Plasma Lance (Unreal Jam 2023 Winner)

With the theme revealed, I quickly started planning the game using Miro, a whiteboarding tool. I outlined the major game elements and their associated assets, as shown below.

The biggest challenge was building the game with a single texture. I packed emblems for customization and textures for post-process effects, then added outline functionality and animated edge distortion to finalize the look.

When developing a game, I always start with UI functionality to establish level flow and mechanics. Many of the menus also contain modular buttons and submenus for reusability.

All characters in the game are modular and multipart, allowing for easy customization and enabling rapid creation of diverse NPCs and builds.

Two maps—Garage and Arena—feature modular, rigged, and animated environment assets, with the Arena map also including crowd spawning. The crowd spawner generates a new crowd every time a new match starts making the game feel more dynamic.