The Patrick Star Game
Role: UI/Systems/Gameplay Programmer
Engine: Unity
Language: C#
Platforms: Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Steam
Main Website: https://outrightgames.com/us/games/spongebob-squarepants-the-patrick-star-game/
Release Date: October 4th, 2024
For this open-world sandbox game, I retained ownership of most UI systems, as I had for Justice League, and took a much larger role with the gameplay design and programming. Since I was there from the beginning of the project this time, I designed and implemented many gameplay elements. This includes the reef-blower, coconut launcher, jellyfish, amusement park rides, floating platforms, and many other items and interactions scattered around the world.
To unify these interactions and give designers more control over how physics interactions would function than Unity's default physics system, I added an additional "layer" to each of our physics objects. This unified collision and momentum by allowing designers to set a mass value for each object. The system would then apply forces to maintain momentum based on the masses of the colliding objects. This allowed for breakable walls or boxes that objects could pass through smoothly, and hooks that designers could tap into to enable specific interactions within certain force thresholds.
In addition to major improvements to the game's fundamental physics systems, I developed numerous other core elements and tools that were widely used. This includes the game's event system, which handled event-specific interactions and persistence. Tools to help designers create content, such as a spline-based placement tool used in the skydiving event. I even built another spline-based mesh-generation tool to create, texture, and place the roads throughout the game world.
The UI is mostly a continuation of what I learned working on Justice League. The new focus for me on this project was to ensure seamless controller support without relying on an on-screen cursor as a crutch.