Marios Bikos
Staff Software Engineer
at Existent
CV
Currently, I’m serving as a Staff Software Engineer at Existent, where my mission revolves around simplifying the creation process for XR applications. Here, I delve deep into the intricacies of spatial computing, striving to empower developers to weave immersive experiences effortlessly.
As an SDK Technical Engineer at Bytedance's PICO XR Team, I helped game developers create riveting XR games for PICO headsets.
In my previous role at Tencent-owned game studio Sharkmob, I was an Associate Lead Gameplay Engineer working diligently on a top-secret AAA multiplayer game utilizing the impressive Unreal Engine 5. Before this, I worked with HTC Vive as a Developer Relations Engineer. This role provided the opportunity to act as a vital conduit between Vive Engineering and the EMEA clientele and VR developers, fostering the creation of high-quality VR content across an array of VIVE hardware.
An exciting highlight of my career was my collaboration with Framestore, an Academy Award-winning creative studio. There, I developed Virtual Production tools and interactive XR experiences for prestigious clients like VW China and Warner Bros. My experience also extends to game development, as exemplified by my time as a Games Programmer at Electric Square where we launched the highly popular racing game, Forza Street, in partnership with XBOX Studios.
With an MSc in Computer Graphics, Vision & Imaging from University College London, and a Master of Engineering from the University of Patras, I'm equipped with a solid theoretical foundation to complement my practical experience.
When I'm not immersed in the world of VR and game development, you can find me exploring the wonders of 3D printing, creating everything from board game pieces and F1 wheels to lightsabers. My passion for all things tech is truly all-encompassing, and I bring this zeal to every project I undertake.
■ GPA: Distinction (75.4%) ■ Diploma Thesis: "Virtual Reality for the Study of Moral Dilemmas involving Driverless Cars", Advisor: Prof. Mel Slater Related Coursework: Virtual Environments, Computer Graphics, Image Processing, Machine Vision, Acquisition and Processing of 3D Geometry
Major: Electronics & Computers ■ GPA: Overall: 7,85/10(Expected) ; GPA in Major: 8,55/10 ■ Diploma Thesis: "Dynamic Simulation of Virtual Objects for Augmented Reality Applications. Development of an Augmented Reality Chess", Advisor:Assistant Prof. K. Moustakas Related Coursework: Computer Graphics & Virtual Reality, Computational Geometry & 3D Modeling, Pattern Recognition, Human-Machine Interaction & Design of Interactive Systems, Digital Image Processing, Analysis & Design of Software Systems, Object Oriented Technology Independent: The Complete Git course(Udemy), C++ Short & Sweet(Udemy,University of Colorado Boulder), OpenCV Computer Vision Application Programming(Udemy)
➤ Spearheaded the management and content creation for PICO Developer’s YouTube & Twitter channels, crafting in-depth Unreal Engine video tutorials tailored to XR developers, driving rapid 4-month growth to 450 subscribers & 250 Twitter followers.
➤ Expertly tackled and resolved over 200 technical issues associated with the PICO XR SDK in Unreal Engine, consistently surpassing expectations with an on-time resolution rate of 95% or higher, aligning with SLAs, and delivering swift initial responses to customer inquiries.
➤ Authored and updated 30 knowledge base articles, resulting in a 30% reduction in repetitive tickets
➤ Onboarded and mentored 2 junior engineers & 2 mid-level engineers and saw good growth from them as they managed to take ownership of key areas of the development of the game. Also helped increase the size of the studio taking part in more than 15 interviews. SENIOR GAMEPLAY ENGINEER May 2021 - Apr 2022
➤ Helped architect, plan and troubleshoot the development of new features for a vehicle system using Unreal Engine 5 and the Chaos Physics System, exposing parameters and control systems for designer needs
➤ Introduced a Debug Camera System that empowered the team to capture dynamic vehicle shots from diverse angles, allowing the attachment of cameras to vehicle wheels, and showcasing intricate vehicle dynamics.
