every figure checked
  4. ApprovalA person presses sendNothing is sent before that
See operations

Education

  • MSc Computer Games, DistinctionSep 2025 to Sep 2026Queen Mary University of London
  • Diploma in Game Programming with Unreal EngineSep 2023 to Jul 2024CG Spectrum
  • BSc Computer Science, Upper-Second Class HonoursSep 2020 to Jul 2023Royal Holloway

Curriculum vitae

Experience, projects, education and skills, with a PDF to download.

Engines and code
Unreal Engine 5, C++, Unity, C#, Python, JavaScript, Node.js, SQL
Front end
UI and gamification, feedback, timing and game feel
Systems and AI
APIs, data pipelines, security, iOS and Mac builds, AI agents and automation
View CV Download CV

Serious engineering that feels like play.

If you work in education, digital health or games I'd like to hear from you.

Contact Email me

Case study

Veyra

An adaptive cognitive assessment and intervention platform for schools. One lesson to understand how a student learns. A practical plan teachers can use tomorrow. A game where students build the skills they struggle with most.

Funding
Innovate UK Smart grant
Research
King's College London and Imperial College London
Protection
European patent application
Platforms
iPad, iPhone and Mac

Veyra does not diagnose or replace clinical assessment. It helps support begin sooner.

Veyra's overview video. It loads from YouTube when you press play.
A student's cognitive report

Role timeline

Nov 2025 to present

Game Development Lead

Led game development on Veyra's assessment in Unreal Engine 5 and C++. Ran the build day to day and took designs from our creative lead and research from our CEO through to a game students want to play.

  • Lead the technical side of the platform, from the game students play through to the science and back end that turn what they do into results a school can trust
Jun 2025

Innovate UK Smart funding

Smart funding backs the R&D behind Veyra, now in use in UK schools.

What I led as Game Development Lead

  • The game build from first tasks to the version used in schools, planning the work and owning every build we put in front of schools and funders
  • Building and redesigning the cognitive tasks
  • The move from keyboard and mouse to touch, shipped on iPad, iPhone and Mac
  • Tutorials, onboarding and voiced narration in three guide voices that every task runs through
  • With our AI lead, the score data each task sends to the back end, so results stay consistent between versions
  • The Day 1 school life simulation, our playable demo for grant applications including Epic MegaGrants
Built with
Unreal Engine 5C++Touch inputiPadiPhoneMac

The cognitive tasks I built and redesigned

Each is a short game students play, built in Unreal Engine 5 and C++. Below the screenshots are the eight skills they measure.

Veyra's twelve game tasks
01Planning
02Deductive reasoning
03Working memory (reverse)
04Visuospatial abilities
05Verbal memory (immediate)
06Visuospatial memory (immediate)
07Processing speed
08Selective attention
09Inhibition
10Task shifting
11Verbal memory (delayed)
12Visuospatial memory (delayed)

Select a skill to see its task.

The science behind it

Veyra has twelve short game tasks in all, one per skill, each modelled on an established clinical test such as the Stroop or the Tower of London.

Veyra’s evidence
Test-retest reliability, from 146 adolescents tested twice
.83 to .88
Internal consistency
.88 to .96
Locations behind Veyra’s national UK norms
12
Independent ethics approvalPatent pending

My part: building and redesigning the tasks, moving them from keyboard and mouse to touch, the tutorials and the three voiced guides, and the score data each task sends to the back end.

Pebble Academy

Scenes from Veyra's game world.

The kitchen
The lounge
A dorm room
Talking with Veyra
2026 · Unreal Engine 5

Day 1, a school life simulation

A school day where students manage their timetable, energy, money and friendships while practising the thinking skills Veyra measures. We used it as the playable demo for our Epic MegaGrants application.

What students manage
  • Timetable
  • Energy
  • Money
  • Friendships
Shipped on

From keyboard and mouse to touch

  • Touch controls for every task, shipped on iPad, iPhone and Mac
  • Tutorials, onboarding and voiced narration in three guide voices
  • Score data kept consistent between versions

Operations

How I make a business run better

Every business has work that waits, gets re-typed or gets chased. I find it and build the systems that take it away. This is how I do it, and the import business I run on Amazon UK is where I've proved it.

My role
Running our Amazon UK business
The business
My family's import business
Used by
The whole team, every day
Runs on
Web, iPhone, Mac and Teams

The framework

  1. 01

    Map how the work really flows.

