Project Overview

When conceptualising ideas for a final year group project at university, I had a clear vision of a game I wanted to produce. It needed to be a vibrant, family-friendly party game and, most importantly, fulfil two purposes: to find the fun fast! And secondly, it needed to be a clean vertical slice representing a high-quality complete game loop. Once the team were in place, we began by deciding upon the game's core mechanic—initially venturing down the path of players competing against one another to capture the territory of a map driving tanks and firing art supplies. However, it soon became apparent that the theme would be too similar to the paint-fighting Splatoon series. The concept of capturing territory via sewing-powered toy cars soon blossomed.

My Role

Throughout this project, I confidently fulfilled the producer and gameplay programmer roles. I designated specific roles to each team member to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of responsibilities. This approach proved highly effective in fostering a deeper understanding of each other's areas of accountability.

As a producer

I initiated source control and created a comprehensive directory and folder structure for developers to follow. I also facilitated consistent meetings to discuss and plan to achieve specific weekly outcomes. I used project management software to divide the development process into distinct phases enabling the team to have an organised production schedule. I skillfully assigned tasks, adjusted responsibilities, and generated detailed 'focus' lists. Effective communication was a top priority, and I encouraged team members to update their project management profiles for maximum success. True leadership is all about listening, and I fully embraced this principle throughout our project. To ensure every voice was heard, I scheduled private meetings with each team member to facilitate open discussion and confidential feedback. This democratic approach allowed everyone to express their opinions freely and fully.

As a developer

As a gameplay programmer, I had the opportunity to contribute to the game's overall gameplay experience while also handling project management responsibilities. I designed a custom camera control system that dynamically tracked and focused on players, ensuring smooth and captivating camera movements. I also created cinematic player intros that immediately drew players into the game by leveraging Unity's timeline feature and the Cinemachine library. I implemented a user-friendly character selection screen to enhance the multiplayer aspect, allowing seamless joining and character selection, including transitions between idle and ready-up animations to enhance the immersive experience.

Another noteworthy responsibility was managing the game timer and scene management ensuring a seamless game loop flow. I created an immersive auditory experience with smooth transitions between different audio tracks. I also developed custom camera scripting for smooth video recording using Unity Recorder to capture and showcase the game's best moments and provide smooth transitions from in-game action into pre-rendered videos, highlighting the game's visual appeal. Furthermore, I devoted considerable effort to crafting scoring mechanics by implementing a texture pixel reading algorithm for accurate score calculations based on gameplay performance.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately Stitched Up was a great success, with the thriving collaboration of all team members working towards a clear and defined production. This project was a fantastic learning experience for me, managing a team of five other developers, three audio composers and two part-time contractors. However, in reflection, as the code base expanded, it became evident that this project marked my first venture into large-scale production. Naturally, my inexperience in managing the game's overall architecture sometimes surfaced. However, recognising the potential for improvement, I am eager to tackle post-production refactoring and the decoupling of elements within the code base. This experience has ignited my determination to enhance my understanding of broader project architecture and grow my production skills for future work.