Games Portfolio - All Work
* This page is in chronological order, starting with my first project and ending with my most recent.
-- Fall 2017 --
Roller Madness
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Roller Madness was the first full project that I completed using Unity. Much of the focus was on learning everything as a beginner, although I was able to express my creative freedom on the level design (specifically the second and third levels). I was particularly happy with the interactive main menu scene.
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Box Shooter
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Box Shooter was the final project in the very beginner-level game design course, as well as one of my favorites. Unfortunately, the game is unplayable within a browser due to an error in the build files. Despite the best efforts of both myself and my professors, we were unable to get the game to work. Therefore, I have instead included a video of myself playing the game in Unity. I was especially proud of the two new enemy types I created (as well as the sounds that they emit) and the mini-map in the bottom-left hand corner that shows them coming.
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Ice Breakers
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This game was created as part of a "game jam" for Spartasoft (MSU Game Design Club). For the first time, I was able to work within a small team alongside both experienced and new designers alike. I learned a ton as a result. As Lead Designer, I was responsible for overseeing the project as a whole as well as helping to develop the major gameplay systems in place.
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-- Spring 2018 --
Apple Picker
AsteraX
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AsteraX acted as the next prototype in my programming class, yet this time with less "hand-holding". I learned many valuable lessons regarding solving problems and finding solutions throughout the creation of this project. The spawn-protection system in place is one addition that I am particularly proud of, as it was not a requirement and was entirely a creation of my own.
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Mission Demolition
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With Mission Demolition, the primary objective was to create an experience similar to Angry Birds. It was an exciting feeling to be able to replicate such a popular game by myself. As another prototype in my programming-focused class, I followed a tutorial to get the basis of the game, then was left to my own devices to create additional features, such as more castles and the golden "Bonus Cube" that grants you one free shot if you destroy it.
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Space SHMUP
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Short for "Space Shoot 'em up," Space SHMUP is modeled after the popular Atari game Space Invaders from 1978. We started to move toward a more object-oriented programming approach with this project, and even began to tackle concepts like linear interpolation and Bezier curves to incorporate the various movement patterns for each enemy type.
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Spartan Solitaire
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Originally titled "Prospector Solitaire," this card game prototype is the first full 2D game that I have built in Unity. It is also the first time that I've worked with and created my own Sprites. Several new challenges came in the form of organizing the numerous cards into a playable and organized game. One of the required enhancements after the completion of the base game was to change its theme. Naturally, I went with the "school-spirit" route and created "Spartan Solitaire" as a result.
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Dungeon Delver
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Dungeon Delver was the final and largest game prototype that was made using the tutorial-based format in the beginner level, programming-focused class. It is designed to replicate some of the first levels of the original Legend of Zelda games. I am responsible for creating everything except for the sprites, which were made specifically for use within the project by a professor named Andrew Dennis, as well as the background music, which can be credited to my friend, Isaac Houston. Again, one of the main focuses of the project was programming with object-oriented thinking, although I learned much more about working with animations and more sophisticated UI elements.
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Classic Game Project
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As one of our final projects, our class was tasked to replicate an NES-era game to the best of our ability. My partner and I decided to go with the 1985 classic Super Mario Bros. To put our own twist on the game, we decided to theme it around the hit (and amazing) HBO show Game of Thrones, with none other than Jon Snow as our Mario (hence "Super Bastard Bros"). All of the art in the game was done by my partner, David DeRuiter. You can check out more of his great work at www.DavidDeRuiter.com. I am responsible for all of the programming in the game.
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Versus Golf
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For the final project of the beginner-level programming course, we were given the freedom of creating any game that we desired. My partner and I have always been fond of multiplayer games, so we created a head-to-head mini-golf game titled Versus Golf. Unlike all previous projects, the open-ended nature of this assignment allowed for us to manufacture our own "fun." This really shines through with the level design, as we were able to use the systems that we had already put into place in new and creative ways. Again, my partner handled all of the art (textures, models, materials), while I was responsible for all of the programming. You can find more of his work at www.DavidDeRuiter.com.
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-- Summer 2018 --
Overwatch Hero Showcase
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To demonstrate my love for Overwatch and my passion for programming games, I have created my own "showcase" for some of the heroes in the game. While still a work in progress, my goal is to make each hero feel and play as close to the actual hero as possible. This project is being worked on entirely by myself and only in my free time - it is in no way associated with my schoolwork.
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-- Fall 2018 --
Super Sparty Bros
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The Game Dev minor at MSU combines students from several different majors, including Art and Computer Science. Therefore, our first project in the minor acted as a "Unity refresher" to get everyone on the same page. It was predominantly a tutorial, although I was able to add several features to the final build, such as Sparty's various "abilities" and the two new levels. Overall, it was a great opportunity to practice and improve my skills.
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One Of Us
Role: Lead Programmer, Project Manager, Designer One Of Us was the first "real" game that I helped create in the Game Dev Minor at MSU. I worked in a team of myself and three other students for six weeks, with the only guidance being to create a game under the theme of "invasion." As the lead programmer, I was responsible for all of the code in the game. I also helped design the game, and took on a leadership role as Project Manager to oversee its overall completion. |
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PCG MazesWanting to learn more about some advanced gameplay programming topics, I approached my professor and asked for an opportunity to complete an external class project that could also help earn credit for the Honor's College. We decided that I could build a game around procedural generation. The result is PCG Mazes, which I created using the Growing Tree maze algorithm.
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Shogun Scrap
Shogun Scrap was the final four week project that I worked on in the first class of the Game Dev minor. I was on a team of six others and am responsible for most of the programming in the game. As a 2-4 person 2D fighting game, it has support for arcade controls and is featured in arcade cabinets at MSU for anyone to play. |
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-- Spring 2019 --
Shader Showcase
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One of my favorite classes so far at MSU is called "Advanced Game Development" and consists entirely of exploring and learning about specialized topics within the practice of programming games. For this assignment, we were tasked with creating our own shaders. Although I primarily used Unity's more approachable node-based tool called ShaderGraph to create my shaders, I also took the opportunity to learn more about creating shaders through HLSL code as well as creating post-processing effects and utilizing Unity's Post-Processing Stack.
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Eyes in the Sky Prototype
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The second class in the MSU GameDev Minor program focuses on rapid prototyping. The idea is to "find the fun" of a game concept in under two weeks. Myself and a partner put together a prototype for a game called Eyes in the Sky, which can be described as a two-player third person shooter/puzzle platformer where one player is the shooter and the other controls the camera as a drone in the sky. I am responsible for most of the programming in the game, excluding the enemy movement and target interactions.
Note: Game runs best in a Firefox browser |
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Procedural Planet Generation
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For my second endeavor into Procedural Content Generation (see PCG Mazes for the first), I followed a series of tutorials to create a system that can generate planets, then wrote my own system to procedurally generate a name for each planet using planet names from our own solar system and Star Wars. I loosely based my algorithm on Markov Chains. Feel free to contact me if you're interested in hearing more about it.
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Island Saver
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Island Saver is the first game I helped develop as a professional game developer. I was hired on by MSU's Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL) Lab to bring the product from an alpha state to its launch. The game was sponsored by the MSU Federal Credit Union in an effort to teach middle school aged kids about the importance of saving money. As a programmer, I was responsible for re-working several aspects of the game, most-notably the tutorial system, progression system, and saving/loading. A lot of my efforts also went into optimizing the game's performance as well as numerous bug fixes and refinements.
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