Crow's Nest
A top-down couch co-op game made with a team of 15 in Unreal Engine 5. My contributions were player movement and the full menu system, built in close collaboration with the UI/UX designer.
What did I do?
- Programmed the in-game UI for menus
- Programmed the character controller and cannon controlling, rotating and shooting behavior
Contributions
My two main contributions to the game were player movement and the menu systems. Player movement was implemented and tested in isolation first before being integrated into the main game. The menu systems, e.g. main menu, pause menu and win screen were built in close collaboration with the UI/UX designer, Alessandro, who produced feature specs on the Miro board detailing the expected behavior and visual criteria. I iterated on the implementation based on his continuous review, keeping the end result close to the original design intent.
I also implemented a tool that allowed the team to hook into the win screen from anywhere in the game, which I communicated to the team so they could integrate it into their own work without depending on me directly.
For one of the controllers not functioning correctly in the menus, I was transparent with the team about the limitation early, which was well received. This kind of direct communication about blockers was something I tried to maintain consistently throughout the project.
Working in a Multidisciplinary Team
This was one of my earlier experiences working in a team that included non-programmers. Most communication happened in person, with Discord used for sharing progress, asking questions and linking resources to teammates e.g. pointing the sound designer toward royalty-free sound effect libraries when he needed assets.
Sprint reviews and retrospectives were run on the team’s Miro board, where we each contributed action points covering what to continue, stop and start doing per sprint. Sprint goals were reviewed and checked off at the end of each sprint, and a burndown chart was maintained to track velocity. User stories followed a stakeholder persona format with acceptance criteria, and tasks had time estimates attached.
Peer reviews happened twice during the block and were conducted with a mentor present. The feedback sessions had a meaningful effect on team cohesion. For example, one note from the second review specifically called out that peer reviews had significantly improved how comfortable the team was with each other.