I worked as a Gameplay Programmer on Critter Cafe from September 2023 to December 2024.

My responsibilities included:

  • Implemented the three tools the character can use, the Hammer, the Boomerang and the WingClips. This involved working with design & animation to make them work, make them feel good and make them look good.
  • Implemented various level ingredients to be used within the Rescue Levels. This involved communication with level design & art to ensure that pieces worked functionally and aesthetically.
  • Implemented the initial version of the Open For Trade activity as well as the Pouring Coffee minigame.
  • Learnt more about Unreal’s collision system to improve how we set our project up, and fixed our usage of collision presets & responses to ensure correct behaviour
  • Fixed Steam Deck specific bugs towards the end of the project to ensure we would be verified on Steam Deck

Media

Hammer

Hammer

The Hammer was the first tool we made. You could do a basic swing, hold it for a circular swing, or if you had the powerup, hold it for an overhead smash attack.

Boomerang

Boomerang

The boomerang was the second tool to be developed. We had an aiming/chargeup phase with an aiming indicator, and once released the boomerang could be thrown.

WingClips

Wing Clips

The Wing Clips enabled you to use the JumpPads to Jump. They could be charged to Jump further if you had the PowerUp. We had two variations of the JumpPads, horizontal and vertical.

Level Ingredients

Level Ingredients

We had a variety of level ingredients. I primarily implemented the blocks, gates and switches, and the initial implementation of the amber we used to encase these ingredients.

MiniGames

Pouring Coffee MiniGame

This was the first minigame we made in order to create a first playable version of the Open For Trade activity. I revisited this minigame later on in the project where we added multiple steps to the pouring as the difficulty increased.