Mutant
Mutant is a 3D top-down twin-stick shooter prototype developed as a team project during my two-year Game Development: Programming program at Red River College Polytechnic. Set in a sci-fi experimental facility, the game centers on a focused boss encounter where players rely on movement and combat feedback to survive.
Development was completed over several weeks by a multidisciplinary team of three programmers and three artists. Early production was guided by a shared game design macro and asset trackers, which helped align gameplay goals, visual direction, and production scope across disciplines.
Within the team, I contributed primarily as a gameplay and audio programmer, focusing on player movement mechanics, combat feedback systems, and audio-reactive environmental effects. My work emphasized responsiveness, clarity, and atmosphere, with systems iterated through playtesting to improve moment-to-moment readability and player feedback.
PRIMARY ROLES
I implemented a player dash ability focused on responsiveness and readability, including directional input handling, cooldown logic, and supporting visual effects. To preserve gameplay boundaries, I added level constraints preventing the player from dashing outside the intended play space. The dash system was tuned through playtesting to ensure clarity, consistency, and player control.
I designed a layered damage feedback system combining audio cues, screen shake, and material color changes to clearly communicate player hits during combat. Feedback frequency was tuned using cooldown logic to prevent visual overload while maintaining urgency. These systems improved moment-to-moment readability and reinforced the impact of combat interactions.
I implemented audio-reactive lighting and particle effects to enhance atmosphere and reinforce key gameplay moments. Using amplitude data from music and sound effects, environmental lights and Niagara systems dynamically respond to audio playback, including alarm lighting tied to boss phase changes and reactive environmental effects within the level.
