My name is Chris Seger, I’m 23 years old and for the past four years I’ve been pursuing a degree in Game Programming and Development. I've always loved playing games and I eventually became curious about their creation during High School. I ended up attending a Computer Science camp at Champlain college my freshman year. This experience gave me the push I needed to further educate myself in this industry. Once I left the CS camp, I envisioned myself working on games in the future, I decided to commit myself fully to make this come to fruition. Even while taking courses for my degree, I never once looked back or regretted what career I was setting myself up for. My passion for games has only gotten stronger as I’ve continued to learn more about their development.
Further improving upon my skills for creating games has been my main priority, but I’ve also immersed myself in other endeavors. One of these involves being a content creator on YouTube, this experience has unexpectedly introduced me to a lot of people, including game developers. I’ve covered lots of indie games, done interviews with developers, and even worked hand in hand with them for publicity and development reasons. I have benefited from their experiences in this industry and gained priceless feedback and advice from them over the years. One of the people I’ve gotten close to because of YouTube also introduced me to a development team working on a new game streaming site. I was eventually hired to work with the team to create this site, but some members ended up splitting due to a difference in opinions. While the site may have ended abruptly, I was still able to see how far my programming abilities had come and I learned a lot during this process.
I had never really considered what specific portion of game development I loved, possibly due to the majority of my games being individually made. I’ve developed both flexibility and versatility in the creation of a game, meaning I understand the core concepts of most development roles. However, the more I worked on games, the more I came to realize what parts I found the most enjoyable and what I excelled in. The two roles that I’m talking about are level design and programming. As I came to this realization I began further improving on these specific roles, they have been significantly refined throughout my degree. The artifacts presented in this ePortfolio were picked in order to display my skills in both programming and level design. The games chosen each provide different mechanics, goals, art styles, ect, in order to demonstrate my adaptability and game knowledge. This variety also brought about new challenges to encounter and in the process further improved upon my game development skill set. In the future I want to use this accumulated knowledge to publish games that I can truly be proud of. I would also love to work with a passionate group of people that have a similar mindset to mine.
Throughout my degree lots of different projects have been completed and obstacles have been overcome. I’ve worked to create my own APIs from scratch, made multiple plugins for Unreal Engine, developed fully functional games with C++, created assets in Blender/ 3Ds Max, and much more. Lots of this was new to me, but I persevered throughout the entire degree and in the process found my own path to follow in the gaming industry. One of the artifacts named Suckerpunch, which can be found in this ePortfolio, fully encapsulates how this degree has narrowed my vision towards a specific career role. While working with a group I filled in for a level design role as it was left vacant, this decision ended up being a major contributor towards what I want to do in the future. Working as a level designer in this group simply felt natural, everything at this point clicked where I finally realized what it was I truly wanted to focus on in game development.
There have also been times when I encountered immeasurable setbacks, like when I first utilized Visual Studio and C++ in Unreal Engine 4. I worked for weeks on a project that involved making AI, ray casting, character movements, UI, ect, only with C++. While finishing up the project the week it was due, my UE4 files corrupted and I lost a lot of progress because of this. Regardless of what I tried the engine would not launch my project and after consulting with my instructor, I ended up scrapping the game entirely. While I still had some of the source code and a backup folder I made weeks prior, this was a major inconvenience and pushed me harder than ever to get it completed. I never gave up however, instead I learned a lot of valuable things from the experience and I even ended up with a better product than before.
YouTube Link: https://youtube.com/@AzexV2
Shadowless Cage was an individually made project I developed in order to test out the newly released Unreal Engine 5. The main focus was on the AI within this game and the player's ability to directly influence their behavioral patterns. I also used UE5's blueprints system to create a large variety of interactable actors, as well as multiple player and AI abilities. Additionally, the UI was designed with widgets to indicate ability cooldowns, a countdown timer, game lore, menu systems, ect.
The game tasks players with a single goal, find the exit, but while this may sound easy, it is far more demanding than it seems. The character which the player controls, finds themselves transported into a labyrinth full of creatures known as the Shadowless. These creatures will hunt the player down if they see or even hear them, they will also alert other Shadowless within the area. In order to avoid these creatures, the player can hide behind obstacles or sneak to create less noise. Players can also utilize two unique abilities, one is a short dash/teleport, while the other is throwing a rock to distract the enemies. The Shadowless also have their own traits and abilities that make their actions difficult to predict. Depending on their alertness these creatures will wander, investigate, or chase, the player can find clues throughout the map to help them manipulate these behaviors. In order for the player to win the game, they will need to navigate throughout the labyrinth without getting caught and locate a portal to send them back to where they once were.