➤ Drive awareness about the Vive SDKs & APIs through the delivery of technical talks at developer conferences, meetups & webinars and the organisation of developers jams and hackathons.
➤ Reduce the friction of onboarding external developers providing guidance and technical support on the use of Vive SDKs and educating them by creating and sharing best practices, technical articles and tutorials as well as sample code.
➤ Collect feedback from external developers and influence internal product & engineering teams to translate developer needs into HW and SW features and steer the future roadmap.
As a member of the VR team in the Immersive Division, I worked with Academy Award-winning Creatives to build Framestore's Virtual Production tools and interactive AR/VR experiences for clients such as VW China, Warner Bros & Magic Leap.
VR Scouting Tools (Framestore Virtual Production)
➤ Worked with creatives to implement networked VR Scouting Tools for Framestore’s Virtual Production Platform and give filmmakers new ways to navigate/interact with the virtual world in VR, leveraging Unreal Engine.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - A Magic Leap Experience
➤ Led development for the accompanying AR Experience to Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald on Magic Leap, featured at the flagship AT&T Store in Chicago and ported it to VR.
➤ Experience in Magic Leap SDK, Image Tracking, State Pattern.
➤ Experience with Character animation for the Driver(Montages/Notifies/IK/AnimGraph)➤ Implemented tools for spline editing and a system that allowed skipping between different parts of the simulation reducing debugging time.➤ Implemented a tool that allows skipping between different sections of the simulation and a tool for easier manipulation of meshes in Unreal.A Moon for all Mankind
➤ Framestore proudly joined Samsung’s mission to bring space travel to all, developing the world’s first lunar gravity simulation VR experience.➤ Implemented an OSIG Injector GUI application to help with the distribution of the app to testers.
➤ Experience working in all phases of game development, from feature design & implementation to bug-fixing and optimisation.
➤ Worked with Designers to implement extensible and tunable 'meta' game features, such as progression and reward systems that drive engagement.
➤ Cooperated with Artists to create UI Screens with consistent visual style.
➤ Learned how to quickly iterate on the design of UI screens using visual scripting (with Unreal Engine's UMG) and how to improve performance by moving intensive parts to C++.
➤ Prototyped in-game player messaging features and implemented metagame systems for an unannounced project (based on a globally-recognised IP).
➤ Implemented a UI screen-flow system in Unreal Engine from scratch, allowing content authors to easily manipulate screens.
➤ Built a Unity Editor tool that simulates a production control room to facilitate the debugging of the complex camera system using C#.
➤ Experience in Unity3D(C#), Unreal Engine (C++, Visual Scripting), Project Documentation, Perforce, Prototyping, writing tests / test-driven development.
Conducted research on "Virtual Object Manipulation in Mixed-Reality Environments", under the supervision of Prof. G. Klinker and Y. Itoh, funded by the Erasmus+ programme
.➤ Implemented a pinch gesture detection algorithm, employing user’s thumb and forefinger to allow interaction with the virtual content displayed.
➤ Developed an interactive AR Chess Game, with depth map occlusion handling, so that users can seamlessly manipulate virtual chess pieces using their bare hands and play against a chess engine.
➤ Experience in C/C++, OpenCV, ArUco, OpenGL, RealSense SDK.
Roles in IEEE Student Branch- Chairman (October 2012 - August 2013)- Vice-Chairman (February 2012 - October 2012)Roles in IEEE Computer Society Student Branch:- Founder/Chairman (November 2011 - September 2012)
➤ Increased the number of Active Members by 150,6% (From 85 to 212)
➤ Increased the number of technical activities by 600% (From 3 per year to 21 per year)
➤ Led a team of 23 students for the organization of the 1st Games Expo in Greece,winning the Gold Darrel Chong Student Activity Award, given annually by IEEE to acknowledge exemplary student activities around the world.