    Follow a job from start to finish and find where it waits, gets re-typed or gets chased.

  2. 02

    One source of truth.

    Put it in one live record that every person and tool reads from, so everyone works from the same numbers.

  3. 03

    Automate the routine.

    Let software do the repeat work: building documents, drafting messages, checking figures.

  4. 04

    People make the calls.

    The system prepares and checks. A person decides and presses send.

  5. 05

    Measure, then go again.

    Track the time saved and the mistakes caught, then find the next bottleneck.

Proved on an import business

126 orders and 2,000+ lines in one live record
27 factories
Built automatically in the system's first week
41 purchase orders
Checked against what was agreed
138 contracts
Of admin saved every week
About 15 hours

What I built for it

02One source of truth

One order record
One live record of every order from the factory to the warehouse, with live container tracking

03Automate the routine

Purchase orders
Purchase orders built straight from the live order record
Email drafts
AI drafts routine emails in each person's own writing style and checks every figure against the order record. Nothing is sent until a person presses send

04People make the calls

The team's screens
A web dashboard with iPhone and Mac apps the team uses every day, and an assistant for the team in Microsoft Teams
A workspace each
Microsoft 365 sign-in with a separate workspace for each person

05Measure, then go again

Forecasts
Sales and stock data pipelines with forecasting for reorders

What I run

Every product goes through the same five stages, and I look after each of them.

  1. 01

    Sourcing

    Finding new products at factories overseas and agreeing prices.

  2. 02

    Costing and margins

    Costing each product and keeping a close eye on the margin.

  3. 03

    Product launches

    Getting new products listed, launched and selling on Amazon.

  4. 04

    Stock planning and reorders

    Planning stock and deciding what to reorder, and when.

  5. 05

    Shipping

    Shipping containers from the factory to the warehouse.

Where else it fits

Anywhere work passes between people and systems: orders, bookings, reports, approvals. At Veyra, the same thinking keeps each task's score data consistent from the game to the teacher's dashboard.

How I build

Four rules I hold to, because the people using it are running a business, not testing software.

  1. 01

    People make the calls

    AI drafts and checks the routine work. Nothing is sent until a person presses send.

  2. 02

    One record, every figure checked

    Every figure is checked against one live record, so everyone works from the same numbers.

  3. 03

    Built for people, not tech experts

    Big, obvious controls where people are already looking, never hidden away in a menu.

  4. 04

    Changes go live the same day

    When something needs changing, the change is live that day.

What it taught me

Running it taught me to think about cost, time and what actually moves a business forward.

How I use AI

I use AI a lot and I'm careful with it. It drafts and checks the routine work but people make the calls, and nothing ships until it's been tested and signed off.

Games

Games I've built

Games in Unreal Engine 5 and Unity, each built around a system I wanted to learn properly: AI companions and enemy squads, abilities, climbing, waves and performance.

Project Extract: the player at a door in the compound, rifle raised
Unreal Engine 5.7 · C++

Project Extract

A single-player tactical extraction shooter. Rescue a captive and fight out alongside an AI companion you command, against eight enemy archetypes coordinated into squads.

AI companionEnemy squadsPlayable demo
View project
Atlas: Defender of Dungeons title screen, a wizard facing a glowing rune circle
Unreal Engine 5 · C++ · Solo project2024

Atlas: Defender of Dungeons

A dungeon RPG with 12 spells, more than a dozen dungeons and a boss, built on Unreal's Gameplay Ability System. I designed and built the dungeons, the boss and 9 of its 12 spells.

12 spellsBoss dungeonGameplay Ability System
Path of Noah: towers around a castle on a tile-built level
Unity · C# · Team of four · Project lead2026

Path of Noah

A tower defence game I led for a team of four, making 329 of its 673 commits. I built nine towers in four element families, the damage type chart, six enemy types, the waves and the tile-built levels.

Project leadType chartSeven levels
After the Fall: the player character in a ruined, misty city
Unreal Engine 5CG Spectrum

After the Fall

A post-apocalyptic third-person shooter with a custom climbing system and zombie AI.
Tower Blitz Battleground: towers firing on enemies along a path
Unity 6 · C#2025

Tower Blitz Battleground

An arcade tower defence game with priority targeting and object pooling. Play it in your browser.
Also built
Veyra · 2026

Day 1

A school life simulation and the playable demo for our Epic MegaGrants application. More on the Veyra page.