Tool(s): Unreal Engine 5, Adobe Photoshop, Visual Studio
Highlighted Skill(s): AI Programming, Level Design, UI/UX, Game Engine Mastery
Reflection: In the past I had attempted a game similar to this one but ended up scrapping the idea because I was very inexperienced when it came to game development. I decided to revisit this idea and expand upon it, by utilizing and experimenting with Unreal Engine 5 as it had just been released at this point. AI programming was always a major interest of mine, so I felt motivated to create an AI that had complex behavioral patterns. Making the basics for this AI such as random wandering and player chasing was simple, but implementing pawn sensing was a bit more complicated. Through continuous trial and error as well as extensive research, I was able to get the AI in a state where it could both hear and see the player probably. This meant that players needed to be in direct line of sight in order for the AI to chase them or make loud enough noise to set the AI in investigation mode. The visual parts of this game were either downloaded through Epic Games marketplace or handmade by me in UE5 or Adobe Photoshop. I learned a lot in this process, such as how to use particle systems to create something like rain and proper utilization of UI in a game. Programming through both C++ and UE5’s blueprint system were relied upon heavily and I gained a lot out of it in the end.
I went on to share Shadowless Cage with others in the gaming community in order to gain some much needed feedback. After reading through everything I came to understand the game’s weaknesses which were an inconsistency in visuals, improper AI reactions to player abilities, and a lack of explanation to the player. To fix the visuals I worked on UI elements through Photoshop, adjusted materials and foliage to fit the game’s aesthetics, and changed the map’s lighting to be more realistic. The AI was improved to better react to the rock throw by rewriting the code and reworking the blueprints. I removed the collision surrounding the enemy capsule that would input the rock’s location and then move the AI towards it. Instead, once the rock collided with the floor mesh and was within the AI’s radius, it would send the AI to the collided area. As for player convenience, I developed a menu system that contained all of the game’s controls. I also created a scene that is played at the start of the game to show the end goal and then used camera blend to switch back to the player's perspective.
This artifact consists of a single level that was designed in order to look like a modern day office. By utilizing a large variety of materials and implementing different assets, this office was developed in order to seem real. Elements such as the building's structural integrity, proper lighting, cohesive materials/textures, and an overall functional look were emphasized. The assets used were downloaded from the Epic Games marketplace, but I adjusted and reworked the materials to better fit the office. Everything is meant to make functional sense, no assets were placed without having a reason to do so. Pillars and columns are used to convey the stability of the building while the materials also add to this outlook. For sections that are metal, I lowered roughness while increasing metallicness, something like granite was the opposite. Manipulating these variables was an important part in this development process and allowed me to add to the building's overall realism.
Additional features such as an automatic sliding door and manually opened doors were also included. Keeping everything to scale was another important factor as otherwise assets would look out of place. To do this I used a single chair asset as a way to measure the size of other assets, this kept objects in scale with one another. The last element was lighting, which I heavily scrutinized over as it would affect the way everything within the office looked. Both directional and point lights played a major role in getting appropriate lighting throughout the office and multiple light emissive assets were implemented as well.
Tool(s): Unreal Engine 4
Highlighted Skill(s): Level Design, Game Engine Mastery
Reflection: I had initially developed this office towards the beginning of my Game Development and Programming journey and I wanted to see how much I had improved since then. When revisiting my work I realized how simplistic everything was and my lack of creativity in its development. I had made only the conference room at the time and used materials with very little variation, such as a blue wall and brownish floor. It was evident that this was created by someone with very little game engine experience, so I did a major overhaul of everything. I adjusted all of the materials, obtained better assets and rescaled them, created more appealing lighting, and did a redesign of the entire building.
I presented this artifact to some friends and my instructor where they felt that the office lacked unison. They recommended that I view images of modern day offices and take inspiration from them. I was able to get a better idea of what materials are typically used together and how objects are placed within an office. When working on lighting, I ran into a lot of issues where it would look inconsistent because some areas were bright while others were dark. By messing around with the lighting settings and looking through different forums for help, I was able to overcome this. During this process I strengthened upon my level design knowledge and became a lot more confident in my ability to work with materials and lighting.
This game called Messy Room Pickup was developed in order to be played by kids and teach them the importance of cleaning up after themselves. The player’s character is shrunken down to a very small size and is tasked with locating and disposing of trash. Once trash is located throughout the level, the player can pick it up and either run it to the trash can or throw it from a distance. Every time this process is completed the player’s score will go up by one, once they reach the max score the game will end. There are several things to watch out for however, this includes obstacles such as item bombs and a limited time frame to win. Also, due to the character’s size, players need to navigate on and around furniture throughout the room so that they can reach all of the trash. The item bombs will spawn additional pieces of trash once picked up and decrease the player’s score depending on the amount of trash spawned. This requires the player to pick up all of the trash from the item bomb in order to get the max score. To differentiate the item bomb from normal trash, players will need to look out for a light red glow on the top of the object.
The core of this game is based on simplicity, it has an easy to understand goal and uncomplicated mechanics. With the intended audience being children, it was important to design the game in a way where they could play with little difficulty. Everything for this game was made in the engine using basic shapes and simple materials. The focus was not on its outstanding visuals or realism, but instead the mechanics of the game and enjoyability.
