TOKYO 42

Engineering    |    WebGL / Wavedash
  

Tokyo42 is an isometric open-world shooter with both singleplayer and online multiplayer modes developed by Mode7.

Tokyo42 on the Wavedash Platform <- Plays in your browser!

MY ROLE

As a Software Engineer at Wavedash, I owned the engineering effort to bring Tokyo42 to WebGL and the Wavedash platform.

Owned development of core systems.

• Migrated from Unity 2017 to Unity 6, rebuilding or refactoring necessary legacy systems and tools to modernize the game for Wavedash
• Redesigned and implemented multiplayer in order to migrate to Mirror, WebGL, and Wavedash's multiplayer backend
  
• Memory optimizations such as texture compression and object pooling
• Developed build, packaging, and debugging tools for personal and internal use to streamline iteration and testing

DEATH'S DOOR

Engineering    |    PS4 • PS5 • Switch • Xbox One S/X • Xbox Series S/X • Game Pass • Android • iOS
  

Death's Door is an isometric action-adventure game developed by Acid Nerve and published by Devolver Digital.

Steam Page
Netflix Page (Netflix has since taken the game down)

MY ROLE

As a developer at 22nd Century Toys, I led much of the engineering effort to bring Death's Door to the above platforms.

Owned the development life cycle and core systems

• Asynchronous multi-platform save/load system
• Cloud saves system for Xbox, Game Pass, and Netflix
• Achievements, PS5 Activities, and other SDK integrations
• Platform-agnostic input handling and glyph system
• Mobile-only touch controls, with drag-and-drop editor screen for accessibility
• Technical redesign of gameplay features where needed
• Multiple engine migrations, resolving large scale-issues with physics, gameplay logic, graphics, and dependencies

Responsible for several optimizations, reducing frame time by up to ~80%

• Reducing model polycount without comprimising quality
• Precaching where doable
• Save queueing/flushing to avoid excess writes
• Limiting physics allocations, such as the number of raycasts used for ground and enemy detection for various entities
• UI restructuring to avoid excess canvas dirtying
• Many more

Quickly resolved issues reported by QA and cert. Read and resolved user reports and concerns in the form of post-launch support.

Many miscellaneous tasks, fixes, and workflows. I wore many hats.

GRIS

Engineering    |    PlayStation 5
  

GRIS is an artistic 2D sidescrolling platformer developed by Nomada Studio and published by Devolver Digital. 

Steam Page

MY ROLE

As a developer with 22nd Century Toys, I led much of the engineering effort to bring GRIS to PlayStation 5.

Responsible for DualSense features

• Hand-crafting waveforms to be used by the DualSense as haptic feedback
• Implementing and tuning DualSense speaker audio
• Trigger tension design and tuning for GRIS's "cube" power
• Light bar changes and other misc controller features throughout the story

Led development of port and core PS5 features

• Asynchronous Save/Load autosave system
• Input system
• PS5 Activities
• Optimizations necessary to achieve stable 4k/60 and 120 FPS options

Some technical challenges and considerations

• Development within a Unity visual scripting/C# hybrid codebase
• Needed to learn what tech stack to use to build haptic waveforms by hand, from scratch, and refine them to achieve the desired effect on a DualSense.

Iterated quickly with QA, cert, and Nomada Studio for any issues that arose

I WAS A TEENAGE EXOCOLONIST

Engineering    |    PlayStation 4 • Playstation 5 • Nintendo Switch
  

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a narrative RPG where your choices have a large influence on the game's world and outcomes. Developed by Northway Games and published by Finji. 

Steam Page

MY ROLE

As a developer with 22nd Century Toys, I led much of the engineering effort to bring I Was a Teenage Exocolonist to PS4, PS5, and Switch.

Owned development of the port and core systems

• Thread-safe, portable Save/Load package to be used internally as well
• Input and adaptive button glyph systems
• Achievements/Trophies, PS5 Activities, and other SDK features

Optimizations and technical challenges

• Large-scale UI restructure to save on UI batching, giving back ~6-8 ms on Switch's CPU
• Improvements to text, UI, and graphic visibility for Switch handheld without comprimising gameplay
  

MY FRIEND PEDRO: RIPE FOR REVENGE

Engineering    |    Android

My Friend Pedro: Ripe for Revenge is a sidescrolling platform shooter for mobile devices developed by DeadToast Entertainment and published by Devolver Digital.

Play Store page

MY ROLE

As a developer with 22nd Century Toys, I brought the existing mobile game to the Amazon, Samsung, and Huawei storefronts.

Development of core features

• Purchase and verification of entitlements on each storefront
  
• Storefront-dependent achievements layer
• Integration with IronSource for ads on non-premium versions of the game

Many misc. other tasks, like UI changes for compatibility on more types of devices.

MFP: Mobile's microtransaction in-game, brought to the other storefronts

GRIEFHELM

Quality Assurance    |    PC / Steam
  

Griefhelm is a side-scrolling party game with medieval combat. Has singleplayer and multiplayer modes.

Steam Page

MY ROLE

As a Quality Assurance Analyst working with Thorrnet Games to launch and update Griefhelm on Steam.

• Meticulously and iteratively examining builds of the game to document bugs and ways to improve the user experience and gameplay balance.
• Discovered and documented countless bugs, exploits, and needed improvements in great detail.
  
• Developed and executed test plans for bugs that were difficult to find or reproduce.
• Collaborating on design and balance decisions with the developer, brainstorming and designing future content and combat mechanics.

A clip of a fighting tech I discovered that the team started calling "Keola's hat trick"