Owlet
July 2024
Quick Facts \\\
Time:
April. 2024 - July. 2024
8 Weeks
Key Details:
Group project (13 members)
Custom Game Engine
ECS Architecture
Done in C++
Gameplay, UI, and Tool Contributions
Trailer:
What I Did \\\
The team developed a real-time strategy game on a custom engine that had been in production for eight weeks before I joined. My main contributions included expanding the building system to support wall placements via mouse dragging, and rebuilding the camera system by replacing the original 2D orthographic view with a full 3D camera. I also simplified the controls for zooming, movement, and orbiting, making navigation more intuitive. To support content creation, I implemented a socket system that lets designers and artists attach props to unit hands directly within the editor. Additionally, I contributed to the UI by building the main menu and settings pages.
Problems & Solutions \\\
When I first joined, I was overwhelmed by the size of the project and initially struggled to find my footing. As the team was too occupied to properly onboard me, I asked for a day to study the codebase on my own. This gave me a clear understanding of how the engine’s systems were structured, which in turn allowed me to be more proactive in implementing features and stepping in to fill gaps.
One of my main tasks was to expand the building functionality to support wall placement. This required finding a balance between the programmers, who favored simple single-unit placement, and the designers, who wanted a more free-form draggable system. After discussing with both sides, we reached a compromise: walls could still be placed by dragging, but were constrained to a single axis. This preserved the designers’ intuitive workflow while keeping the solution feasible within the project’s time frame
