Angkor Wat Balloon
ESA Powerwall
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Angkor Wat Balloon
ESA Powerwall
Main Portfolio
Hackathon Group
ESA VR View
Angkor Wat Bamboo
Meta Avatars
Hackathon Certificate
ESA VR View
Angkor Wat Bamboo
Meta Avatars
Hackathon Certificate

Elias Bormann

Software & XR Developer

View My Work
Elias Bormann

I'm a Software and XR Developer with a B.A. in Expanded Realities. I spend most of my time working in Unity and C#, building everything from Mixed Reality apps to interactive 3D tools.

I have a strong personal interest in graphics programming, spatial design, and exploring new technologies to build functional, user-focused immersive experiences.

My Work

February 2026

MR Chess ▼

A freelance role maintaining and expanding a Mixed Reality chess app for Quest 3, adding Lichess online multiplayer and updating core SDKs.

Meta Quest 3 Lichess API Photon PUN Freelance

General Description

  • MR Chess is a mixed-reality app that lets you use a real table and even physical figures for your side of the board to play chess in XR.
  • Players can choose to play against the computer, or play with other "MR Chess" players via online multiplayer, where they can see their opponent's avatar and talk to them.
  • I joined the project as a freelance developer specifically to expand the app's multiplayer capabilities by integrating the official Lichess board API for rated online matchmaking.

My Contributions & Tech

  • SDK Maintenance: Updated the Unity project and migrated the codebase to the newer Meta SDK, ensuring compatibility and restoring the Photon PUN multiplayer avatars.
  • Lichess Integration: Implemented a secure login flow using the Lichess API. Added encrypted token storage on the headset so users stay logged in between sessions.
  • UI Design & Implementation: Developed the user interface for Lichess login, game selection, and in-game controls. While adhering to the app's existing design patterns, I iterated on placement and usability to integrate the new online matchmaking features.
  • My Learnings: Gained valuable experience in maintaining legacy code, rigorous testing, and navigating the professional workflows of a freelancer while adapting to existing architectural styles.

Gallery & Updates

Lichess Menu UI
New Avatar SDK
November 2025

Space Safety VR ▼

An educational VR experience about space debris and solar storms. It started as a university Powerwall project and was later adapted into a standalone Quest 3 experience commissioned by the ESA.

Meta Quest 3 Shaders & Optimization VR Consulting

Phase 1: Uni Project

  • Originally a 6th-semester project combining a Quest 3 with a massive 6x4K screen "Powerwall".
  • My team created a 5-minute cinematic experience explaining the Kepler effect and space debris.
  • Because it ran on a PC, we could use high-end graphics like dual 16k textures and instanced city lights for the Earth.

Phase 2: ESA Project

  • Based on our initial success, we helped a separate team of game development students port the concept to a standalone Quest 3 application, commissioned by the ESA.
  • The target audience was complete VR beginners, so we removed artificial locomotion and kept interactions to a single button press.
  • Provided VR consulting to the team to ensure the experience remained comfortable and accessible.

My Technical Work

  • Networking: Built the initial network structure to sync the Quest headset with the PC-driven Powerwall.
  • Earth Shaders: Developed the original high-resolution Earth and atmosphere shaders.
  • Mobile Optimization: Heavily optimized the Earth rendering for the standalone Quest 3. Replaced complex 3D city light meshes with baked textures and used bump maps on a simple sphere to maintain visual quality on mobile hardware.

Visuals & Demonstrations

3rd Person Powerwall View
1st Person Quest 3 View
August 2025

XRAI Story Bubbles ▼

A mixed reality app built in 3 days where players use real-world objects to do improv storytelling against an AI.

Meta Quest 3 Shaders & VFX Hackathon Winner

General Description

  • 3rd Place / Runner-up out of ~60 participants in the "XR with AI" category at the XRAI Hackathon in Cologne.
  • Created during a 3-day event where I joined three strangers to build a fully functional XR experience.
  • The app uses Quest 3 passthrough to detect objects in your room. You pick an object, and the AI (powered by Grok and ElevenLabs) tells a short story about it.
  • Afterward, it's your turn to tell a story about another object. The AI judges your creativity and sometimes mocks you if you're lazy.

My Contributions & Tech

  • Object Detection: Handled the spatial setup to scan the room and generate interactable physical objects for the gameplay loop.
  • Visuals & Shaders: Programmed the "story bubbles"—floating windows that show AI-generated images of the current story in real-time.
  • Depth Rendering: Wrote a custom 3D displacement shader that takes an AI-generated depth map to give the 2D story images a stereoscopic 3D effect inside the bubbles.
  • Collaboration: Focused on the core Unity XR interactions while my teammates handled the AI API connections and UI design.

Playthrough & Demo

Hackathon Certificate
Hackathon Team Photo
February 2024

Saving Angkor Wat ▼

A story-based VR adventure built for my 3rd-semester project, raising awareness about the water-related corrosion of Angkor Wat's heritage site.

Unity VR Toon Shader Puzzle Logic University Project

Project Concept

  • Created as a "vertical slice" adventure focusing on the history of Angkor Wat’s massive channel system and its current danger from rainwater corrosion.
  • Players begin with a cinematic hot air balloon flight to the site, guided by a wristwatch AI that provides hints and lore.
  • The core gameplay involves solving environmental puzzles to restore the water system, including moving boulders with levers and crafting bamboo dams with a machete.

My Contributions & Tech

  • Visual Style: Developed a custom toon shader for all dynamic and interactive objects to create a distinct, readable art style.
  • Gameplay Systems: Programmed the modular water system blocks and the puzzle logic for leak detection and dam placement.
  • Optimization: Managed the performance balance between baked lighting for environments and real-time shading for interactive elements.
  • Leadership: Acted as a technical guide for the artists and other developers on the team to ensure a cohesive vertical slice.

Gallery & Shader Work

Hot Air Balloon View
Bamboo Dam Puzzle