Hey, I'm Olly. A game Developer.

Last Summer | C++, Blueprints, Unreal Engine, Narrative

I'm currently leading the development of a Narrative Game Project titled Last Summer, handling gameplay programming, technical art, UI design, and narrative writing. 

The Key-systems in this project feature ; 

• Custom Dialogue Handler that parses TXT files. Showcase

• Automatic Serialization Sub-system that has allowed for quick development of saveable mechanics and data. Showcase

• Custom Movement implementation focused on Climbing and utilizing Control Rig to handle limb placement. Showcase

• Global Foliage & Weather System that persists across levels. Showcase

• Easy Puzzle Creation Sub-system, that allows for any Actor to be turned into a part of a puzzle that needs to be interacted with or stepped on. Showcase

This is the longest project I have worked on, with the most phases of Playtesting, iteration and it has been the toughest challenge yet. Dialing in the player experience, getting feedback and changing core-systems early on to ensure the game feels good has been a vital learning point and takeaway from this project.

C++ Terrain Project | C++, OpenFrameWorks, Tool
This project was a valuable learning experience for me. It involved implementing noise algorithms to generate realistic terrain, creating heightmap data, and applying it to a 3D mesh in real-time. 

AfterLife |  C#, Unity, 3D First Person, Narrative
This project was the culmination of my second year at Goldsmiths, where I collaborated with two other team members. We had no brief, just to create an interactive game. In our group, I took on the responsibility of handling all the visual aspects, including UI, UX, 3D modeling, and game interaction. Specifically, my role was focused on user experience and art direction.

Throughout the development process, we encountered various challenges, such as significant narrative changes and adjustments to the game experience. However, the core concept of the game remained intact. Despite these hurdles, we successfully created an impressive short narrative game that we are all immensely proud of.

For the final grade, our project received a score of 68%. In terms of programming, I primarily focused on developing the game interaction systems and an additional animation system within Unity. This system allowed us to input game objects and positions in the inspector, enabling animations to be executed at runtime. Since not all members of our group were familiar with Unity's animation system, we collectively agreed that implementing custom tools would streamline development in the future.

The development journey of our project, Afterlife, had its fair share of ups and downs. However, in the end, all our efforts came together and we created a great short game.

That Time I left Home | C#, Unity, 2D Topdown, Narrative
This project was developed for the Adventure Jam 2022, where the game ranked in the top 50 out of 91 submissions. Me and an Artist worked together to create an immersive narrative, point and click experience.

This game allowed me to explore the use of serialization and how it can be used to create interactive text by using JSON files. I created the system to be easy to use so anyone with a basic understanding of the Unity UI could implement new text and events within the game.

Overal the game was finished within 7 days of development, and we was very happy with the final result as it was the first Game Jam we had participated in.

Lost In The Dark | C#, Unity, 2D Side Scroller, Puzzle

For my first-year final games project at Goldsmiths, I developed a puzzle game where you must switch between controllers to solve various puzzles. These puzzles included timing challenges, object interaction, and push-and-pull mechanics. While experimenting with Unity's URP 2D lighting, I pushed the boundaries without considering WebGL's performance limits. Despite this, the project served as a valuable learning experience in exploring new visual styles and experimental features of game engines.