Behind every game there is a team of dedicated game developers, each with their own skillsets and roles. Here is a small introduction to the members of this effort.
Panayiotis Charalambous
Administrator and Project Manager of the Game
Dr. Panayiotis Charalambous is a Research Assistant professor at CYENS where he is leading the Living, Breathing Virtual Worlds group (V-EUPNEA) . The group conducts applied and fundamental research in Computer Animation and Computer Graphics on topics such as Motion Capture, motion synthesis, artistic control and collective behaviour. He is Principal Investigator and a Researcher on several European and locally funded projects. Panayiotis started playing video games at a very young age in the 80s – starting from the humble IBM XT and Atari 2600 console; his favourite genre is Graphic Adventure games (especially the ones made by LucasArts/LucasFilm and Sierra-On-Line). His first PC came with a version of GW-Basic and the rest as you say is history. He quickly realized that Computers and Computer Science is what he wanted to do with his life. He went on to study Informatics and Telecommuncations in Athens, Greece and then decided to do a PhD on Computer Animation at the University of Cyprus. Panayiotis is the Principal Investigator from CYENS for the ReInHerit project and is leading the efforts for the implementation of the Video Game.
Christos Othonos
Team Leader And Lead Game Designer
Christos Othonos works as a Research Associate at CYENS under the V-EUPNEA group. His work focuses on Computer Graphics, Computer Vision, and Game Development. His passion for making games started when playing old MS-DOS games like Jazz Jack Rabbit and Jetpack. He also got exposed to early 3d platformers like Crash Bandicoot, and Jak and Daxter.
He made a few computer games in his free time, but his most notable game title is Vrakaman: a 2d beat-em up that won first place in the Logipaignion 2009 competition.
Christos earned his BSc and MSc degrees in Computer Science from the University of Cyprus, with an emphasis on Computer Graphics and Computer Architecture. As of 2020 he was employed at CYENS Center of Excellence, as a Research Associate.
He experiments with different game engines and tools, to learn more about game development techniques.
Andreas Panayiotou
AI Programmer and Tool Developer
Andreas is a PhD student at University of Cyprus and a research associate at CYENS - Center of Excellence. His research interests include, but not limited to, Crowd Simulation, Machine Learning, Virtual Environments and Computer Animation.
His interest in computer games and technology in general arose during his childhood. Playing video games and tinkering with computers were two of his favourite ways to pass the time, both alone and with friends. The mysterious process of clicking a button and seeing a change on the monitor, which seemed inexplicable at the time, caught his interest. This sparked a desire in him to discover the inner workings of computer machines to learn how they function.
In 2022, he received his M.Sc in Computer Science from University of Cyprus, while also he holds a B.Sc in Computer Science from the same university.
Theodoros Kyriakou
Animations and Visual Effects Specialist
Theodoros Kyriakou is a Computer Science Ph.D. student at the University of Cyprus and a Research Associate at CYENS - Centre of Excellence. His research focuses on Computer Graphics, Character Animation, Virtual Environments and Crowd Simulation. As a computer scientist, in combination with his knowledge of Music, Theodoros was always fascinated by the intersection of art and technology. So, the Re:InHerit Project was the perfect medium for him to explore this intersection.
Theodoros received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Cyprus in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Charis Marangos
Techincal Lead, Tools Developer, Graphical Artist and Game Designer.
Charis Marangos is a graphics programmer at CYENS – Centre of Excellence where his work focuses on developing experimental and educational games. Prior to CYENS he’s worked on adjacent fields such as developing software for 3D printers and physics simulations for wafer fabrication, but his true passion has always been in game design and development.
As a child he has always been fascinated by strange worlds and epic adventures found in games like Zelda and Thief, which inspired his love for games and his decision to focus on programming and graphics in his studies. His first release, Forest Keeper, won the first prize in the XNA category of Logipaignion 2010. His current passion project is Troll the Gnomes, a 2D puzzle game based on the classic Pitman/Catrap game for the Game Boy.
He received his B.Sc in Computer Science from the University of Cyprus and his M.Sc in Interactive Entertainment Technology from Trinity College Dublin.
