Note: Bit Fry Game Studios left Apple Arcade in the fall of 2021, so the Ultimate Rivals games are not currently live on any platform. Here is a gameplay video of Ultimate Rivals: The Rink. I do not own this video, I found it on YouTube.

I started at Bit Fry Game Studios as a Gameplay Programmer working to create prototypes, demos, and other proofs of concept required to secure funding and publishing. I worked in Unreal Engine 4 using Blueprints and C++ to create prototypes of what would become the Ultimate Rivals games The Rink and The Court.

During this pre-funding period I developed character movesets, Ultimate abilities, and attributes using UE4's Gameplay Abilities System. At the time, the GAS was experimental and very modestly documented, so working with it involved a lot of source code reading and debugging. I also created multiple iterations of gameplay camera logic, a QTE system, and post-score inbounding sequences for both hockey and basketball. This work helped us secure funding and publishing, and served as a launch point for the gameplay programmers during full production of the Ultimate Rivals games.

Upon signing with Apple Arcade, I was promoted to Game Designer. We had less than a year to develop The Rink, so to avoid blocking production I quickly authored high level systems designs for all gameplay systems. I then worked closely with the engineering and art teams who would interpret the high-level designs into first working versions. From there, the CEO and I would provide feedback and the team would perform rapid iteration loops in order to satisfy the vision and hit our deadline.

The Rink is a hockey game featuring playable athletes from five different sports, so a big part of the design challenge was finding a way to believably portray non-native hockey players through their athlete stats while earning licensor approval. My solution was to leverage a TTRPG-like core attribute system from which hockey stats like "Skate Speed" and "Slapshot Accuracy" would be derived. This approach worked to achieve believability and balance, but required a redesign once we introduced twice as many athletes and another playable sport, basketball, with The Court.

Shortly before the launch of The Rink I was promoted again to Lead Game Designer. This was mostly a formality, as I was the sole game designer for the majority of The Rink's development, but it was an important distinction for the pre-launch press circuit that I was an integral part of. In the week preceding launch I received media training from the head of PR at Apple Arcade, ran demos and spoke on our game design/direction during a press junket in NYC, and was interviewed by a revolving door of press in a custom-built "Apple Arcade lounge" in LA which was topped off by a live reveal and release of Ultimate Rivals: The Rink at The Game Awards 2019. During all of this commotion, I was on call for the folks back at the Portsmouth office to triage last minute cert issues for submission to Apple Arcade. It was a busy week.

Following launch of The Rink I aided production in prioritizing fixes, improvements, and platform compliance for a handful of app updates before beginning full production on The Court.