# Emanuel Palalic

> Emanuel Palalic is the Tokyo-based co-founder, CEO and game director of emptyvessel, the independent studio developing DEFECT. A Full Sail Game Art graduate, he previously worked in character art at id Software, Archetype Entertainment and Tripwire Interactive, with credits including DOOM, Quake Champions and DOOM Eternal.

- **Role:** Co-founder, CEO and Game Director at emptyvessel
- **Organizations:** emptyvessel, id Software, Archetype Entertainment, Tripwire Interactive, Brainstorm School
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in Game Art, Full Sail University
- **Known for:** Character artist credits on DOOM (2016), DOOM VFR and Quake Champions., Technical character artist credit on DOOM Eternal., Received Full Sail University’s Advanced Achievement Award in April 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile.

## Career timeline

- **2015–2020** — Worked in character art and character technical art at id Software.
- **2020–2021** — Senior Character Artist at Archetype Entertainment; lists Exodus among his projects.
- **2021** — Taught advanced ZBrush creature design at Brainstorm School.
- **2021–2022** — Lead Character Artist at Tripwire Interactive, working on Killing Floor 3.
- **2023** — Co-founded emptyvessel with Garrett Young.
- **2024** — Studio introduced publicly in March; DEFECT revealed in August.
- **2025** — Moved to Japan in March through the Shibuya Startup Visa program.
- **2026** — NC America announced a publishing partnership for DEFECT in March.

## Achievements

- Character artist credits on DOOM (2016), DOOM VFR and Quake Champions.
- Technical character artist credit on DOOM Eternal.
- Received Full Sail University’s Advanced Achievement Award in April 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile.
- Co-founded emptyvessel and directs its debut project, DEFECT.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Appeared on Kiwi Talkz episode 218, discussing id Software, DOOM and emptyvessel.
- **2026-05** — Featured in the official Behind the System game-director interview for DEFECT.
- **2026-03** — NC America announced it would publish DEFECT and support its single-player experience.

## Links

- Website: https://drheadpop.artstation.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epalalic
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/epalalic
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/epalalic/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/emanuel-palalic
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25