Tool(s): Unreal Engine 4
Highlighted Skill(s): Level Design, Game Engine Mastery, Game Physics, UI/UX
Reflection: Messy Room Pickup was the first game I created during my degree, I had made games prior but this experience further strengthened my skill set. The development process of this game at times was challenging for me as I was inexperienced with Unreal Engine. It got me used to the blueprint system, engine physics, materials, widgets, ect. I began by building the floor with a plane and then making walls using cubes. I then tried out creating simple materials and changing their variables. With a combination of tutorials from the class I was taking, as well as those I found online, I started developing the game's mechanics. This consisted of a simple pickup and throw ability, item bomb, and score system.
After revisiting this project I went back to these features and polished them up, the throw ability is now more consistent and the trash won’t get knocked out of the player’s hands as easily. The item bomb works the same way but now randomizes the spawn amount and won't glitch out of bounds. Additional features like spawn zones, the sprint system, and the level’s materials were polished up further. Lots of new assets were created for the level and past assets were changed to better represent my skils. I received feedback on this game that mentioned how the visuals looked off in certain sections. The wall, floor, and multiple assets had a patchiness to them that I struggled to fix for some time. This obstacle was resolved when I redid all of the level’s lighting, the issue occurred because the directional lights were clipping into the ceiling light assets. The end product is significantly more functional than it was prior and is overall a lot more enjoyable to play.
Suckerpunch Trailer:
Suckerpunch Tutorial Level:
Suckerpunch Playthrough:
Suckerpunch is a side-scroller game with a 8-bit like art style, while also being Halloween themed. The story behind this game is that a witch on Halloween curses a town and turns everyone into candy people, the player’s character included. Before leaving, the witch takes some of the townspeople with her, it’s up to the player to defeat the witch and save the town. They must explore the lands searching for the witch while fending off her minions, in the process the player can also collect candy, which affects their score. There are multiple paths that the player can take, if they go to the right of the town they will find the plains and mountain, while the left will have the graveyard and forest. Each zone contains multiple secret locations, including the cloud level which can be found in both the graveyard and mountains. Regardless of the path taken, the player will eventually end up in the witch’s fortress, where the witch and townspeople are located.
There are a large variety of enemies, powerups, and assets within this game that make it both enjoyable to play and explore. I also designed a tutorial level to teach player’s how to play and a fully functional menu system that allows for fluidity between the levels. Additionally, there's a score system that keeps track of all the candies the player finds during the playthrough. By jumping, dodging, and shooting their way through the level, the player will end up in a boss battle with the witch. If they are able to defeat her she will drop a key that opens up a bridge leading to the townspeople, which is how the player wins.
Tool(s): Unreal Engine 4, Adobe Photoshop, Visual Studio
Highlighted Skill(s): Level Design, Programming, Sound Design, UI/UX, Game Engine Mastery
Reflection: Suckerpunch is a group made game where I took on the role of level design, there was also someone in charge of art, another in programming, and the last as team lead. Our group was meant to have one additional team member who was in charge of UI/UX and sound design, but they left without informing the rest of the team. Due to this, I decided to take over his roles, I also helped with some programming for the game and made a couple of sprites. I usually work on games individually so this was a very nice change of pace and it taught me a lot about working with groups. Two days every week we would discuss the goals together and create a plan for accomplishing them. We would also give updates on how our branches were looking and what we wanted to get done before the week ended. Towards the end of the week we would playtest the game, this involved pushing the branches to the master and then looking for errors. This would then set us up for the following week where we would all understand what needed to be done in order to fix the issues.
Looking back, I feel that we were all slightly too ambitious, as we had less than six weeks to complete everything. The game ended up requiring a lot more sprites than we had all originally imagined, which overwhelmed our artist. When I had extra time I would help him complete some of the sprites and because of everyone's hard work, we completed the goals we set. This doesn't mean everything was perfect however, due to the size of the game, time frame given, and lack of members, there were some features left incomplete. I ended up going back to this game individually in order to patch up issues as well as complete parts that we never got to.
Based on feedback I obtained through my instructor as well as those I sent this game to, one major flaw was its lack of visual cohesiveness. While some parts consisted of just sprites, others were a combination of sprites and jpeg/png images. This was because of the time frame mentioned, but although it was not my role I still wanted to do something about this. I viewed tutorials online and got advice from the artist who worked on this game with me in order to replace some of the images with sprites. I was successfully able to create sprites in Photoshop and implement them into the main level, as well as tutorial. I also completely revamped the tutorial level, as there were a lot of scaling issues and parts I felt didn't fit well with the game. This involved updating sprites, replacing the text renders with pop up text, switching the game font, and adding more game mechanics in. By the end of this process, I feel that this game is in a good place, but I plan to further develop it in the future so that it can reach its full potential.
