Engineering Portfolio

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Following are some of the projects that I did or that I was involved.


Internet Banking System Architecture (C4 Model)

Software Architecture Design
Author: Fausto Iván Zamora Arias
Repository: github.com/ivanzamoraarias/BankingSystemDesign

Summary
Complete architectural design of a modern internet banking system using the C4 model (Context → Containers → Components).

The design covers:

  • System Context (Level 1): Customers, Web SPA, Mobile App, Core Banking, Complementary Systems, and Notification Service
  • Container Diagram (Level 2): Frontend apps, Auth & Onboarding, BFF (Backend-for-Frontend), Notification Service, and Audit System
  • Component details (Level 3): Authentication flow, transaction handling, biometric support, real-time notifications, and audit strategies

Technology Stack

  • Frontend: ReactJS (SPA) + React Native / .NET MAUI
  • Auth: Amazon Cognito + Rekognition (biometrics)
  • Backend: AWS Lambda + API Gateway (BFF pattern)
  • Data: DynamoDB, Redis (caching), Aurora PostgreSQL
  • Notifications: SQS + SNS + Firebase Cloud Messaging
  • Audit: DynamoDB Streams (CDC) + AWS Glue (batch ETL)

Key Design Decisions

  • Microservices architecture for independent scaling
  • Backend-for-Frontend (BFF) pattern for secure frontend communication
  • Hybrid caching (Redis + DynamoDB)
  • Dual audit strategy (real-time CDC for fraud detection + batch ETL for regulatory reporting)
  • Multi-channel notifications (SMS, email, push)

The project includes detailed diagrams (C4 Levels 1–3) and a full architecture document.




Stakeholder Management for a National Bank Transfer System in Ecuador

MBA Project – USP/ESALQ
Authors: Fausto Iván Zamora Arias & Daniel R. Tasé Velázquez

link: you can read more here

Summary
This project analyzed how to successfully introduce a unified instant digital payment system in Ecuador (similar to Brazil’s PIX and Sweden’s Swish).

Key activities included:

  • Comparative analysis of successful systems in Brazil and Sweden
  • Mapping of all relevant stakeholders (public and private)
  • Development of power/interest and commitment matrices

Main findings
The private banks that currently dominate the market with their own apps (Deuna – Banco Pichincha, Peigo – Banco de Guayaquil, Payphone – Produbanco) hold high power and are initially resistant. The public sector (especially the Central Bank of Ecuador) has formal power and veto capacity but lower technical readiness.

Recommendation
A structured stakeholder engagement strategy is required so that private banks move from “resistant” to “supporter,” while the Central Bank leads the project. This alignment is critical for a successful national instant payment system.



VR Experience for the Virtual Conservation of the Flamman Theater

Master’s Thesis – Chalmers University of Technology / University of Gothenburg (2022)
Author: Fausto Iván Zamora Arias
Supervisor: Thommy Eriksson
Examiner: Staffan Björk

Official link: GUPEA (or the bitstream you shared)

Summary
This master’s thesis digitally preserved the historic Flamman Theater in Gothenburg by creating an immersive Virtual Reality experience in Unreal Engine 4, playable on the Oculus Quest 2.

Goal
Recreate the atmosphere and experience of going to a classic cinema from the 1950s, so people can still “visit” and watch movies inside a building that no longer functions as a cinema.

What was developed

  • Full 3D reconstruction of the Flamman Theater
  • VR interaction (grabbable objects such as popcorn and nachos)
  • AI-controlled Non-Player Characters (NPCs) walking around the theater
  • Movie projection system (local video files + YouTube support) with spatial audio
  • Game mechanics and level design based on MDA framework, GNS model, and gameplay design patterns

Research Questions

  1. What elements make a successful theater experience in VR?
  2. How can the think-aloud testing technique be adapted during COVID-19 restrictions?

Key results

  • Successfully recreated the feeling of entering a classic cinema and watching a movie in VR
  • Developed a hybrid testing methodology (remote + guided tests) that worked well under pandemic restrictions
  • Demonstrated that game design techniques + VR can effectively support cultural heritage preservation

Keywords: Virtual Reality, Unreal Engine 4, Oculus Quest 2, Cultural Heritage, Game Design, Flamman Theater




Low-Cost Volumetric Video Pipeline from Capture to Game Engine

Master’s Project – Chalmers University of Technology / University of Gothenburg (2020)
Author: Fausto Iván Zamora Arias
Supervisor: Thommy Eriksson

link: you can read more here

Summary
Professional volumetric capture systems cost millions of dollars. This project developed a practical, low-budget pipeline that allows independent developers and small studios to create volumetric video and import it into a real-time game engine.