Project Extract

A single-player tactical extraction shooter in Unreal Engine 5.7. The player infiltrates a compound, rescues a captive and fights out to extraction alongside an AI companion they command.

Unreal Engine 5.7C++Single-player
Play the demo Source code
Project Extract: the player at a door in the compound, rifle raised Gameplay highlights
Forty seconds of gameplay, with no sound. My full presentation is further down the page.

The game

You go into a compound, find a captive and get them out alive, with an AI companion at your side. You command the companion through three behaviour modes and a set of orders, like sending them to search a room.

The enemy force is eight archetypes running on one shared behaviour tree. They are coordinated into squads, and a director system paces the fight by controlling when reinforcements arrive.

  1. 01Infiltrate
  2. 02Rescue
  3. 03Fight out
  4. 04Extract

The companion

Three behaviour modes and a set of orders the player gives.

The enemy

Eight archetypes on one shared behaviour tree, coordinated into squads.

The director

A system that controls when reinforcements arrive.

Gallery

Sending the companion to search a room
Reaching the hostage
Clearing a room
Defending the extraction point
In a firefight
Fighting out to the exit

From my presentation

How I built it: directing a team of AI agents

I built Project Extract by directing a team of AI agents, with the calls left to me. This is what worked, what didn't, and where it stopped being useful.

Agents
7
Skills
42
Months
6
Level
1

How the team was set up

A main session held the plan and never the files. The agents split into three groups.

Main sessionHolds the plan, never the files
Code
  • Implementer
  • Reviewer
  • Build
  • UI
Editor
  • Unreal editor
Reference
  • Reference

The review loop

One agent writes, another reads, and every finding is graded before anything goes back.

  1. 1
    The implementer writesAn agent writes the change.
  2. 2
    The reviewer readsA second agent reads it and grades each finding.
  3. 3
    The grade decides what happensSome findings go straight back. Warnings come to me.
FindingWhat happens
CriticalStraight back to the implementer
MissingStraight back to the implementer
WarningOne call from me
InfoIgnored
What I learned

A reviewer always finds warnings. When I let the loop chase all of them, it ran five times on one change.

Reaching into the Unreal editor

Getting the agents into the Unreal editor took three attempts.

Attempt 1Abandoned

An in-editor chat

A chat inside the editor, which I abandoned.

Attempt 2Slow

A written checklist

A written checklist that I worked through by hand.

Attempt 3Worked

An MCP bridge

From June, an MCP bridge into the editor. This one worked.

Blueprints

Agent-built Blueprint graphs compiled and behaved, but they were close to unmaintainable by hand.

Where it stopped

The harness stopped being useful exactly where the work stopped being symbolic and started being spatial, so level design stayed my job.

“I would build my next game this way without hesitation, and I have already carried several of these habits into my industry job.”

Matthew Lowe, project presentation

Watch the full presentation

My recorded presentation, about eleven minutes with sound. It covers the game and how I built it with a team of AI agents.

Play the demo Source code
PreviousPath of Noah NextAtlas: Defender of Dungeons

Path of Noah

A tower defence game on modular, tile-built levels, made in Unity with a team of four. I led the project and built its core systems: the towers, upgrades, damage, enemies, waves and level building.

UnityC#Team of fourProject lead
Our demo video from January 2026. It loads from YouTube when you press play.
My share of the work
329of 673 commits

The most on the team. I led the project and built the systems the rest of the game runs on.

Team
Four developers
Built
Oct 2025 to Jan 2026
Engine
Unity and C#
Role
Project lead

The game

You hold a path across seven levels, from a walled garden to a castle and a night level, with towers from four element families. A type chart of damage multipliers between the four elements decides how hard each attack lands.

Towers upgrade through skill trees, and the skill tree you buy into changes which enemies you face.

Towers
9
Element families
4
Enemy types I added
6
Levels
7

What I built

The core systems of the game, written in C# in Unity.

Every tower, in four element families

All nine towers in the game, built on shared tower and projectile base classes.

01

Physical

  • Archer
  • Spear
02

Magic

  • Ice Mage
  • Pyromancer
03

Mechanic

  • Blade TrapPlaces itself on the road
  • Spike TrapPlaces itself on the road
04

Imaginary

  • Phantom KnightA summoner
  • Rock Shower
  • Guardian

Upgrades and skill trees

How towers grow over a level.

