Octarina

My position in the team was one of the Lead programmers which included implementing major game components in C++ and Blueprints but also had the responsibility of checking the code of other team members.

I implemented the physics movement of the main character which consisted of a ragdoll that had to be able to stick to the environment but also be able to carry and throw objects. The result was a character that utilises its tentacles to climb around the entire level. Some things that were challenging in the implementation were to keep the octopus light and moveable without making it stick to hard surfaces. Further, It was finicky to ensure that the controls still work while climbing a vertical wall or while dangling from the roof.
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Because of the destructive nature of the little octopus, we were forced to abandon the apex destruction system of unreal and write a custom destruction system that allows us to have much more control about the debris of destroyed objects. The system utilised pre fractured meshes from Blender that are affected by falling damage and collisions. It also allowed for manual fracturing and individual debris control.
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To allow our audio team members to import and test the sound in the game I implemented an easy to use Blueprint interface for the audio library FMOD. It allowed the easy adding and playing of FMOD banks without any C++ knowledge. Further audio cues could be assigned to groups that can be easily controlled in playback and volume.

Because of our rather small team size, I also did some modelling, level designing and VFX work. While working on the project I stayed in close touch with our artists and coders to get and give feedback on what is needed and also give requirements for systems to work.