WaveBreakers
Project Overview:
Wave Breakers is a third-person and top-down tower defense game focused on strategic tower placement, upgrades, and surviving relentless monster waves.
Players can construct specialized resource buildings that generate materials over time that allow for adding and upgrading buildings. There are no walls to place, but towers can be repaired, upgraded, and optimized to withstand increasingly dangerous waves.
Storm Crystals are the rare upgrade currency used to enhance towers, improving damage, range, and survivability. They are not tied to level progression or story advancement — your success depends on smart upgrades and tactical decisions.
If you are interested in viewing a more detailed breakdown in some of my responsibilities on the project as well as more of the mechanics and systems I contributed to, visit my Dev Logs for the project.
Gameplay prototype
Latest Video
For more videos highlighting the progression of the games builds, visit the Syntax Surfers YouTube Channel
Project Responsibilites
Lead / Senior Gameplay Programmer:
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Oversaw the implementation of all game systems present in the project.
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Provided constructive feedback and recommendations to ensure clean integration across all systems that promoted the single responsibility principle (SRP).
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Acted as a bridge of understanding between different development roles (Game State, AI, Controls, UI, etc.).
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Designed and developed the games core building system for third-person and top-down perspectives.
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Assisted in development of a variety of other systems when needed.
Technical Artist:
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Created and used existing Niagara particle systems to increase visual feedback in all gameplay systems.
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Made material assets to distinguish the different states of the grid tiles (free, occupied, inaccessible).
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Wrote code that changed specific materials for enemy lanes based on the theme of the given level.
Technical Designer:
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Outlined and prototyped key gameplay components based on the game design document.
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Created UI mockups and prototypes utilizing Figma and iterated accordingly based on team and user feedback.
Lead QA / Optimization Specialist: Related Blog Post
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Utilized built-in debugging tools within the Unreal Editor to assess and identify bugs as well as propose fixes.
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Encouraged and implemented detail specific logging in development builds to better anticipate potential pain points before they advance to bugs.
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Routinely played the game looking for bugs, pain points, and potential system conflicts.
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Purposely tried to "break" systems to ensure functionality was sound and limit the ability for exploitation by the player.
Environment Artist:
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Translated gray-box layouts into levels with fully textured assets.
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Ensured all environments closely aligned with the project theme.
Project Manager:
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Prioritized and assigned development tasks among the development team (3 others).
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Utilized Jira for progress and bug tracking throughout the development process.
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Organized and ran biweekly standup meetings to maintain development progress.
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Set progress goals for system integration and new shipping builds for full feature testing.
Gameplay Designer:
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Wrote and maintained the Game-Design document based on the project pitch and desired mechanics.
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Wrote and maintained the list of game controls across game systems.
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Created flow diagrams for the core gameplay and application loop.
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Ensured all desired mechanics were feasible with the allotted manpower and expertise, suggesting changes where necessary.
Gameplay Systems
Grid-Based Building System:
Grid Component:
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Designed an actor component to facilitate interactions between all items placeable on the grid and the grid itself.
BuilderComponent:
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Derived a child of the Grid Component and modified it to specifically handle the building of structures in both the third person and top-down modes.
Grid Pawn:
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Created the actor, its camera, and its inputs for building structures and viewing the level in the top-down perspective.
Audio Manager:
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Created an actor to facilitate the control of all audio across both menus and gameplay.
UE Enhanced Input System:
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Moved the project form the old Unreal input system to the Enhanced Input system.
Controller Support:
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Added controller support for inputs.
Want To Follow The Project?
To stay up to date with the whole team's progress, visit out Itch page, where you can even play an early build of the game!
https://syntaxsurfers.itch.io/wave-breakers-firstperson-strategy-hybrid-tower-defense
If you are interested in viewing my own progress on the project, view my dev logs for the project!