  • An upgrade manager for the towers
  • Skill tree costs set per element
  • Big upgrades that replace earlier ones
  • Buying into a skill tree changes which enemies you face

Damage and the type chart

Physical, Magic, Mechanic and Imaginary, in a 4x4 chart of damage multipliers.

2xSuper effective
0.5xResisted
0Immune
  • Stored as a ScriptableObject with a custom editor, so designers tune matchups without code
  • Floating damage numbers

Six enemy types

The Summoner spawns goblin minions.

BasicFastTankSummonerHexerHerald
  • An enemy spawner
  • Debuff icons over enemies
  • Tower targeting that picks by enemy type

Waves across seven levels

What comes down the path, and when.

  • A wave manager that handles the timing
  • Waves written for each level
  • I set up all seven levels, wrote their waves and balanced them

Tile-based level building

Levels built from modular tiles.

  • A grid builder with tile sets and tile slots
  • A custom Unity editor tool for laying out levels
  • Reuses the level system from my own Tower Blitz Battleground

Object pooling

I rebuilt the object pooling for enemies.

  • Enemies are reused instead of created and destroyed

I also added sound effects for the levels and impacts, and commented the code across the towers and the damage system.

Leading the team

The challenge, and how I led it

The challenge

Uneven contributions on a team of four

Contributions across the team were uneven, so I stepped up to lead and hold the project together.

How I led it

Building the core and bringing the team together

  1. 1
    I took on the core systemsThe towers, upgrades, damage, enemies, waves and level building, so the rest of the game had a solid base.
  2. 2
    I kept the build movingI made about half of all the commits, 329 of 673, and set up, wrote the waves for and balanced all seven levels.
  3. 3
    I brought the team togetherI organised coding days at my flat, where we sat together and worked through the hardest problems.

Gallery

The garden level
The castle level
The night level
Level select
Built with
UnityC#ScriptableObjectsCustom editor toolsObject poolingGit
PreviousTower Blitz Battleground NextProject Extract

Atlas: Defender of Dungeons

A dungeon RPG in Unreal Engine 5 and C++, with 12 spells, more than a dozen dungeons and a boss, built on Unreal's Gameplay Ability System. I designed and built the dungeons, the boss and 9 of its 12 spells.

Unreal Engine 5C++Gameplay Ability SystemSolo project
Source code
The video loads from YouTube when you press play.
What I designed and built
9of its 12 spells

Along with every dungeon and the boss. Underneath, the abilities, attributes and damage run on Unreal's Gameplay Ability System.

Dungeons
More than a dozen
Built
Jul to Dec 2024
Engine
Unreal Engine 5 and C++
Project
Solo

The game

You play a wizard fighting through more than a dozen dungeons, including side dungeons, on the way to a boss. You click to move or use WASD, and cast from four spell slots and two passive slots.

Kills give XP. Each level brings attribute points for your four primary stats and spell points to unlock, equip and level up spells. Checkpoints save your progress to one of three save slots.

Spells
12
Dungeons
12+
Attributes
22
Enemy types
5

What I built

The dungeons, the boss and 9 of the 12 spells, in C++ and Blueprints on top of the game's ability system.

The spellbook: three elements and three passives

Each element is its own damage type, resisted by its own resistance, with a debuff it can add on a hit.

01

Fire

DebuffBurn, damage over time

  • Fire BoltHoming bolts, up to five at once
  • Fire BlastTwelve fire balls fly out and come back
  • Fire TornadoSweeps enemies off their feet
02

Lightning

DebuffStun, the target freezes

  • ElectrocuteA held beam that jumps to nearby enemies
  • Thunder StrikeA lightning bolt at the cursor
  • ShockwaveTwelve shock bolts in a ring
03

Arcane

DebuffArcane, damage over time

  • Arcane ShardsShards burst from the ground, more each level
  • Arcane VortexPulls enemies into its centre
  • Arcane DecayA pool that hurts anything standing in it
04

Passive

SlotsTwo, always on once equipped

  • Life SiphonHeals you when you kill an enemy
  • Mana SiphonRestores mana when you kill an enemy
  • Halo of ProtectionA chance to survive a killing blow

Physical is the fourth damage type, used by enemy melee and ranged attacks. Each attacking spell's damage, mana cost and cooldown scale with its level.

More than a dozen dungeons, and a boss

I designed and built every level.

