The Trials of Snowshoe Thompson (2020 – 2021)
The Trials of Snowshoe Thompson is a controller based game which tasks players with learning the unique movement mechanics to navigate a realistic cross country skiing experience, narratively based on a real person, John “Snowshoe” Thompson. This game is being made as part of USC’s Advanced Game Project program, which is a full year of development on a single title.
My Position: I was the Lead Engineer on this project, but not the only engineer. I work with a team of 5 engineers, all of whom have contributed immensely to the codebase of this title.
What I Learned: Management of medium-scale code architecture, technical foresight & planning accordingly, & communication skills within and outside of my own team.
Full credits can be seen on the Itch page.
The Wicker (Fall 2020 – Spring 2021)
The Wicker is a short, repeatable survival horror game which experiments with the use of environmental feedback as a way of communicating game state to the player. The Wicker utilizes non traditional mechanics in both the way the player interacts with the world, and the way the world interacts with the player, to pursue an experience goal of uneasiness & panic in the player.
My Position: I was the sole engineer & co-designer of The Wicker.
3D Models & Design – Alan Karbachinsky
Music by Zoe Morfas
What I Learned: Management of AI Agent movement states to create interesting & unique movement patterns, easy ways to integrate “juice” throughout an event-based architecture, & simple shaders and shader modifications.
Liquidators (2019 – 2020)
Liquidators is a non traditional Survival Horror based on the true story of 3 selfless men, who risked their lives in the immediate aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. The game was released for free and made by a team of volunteers with the sole intention of bringing awareness & funding to the Chernobyl Children International charity.
Released on September 30th, 2020, Liquidators is currently over 30,000 units on Steam.
Currently finishing an Xbox release.
My Position: I was the Lead Producer and Designer of Liquidators.
What I Learned: Agile and popular Unreal Engine 4 pipelines, the importance of ownership within a team dynamic, & a lot about Dark Souls level design meta.
Boomer & Zoomer (Summer 2020)
Boomer & Zoomer is a 2 player endless runner built by me and 2 friends over summer 2020. Read some of my content from the development of the game below!
My Position: I was the sole engineer & primary designer of Boomer & Zoomer
3D Models & Design – Alan Karbachinsky
Music by Zoe Morfas.
What I Learned: Unity Input System 1.0.0 (“the new input system”), finite state machines and best practices, & development of mechanics specific to a gamepad.
B&Z Design Doc (Written by me)
Imponderabilia (Winter 2020)
Imponderabilia is a small fun arcade style game which experiments with non traditional keyboard mechanics.
My Position: I was the sole engineer and primary designer on this project.
Level design – Alan Karbachinsky
What I Learned: The importance of FTUE, how to implement unique types of input recognition in Unity Legacy Input, & how to use a camera to add juice.
Read posts about the development of Imponderabilia here!
Aidan Takami Game Development 