University of Staffordshire

Games Design and Programming

The following is a selection of the most interesting and meaningful projects I completed during my three years at university. Each one reflects a key stage in my academic development and creative growth, showing how my skills and ideas evolved over time. The writeups, documentation and Trello boards I created when on sprints for each project are linked below.

Year Selection

Year One Year Two Year Three

Project Resource Library

Forums Documentation Trello

Year One

Mushroom Mayhem Forum

This is a horror game where you have to explore a map to collect food whilst avoiding the hungry mushrooms. With only a torch and a stun gun to aid you, can you survive?

Pizza Apocalypse Forum Documentation Trello

This is a post-apocalyptic pizza delivery simulator. You are one of the few remaining and as a delivery driver it is your responsibility to feed the starving survivors. With only pizza at your disposal, can you fend off the zombies for long enough to complete your deliveries?

Tank Escape Forum Documentation

This is a third-person shooter/puzzle game. You wake up in a tank on an alien planet and find yourself attacked. Your only method to escape is to fight past these strange creatures and figure out how to open the doors.

Image of the OpenGL Project showing the meshes and menu

OpenGL Graphics Programming Forum

This generates 3D graphics, which are loaded and textured with custom mesh and TGA loaders. They are then lit using the phong lighting model. The meshes include pyramids, cubes and one earth and terrain mesh. You can also control the camera, move the meshes, apply friction and type using a menu and the FreeFont library.

Image of the Jetpack Parkour demo, showing the zombie and character mid-air

Jetpack Parkour Demo Forum Documentation Trello

This was the first project I created using Unity 6's new input system. You have to do parkour with a jetpack whilst keeping it fuelled. I also added a zombie to punish you for falling back to the bottom.

Image of the text-based adventure game running with some code in the background

Module 1 Work

This is a big repository of all the initial work I did in my first module. It contains a lot of C++ practice projects and challenges. My assessment for the module was a short text-based adventure game which was a bit of a culmination of all my C++ knowledge at the time. It runs in the console and has multiple story paths.

Year Two

Tank Controller & ECS Wave Spawner Documentation Trello

This is my advanced mechanics design project where you control a hyperrealistic tank. The tank has traction, suspension, throttle, differential steering, auto brake, auto camera snap, toggleable camera modes, 3 bullet types with realistic vfx, advanced UI and more. The ECS system uses a scripted importer to parse waves into the enemy spawner.

AI Pathfinding and Decision-Making Forum Documentation

This involves several levels where the AI has to perform increasingly advanced pathfinding and decision-making. Including: flee, wander, obstacle avoidance, group movement, Markov and FSM managers along with Fuzzy Logic. I also had to write a research essay on game AI, I chose Dying Light.

Image of the isometric puzzle game made in the group collaboration.

Group Collaboration Forum Documentation

I was in a team of 30 people with animators, artists, designers and programmers. I was the tech lead, this involved managing the GitHub repo and the programming team. This was also my first time writing an entire set of technical design documentation. This outlined the general code architechture for the project, folder structure, system breakdowns, GitHub practices and more.

Audio Development Forum Documentation

This is a game consisting of 5 levels, each responding to the music's bass and beats differently. For instance, in level one, the floor, platforms, decorations and lights moved, scaled and flashed to the beat.

Introduction To Mechanics Forum Documentation

This is about implementing some basic mechanics to help the game feel more smooth/juicy for the player. This involved coyote time/jump buffering etc. Also made a prototype level to test the mechanics.

Placeholder image for the CPlusPlusGameJam25 project

Unreal Engine C++Forum

This was my first time using C++ in the context of UE5. It was very difficult, but I ended up managing to create a very basic game which involved collecting items to win. The crux of this project is more about the implementation of the systems and using the correct practices/interfaces etc, as opposed to the project itself.

Year Three