  • An intro level, main dungeons, and side dungeons off their lobbies
  • A boss dungeon
  • Navigation meshes, enemy spawn areas and map entrances in every dungeon
  • Fire hazards on the floor, and walls that fade when they block the camera
  • A balance pass on XP, enemy stats and spell damage

Nine of the twelve spells

Each spell is a C++ class with a Blueprint, its own mana cost and its own cooldown.

  • Projectiles, beams, ground areas and summoned actors such as the tornado
  • Damage, mana cost and cooldown that scale with level through curve tables
  • Tooltips written in code that show the next level's values

How it works

From key press to damage

How a spell lands, built on Unreal's Gameplay Ability System.

One spell, start to finish
  1. 01InputA key or click sends its input tag: a mouse button or keys 1 to 4.
  2. 02AbilityThe spell on that tag activates, pays its mana cost and starts its cooldown.
  3. 03Gameplay effectThe spell hits and applies a damage effect, carrying the damage type and amount.
  4. 04Damage calculationReads the attacker's and the target's stats, in the five steps below.
  5. 05Attribute changeHealth drops, and any debuff and knockback land. A kill sends XP.
  6. 06Floating textThe number shows over the target: normal, blocked or critical.
The damage calculation

Five steps, using stats from both sides

Attacker's statTarget's stat
  1. 1
    Debuff rollThe spell's debuff chance, lowered by the target's resistance to that element. A success sets the debuff's damage, duration and frequency.
    Resistance to the element
  2. 2
    BlockRolled against the target's Block Chance. A block halves the damage.
    Block Chance
  3. 3
    ArmorArmor Penetration lowers the target's Armor, then the Armor left lowers the damage, both weighted by level.
    Armor PenetrationArmor
  4. 4
    Critical hitThe chance is Critical Hit Chance less the target's Critical Hit Resistance. A crit doubles the damage and adds Critical Hit Damage.
    Critical Hit ChanceCritical Hit DamageCritical Hit Resistance
  5. 5
    ResultThe final number goes to the target's Incoming Damage, ready to lower its Health.
Attributes

22 attributes in five groups

01

Primary 4

Where your attribute points go.

StrengthIntelligenceResilienceVigor
Feeds
02

Secondary 10

Worked out from the primary stats, so they update on every point spent.

ArmorArmor PenetrationBlock ChanceCritical Hit ChanceCritical Hit DamageCritical Hit ResistanceHealth RegenerationMana RegenerationMax HealthMax Mana
03

Resistance 4

FireLightningArcanePhysical
04

Vital 2

HealthMana
05

Meta 2

Incoming DamageIncoming XP
Max Health = 80 + 2.5 × Vigor + 10 × level Max Mana = 50 + 2.5 × Intelligence + 15 × level

Around the combat

The rest of how the game works.

Five enemy types

In three classes, with stats that scale with level.

Spear GoblinSlingshot GoblinGhoulShamanDemon
  • Warrior, Ranger and Elementalist classes
  • Behaviour trees, with EQS finding ranged attackers a spot to fire from
  • A summon ability that brings in minions around the caster

Levelling and spell points

Every spell moves up a ladder as you level.

LockedLevel too low
EligibleLevel reached
UnlockedSpell point spent
EquippedIn a slot
  • XP from kills, with attribute and spell points each level
  • More spell points raise a spell's level

Saves, checkpoints and travel

Progress carries between dungeons.

  • Three save slots, with a load screen built on Unreal's Model View ViewModel
  • Checkpoints save your level, stats and spells
  • Map entrances lead between dungeons, and dying reloads the last save

Moving and casting

Mouse and keyboard, from the top down.

  • Click to move along a navigation path, or use WASD
  • Hold Shift to cast without moving
  • Spells bound to keys by gameplay tag

Gallery

Title screen
Combat
Dungeon
Built with
Unreal Engine 5C++BlueprintsGameplay Ability SystemBehaviour trees and EQSNiagaraGit
PreviousProject Extract NextAfter the Fall

CV

Curriculum vitae

Download CV Open PDF

Matthew Lowe

Full-stack developer | Game Development Lead at Veyra

Profile

A full-stack developer who cares about the business as much as the code. I find the slow, manual parts of a business and build the systems that take them away. I started in games, which taught me to think in systems. I set up the online retail side of my family's import business on Amazon UK and built the system it runs on, saving about 15 hours a week. At Veyra I got the game running on iPad over a weekend and had a build out in my first week. As I kept delivering I was given more and more responsibility, and today I lead the technical side of Veyra.

