Challenges:

• Developing a stable 3D player movement system that avoid "slingshot" physics bugs when combining Rigidbody components with a 360-degree rotating camera.

• Creating a flexible Player State Machine that maintains consistent input directions (eg., "Right" is always "Right") regardless of the camera's orbital angle.

• Implementing a decoupled event system to manage complex interactions in a large 15-person team without relying on fragile Inspector references.

 

Actions:

• Pivoted from Rigidbody physics to the Unity Character Controller component, learning its API to implement custom ground checks and collision logic.

• Build a Player state Machine utilizing Polymorphism, protected read-only fields, and sealed classes for high encapsulation and code safety.

• Developed a Custom Event Service using delegates with varying parameter counts (0, 1 and 2) to facilitate clean, subscription-based communication between scripts.

• Implemented Unity's New Input System from scratch to support seamless controller and keyboard switching.

 

Results:

• Delivered a polished, responsive 3D character controller that handled 460-degree camera rotation without movement drift.

• Created a robust, bug-resistant codebase that allowed 15 team members to work simultaneously without losing scene references in Perforce.

• Standardized the project's technical architecture through strict naming conventions and centralized even handling.

Lead Programmer:

• Oversaw a team of programmers, established naming conventions, and helped manage the Unity versioning/Perforce workflow.

 

Advanced Player Logic:

• Authored the Player Controller, Orbital Camera system, and a ScriptableObject-based Player Stats system for easy designer balancing.

 

Systems Architecture:

• Implemented a Custom Event Service to reduce code coupling and improve project stability during Perforce merges.

 

Optimization & UI:

• Developed a Graphics Settings menu featuring Nvidia DLSS, Anti-aliasing, and texture quality controls to improve performance on varying hardware.

 

Tooling for Designers:

• Integrated the Input System and serialized variables with [Range] sliders to allow designers to tune the player "feel" in real-time.

Technical Adaptability:

• This project forced me to step out of my comfort zone with Rigidbody physics and learning the Character Controller API and Quaternion/Vector3 math. Spending 9 days on camera-relative movement was a massive learning curve that solidified my 3D math skills.

 

Architecture vs. Administration:

• As Lead Programmer, I balanced high-level system design with the administrative task of unblocking other disciplines. I learned that clear documentation (like summary comments in code) is vital for team-wide systems.

 

Optimization Mindset:

• Implementing DLSS and graphics settings late in the project showed me that optimization logic should be considered from day one, rather than as a final "add-on" feature.

 

Encapsulation:

• By using sealed classes and read-only fields in my State Machine, I learned how to "defend" my code against unintended modifications by other programmers.