What was built

  • Multi-camera capture setup using consumer depth cameras (Intel RealSense D415 preferred over Kinect V2)
  • Calibration and capture workflow with DepthKit
  • Mesh cleaning, lighting, and digital masking (DaVinci Resolve)
  • Import and playback of volumetric sequences inside Unreal Engine 4

Key experiments

  • Comparison of camera topologies (triangle vs. square arrangement)
  • Side-by-side evaluation of Kinect V2 vs. RealSense D415
  • Testing of different capture software (DepthKit vs. EF EVE)

Result
A complete, reproducible pipeline that successfully captures full-body volumetric performances and plays them in real time inside Unreal Engine 4 — demonstrating that high-quality volumetric content is achievable without professional-grade studios.





Space First Person: 

As a school project made with great people and talented designers, this is a first person game based on exploration of the International Space Station. The development was entirelly made in Unreal Engine 4.  You can learn mode here










BattleZone: all in C++ and OpenGl

This project was full of design decisions for the development of a game engine for the clasic Battle Zone game in a 3D environment. Battle Zone has mechanics that involves the player and the behavior of the enemies in an apparently endless scene. Furthermore, the original Battle Zone was consider a vehicle simulation game and one of the first using ”tank controls” for that genre, with vector graphics for describing the game world.Therefore, the main goal of the engine had to focus on simulation inside a tank represented in vector graphics. With those two goals in mind the development of the engine was divided in three phases: Graphics, Player mechanics and Enemy Mechanics.










Cross The River With Boxes:

Cross The River With Boxes is a Puzzle first-person shooter in which the primary mechanic is to cross the river using a gravitational pistol to move boxes of different sizes. Also, this is the first game that I  developed in Unreal Engine 4. You can check it out here:





ChatImage:


This is a React native project with Firebase conection. This was an app made in the COVID-19 lockdown.





Kertin's Fate:

This is the first game that I directed, designed and engineered(For Android mainly at the moment). This was a real challenge since I gather some incredible people to help me build the game while I was designing, selling , developing CI, CD, and writing the story. As the project progressed, I taught my team the principles of game development and software engineering, which made them contribute super interesting content to the project as well as learn.
I learned a lot with my team and I feel proud of all. 


Bit Girl at Global Game Jam 2020

Bit girl is a game made in the global game gam 2020 in Gothenburg, It was a wonderfull experience made with guys that I met on the day of the Jam, 






Java Online Game Engine:


java game engine as back end and using processing as front end

github: https://github.com/ivanzamoraarias/javagameengine

The Complete documentaions is in the following link http://repositorio.usfq.edu.ec/handle/23000/6403

paper pdf version: http://repositorio.usfq.edu.ec/bitstream/23000/6403/1/131037.pdf

This project is the result of the development of a Game Engine based on a Client-Server architecture and its analysis of memory performance and CPU usage. A game engine can be defined as the system in charge of handling the components for a game to work. According to this, different modules have been made to integrate them into a single system, these modules have been: the object model, event system, network system, and main thread update system. It is worth mentioning that the approach for this work is that the system modules become integrated remotely in network, that is why the network system is a main part of the engine. In order to achieve the approach the game engine has been divided into client processes and server processes. The client processes warns of new events, generated by the user, to the server and it must manage the execution of them and update them for the other clients. In addition, tests have been made to measure the performance of the system for both clients and server for memory and CPU usage, which have shown almost constant use of these. However, the user experience in LAN should be polished in the future as it is one of the highlights for satisfaction of a game that is done with the engine and because users may be able to experiment, in the future, in various network media. In this way, It is proposed a gaming engine system capable of working in a network with client-server architecture.

The paper is made in spanish but a translation will be uploaded soon.

Diagrams related to the engine are show here:








3D platform Mova:

This project  aims to create a 3D shooter mova like LOL or DOTA2. 
Each team has 4 players and the goal is to kill as much as they could with random armor apearing in different locations of the game.




This game was possible because of tutorial the 3D platform  made by on the Jimmy Vega https://jvunity.weebly.com



2D Platform:

This is a simple 2D game which aims to go up to the sky using a set of briks.
I  based elements from James series( ) which help me out by exploring platform elements in Unity , so then I could tests a lot of textures, basic platform challenges and scores.

Graphic Game Engine:


Vulkan first steps I had with tutorials arouns the internet.
Graphic Engine
Work with Vulkan for Games in 3D
This project is intended to create a basic Vulkan project for all its pipelines and objects.
Objects Instance. Physical Device Device Queue Command Pool Command Pool Buffer Sampler Device Memory.

Github: https://github.com/ivanzamoraarias/graphicEngine

AR Game:

One of the earliest encounters with unity is the following ball based AR game.
The game was a project between Christian Almeida(https://www.linkedin.com/in/calmeidalara/) and me.







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