Gareth Falkingham

A Roblox hidden role video game. I developed the core progression and monetization features, analyzed the success (or failure) of released features, supported live operations, and performed optimizations to improve the performance on lower-end devices.

A multiplatform Horse Racing video game, built in C# using the Unity game engine. The console (XboxOne, PS4, Nintendo Switch) versions are played offline and contain eight-player multiplayer, voice chat, user content creation/sharing. The mobile versions are server-authoritative, but share core gameplay, metagame structure, and assets with the console versions.

I was the technical lead on this project and was responsible for architecting the multiplatform nature of the codebase. I specifically worked on native console code for PS4/XboxOne, such as voice chat, multiplayer, and user management. For the mobile version, I worked on assorted features, from prototyping the AR mode now available in the game and building the limited time offer and tutorial systems.

A mobile (iOS/Android) idle 'clicker' game, with a light-hearted tone. I came on close to the end of this project and worked on core systems required to get it across the line: Cloud Saving, Tutorials, Analytics. A lot of the technologies I built for Dungeon Inc, in particular the tutorial system, have evolved and been introduced into other projects at PikPok. Dungeon Inc was written in C# using the Unity game engine.

Heroes Realm was a mobile free to play Hero collection game developed by Good Game Studios. I worked closely with other disciplines to create tools to allow them to work more efficiently. Specifically, I created a generic system for handling VFX and SFX events within the ultimate skill system. I also worked closely with other developers to refactor core systems, such as the tutorial system, to make it more maintainable. Unfortunately, this project was canceled before a global launch. Heroes Realm was built in C# using the Unity game engine

Primal Rivals was an ambitious combination of a real-time asynchronous multiplayer territory grab, a hero collection game, and a tower defense game. I worked on a team of 3 developers to produce Primal Rivals using C++ and the Ogre3D rendering engine. We built a lot of the technology from scratch and focused on robust and reusable systems design. The title was soft-launched but was iced shortly after. My personal focus for Primal Rivals was the tutorial systems and the multiplayer aspects of the gameplay, which involved developing the server architecture in Amazon Web Services. The server was written in standalone C#. The client was written using initially C++98, but we added C++11 support at a later date.

The Good Dinosaur: Dino Crossing was a Unity game developed at CerebralFIx for Disney. It was released in advance of the movie as a promotional piece. The gameplay is similar to the classic game Frogger, where you move the character (in this case, Arlo, the dinosaur) progressively upwards, avoiding obstacles as you go. I worked on numerous gameplay and UI systems and helped optimize the game to a releasable standard by identifying memory leaks that were causing garbage collection spikes.

A C++ game was written for the iOS-exclusive version of Club Penguin. Pizzatron 3000 is a port of a game with the same name from the website version of Club Penguin. I built the entire game using the C++ minigame framework that Disney was using for the Club Penguin minigames. We really found value in having children user test the game and seeing their reactions to the special characters showing up was a highlight.