Experience

Game Development Lead · Veyra

Nov 2025 to present

Veyra is an adaptive cognitive assessment and intervention platform for schools. It is backed by Innovate UK, built alongside researchers at King's College London and Imperial College London, and protected by a European patent application. It does not diagnose or replace clinical assessment. It helps support begin sooner.

Led game development on Veyra's assessment, the short game tasks students play in UK schools, in Unreal Engine 5 and C++. Ran the build day to day and took designs from our creative lead and research from our CEO through to a game students want to play.

  • Lead the technical side of the platform, from the game students play through to the science and back end that turn what they do into results a school can trust
  • Led the game build from first tasks to the version used in schools, planning the work and owning every build we put in front of schools and funders
  • Built and redesigned the cognitive tasks including working memory, verbal memory, processing speed, inhibition, task shifting, selective attention, visuospatial memory and planning
  • Got the game running on iPad over a weekend and had a build out in my first week, then took it from keyboard and mouse to touch and shipped it on iPad, iPhone and Mac
  • Built the tutorials, onboarding and voiced narration in three guide voices that every task runs through
  • Worked with our AI lead on the score data each task sends to the back end so results stay consistent between versions
  • Built the Day 1 school life simulation we used as the playable demo for grant applications including Epic MegaGrants

Systems & Automation Developer · Self-employed

Mar 2026 to present

I run the online retail side of my family's import business on Amazon UK and built the system it runs on, which saves about 15 hours a week.

  • One live record of 126 orders across 27 factories, from the factory to the warehouse, with live container tracking
  • 41 purchase orders built automatically in its first week; 138 contracts checked against what was agreed
  • AI that drafts emails in each person's own style for them to send, checking every figure against the record
  • A web dashboard and iPhone and Mac apps the team uses daily, with a Microsoft 365 workspace for each person
  • Sourcing from factories overseas, pricing and margins, Amazon listings and launches, stock and shipping
  • Sales and stock data pipelines with forecasting for reorders

Volunteer Game Programmer · Toybox Titans

Aug 2024 to Feb 2025
  • Developed new abilities in Unreal Engine using the Gameplay Ability System (GAS)
  • Worked with designers and managers to implement new features and abilities
  • Agile development environment

Projects I've led

Veyra, Innovate UK Smart Grant Jun 2025 to present

Innovate UK Smart funding backs the R&D behind Veyra, game-based cognitive assessment and intervention for secondary schools, now in use in UK schools. I led game development on the tasks students play and took the game onto iPad, iPhone and Mac.

Day 1, school life simulation 2026

A school day in Unreal Engine 5 where students manage their timetable, energy, money and friendships while practising the thinking skills Veyra measures. The playable demo for our Epic MegaGrants application.

Project Extract 2026

A tactical extraction shooter in Unreal Engine 5 and C++ with an AI companion the player commands and eight enemy types run by one shared behaviour tree. Built by directing a team of AI agents.

Path of Noah Unity, 2026

A tower defence game on modular tile-built levels. I led a team of four and made about half of all commits, building all the towers, the wave system and the level building, reusing the level system from Tower Blitz Battleground.

Atlas: Defender of Dungeons Unreal Engine 5

A dungeon RPG in Unreal Engine 5 and C++ built on the Gameplay Ability System; I designed all the levels, more than a dozen dungeons and a boss, and 9 of its 12 spells.

After the Fall Unreal Engine 5

A post-apocalyptic adventure game with third person shooting, a full climbing system and custom enemy AI.

Tower Blitz Battleground Unity 6, 2025

An arcade tower defence game in C# with several tower types, a level creation system and object pooling for performance.

Contact

Get in touch

If you work in education, digital health or games I'd like to hear from you.

Emailmatthewlowe18@gmail.com LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/matthew-lowe-4375a42aa GitHubgithub.com/MJL1106 CVMatthew-Lowe-CV.pdf

Currently

  • Game Development LeadVeyra, since November 2025
  • Systems & Automation DeveloperSelf-employed, since March 2026
Veyra case study
Before you write
Veyra The cognitive assessment platform where I lead the technical side Operations The Amazon business I run and its systems Games Games in Unreal Engine 5 and Unity CV Experience, projects and education