LEGO Horizon Adventures

C++, Unreal Engine 5 | 2022-
About

Studio Gobo co-developed LEGO Horizon Adventures with Guerrilla Games.

As a senior engineer at Studio Gobo, I worked on 3Cs features and other gameplay systems throughout the development of LEGO Horizon Adventures. These were implemented primarily in C++, using Unreal Engine 5's gameplay frameworks. As the game supports both online and local co-op play, gameplay was built with networking in mind, and had to perform well on hardware ranging from PS5 to Nintendo Switch.

As part of this project, some of the specific areas I worked on included:

  • Building the camera system used throughout the game, working with designers, artists, and level designers to deliver a high quality presentation of the game world that supported combat, exploration, and co-op gameplay, as well as managing transitions to cinematics and other bespoke cameras. Implementing a fully-featured debug camera and tools to capture marketing materials.
  • Helping to implement core player mechanics, such as:
    • Basic traversal locomotion, mantling and pull-ups.
    • Traversal ingredients such as ziplines and tightropes.
    • A "respot" system to bring players back to a safe space if they are separated from one another or enter an environmental hazard.
    • Moving platforms and doors.
  • Extending the Unreal Gameplay Ability System to meet the game's needs, including adding input buffering and additional debugging tools. Supporting the wider team with improving the responsiveness and 3Cs experience of player abilities such as weapons and gadgets.
  • Helping to implement accessibility features such as control remapping, disabling hold or button mash inputs, and auto aim.
  • Acting as the engineering contact for platform compliance for releasing the game on Nintendo Switch.
  • Building a first pass of the tile-based terrain system used to build the game's LEGO environments.
  • Supporting various replication improvements and bug fixes.