Van Phan

Unreal Multiplayer C++ Project

During the fall of 2023 and my last semester at RIT in the spring of 2024, I would spend a majority of my free time working on a multiplayer template project that was primarily C++ in Unreal Engine. The project has taught me how sessions are implemented in Unreal's C++ library and has allowed me to improve my understanding of system replication. Moving forward, I have also decided that I would make all my projects open source since it would allow people to not needlessly spend time on finding solutions for particular issues in C++ Unreal.

Current project progress:

● Users can host sessions, defined the lobby size, and whether this session is LAN.

● Users can browse all available sessions and see if the lobbies are full and what user is hosting that particular session.

● When in the same sessions, users are able to travel to the main "game" using Q, traveling all clients to a new level. This new level has boxes the have UI pop-ups that only appear for that particular client and there is a basic melee combat system to demonstrate basic replication.

● Beyond the multiplayer aspects, that project has the systems developed for language localization, graphics settings, and audio settings.

● Currently in development is creating a character selection system that persist between selections when loading to the server session and traveling. From there I also need to fix how these characters are replicated between the server and client.

Repository

Game Jams (C++/C#)

During my fall semester of 2024 I wanted to do as many game jams. Attached to the button is a link to my Itch page of all the games I have playable throughout my college career.

The game jams have given me the opportunity to test my problem solving skills without being given the answer. A lot of my time in game development had been stuck looking at courses and tutorials for Unreal or Unity so being able to prove I can operate indepedently from those systems is very self-fulfilling.

I have also at this point started using github much more on my personal projects to track commits to track how much I work and to be able to share solutions to problems so people don't have to spend hours like I did trying to solve a problem that consist of one line of hidden code.

Github

Unreal Consulting (UE 5 C++)

During my winter break of my senior year of college I decided I would get a certificate in Unreal C++ development. I wanted to prove to myself that if a client of mine wanted a particular game developed I would be able to complete the request in a timely manner and also use strong S.O.L.I.D principles for system development. I reached out to a handful of collegeues who agreed to design game ideas and create art/music assets. In exchange I would develop their requests in Unreal using the C++ pipeline.

Over the span of the spring semester of 2023 I developed:

● A 1st person platforming game where the main character can wall run, teleport, and double jump. A checkpoint system setup. Since this project was made for an audio engineer, I developed the system to expansable from a blueprints approach so that my team member can easily work in tandum with me without needing to be overwhelmed by looking at all the code.

● A 3rd person FPS which replicates the throwing mechanic from the game "Control". This project was used to help me understand how to develop a C++ for a colleague whos main focus was on VFX systems.

● A 2.5D puzzle game where you utilize roots to connect other fungal colonies while traversing through the world's terrain. This project was espcially challenging since I had to override Unreal's default spline system to work as a modular component that would allow the artist to pass in their own assets and would use these assets to regenerate roots at runtime.

Watch Demo

Unity Client Project (C#)

During my spring semester of 2023 I was requested to help represent Magic Spell Studios at PAX East 2023. While I was there I meet old colleagues of mine who wanted assistance in developing their next game they wanted to published. The game is a 2D zelda inspired game.

My current contributions include:

● Setting up a character ability system to use an interface that would allow designers/developers to drag and drop any abilities in the 4 respective ability slots.

● A ranged weapon system that uses a projectile interface to handle object pooling with whatever projectile types the team designs.

● A dynamic room system which allowed scenes to be additively loaded in and out upon entering/exiting entry points, with the objective of allowing designers to be able to work on multiply scenes at the same time and reduce computation of loading unneccessary scenes.

Watch Demo

Physics Engine (C++ and HLSL)

During my junior year of college, I took a class that focused on the development of common game engine systems using C++ and HLSL. The class really helped me understand the many systens underneath most game engines. Over the course of the entire class I worked on one primary project where I developed:

● A game engine that took in .fbx files and parsed that data into points for the computer to calculate out triangles and visualize the object.

● A simple render pipeline that took in HLSL data, materials, shaders, textures, normals, and light maps. Using the feed in data it would apply these desired changeds onto a specific mesh.

● A game object system that would allow meshes to have transforms and translation which could be updated at runtime.

● A camera system to utilized culling for optimization. Contained movement and rotation, allowing the user to fully view 3D objects.

● A light system to allow for interaction with spot lights, directional lights, spot lights, diffusion, and specular data.

Watch Demo

Shrine of Radiance (UE5 Blueprints)

Shrine of Radiance is Unreal Engine Blueprints project I developed over my winter break of my Junior year of college based off the online course "Game Dev Unlocked". The course helped me develop a baseline understanding of Unreal Engine's main systems. I decided to use this project during my spring semester for my composing for video games class. The results I got from the project were:

● A simple first person puzzle game where the player had to bounce around lasers to hit goals and move onto new levels.

● Over 10 puzzle areas designed using nanite assets for the quixel bridge marketplace.

● A dynamic music system that changed based off progress into the game using metasounds.

● Self developed music using Ableton Live.

● A checkpoint system.

Watch Demo

Peace of Mind (Unity)

Peace of mind is a walking-sim where you activate generators to escape society. I created the project during the summer of my softmore year of college, which was based off the online course "Game Dev Unlocked". I used the concepts learned from this project to demonstrate my understanding of Unity and secure my first job in the game dev industry. What I accomplished was:

● Created a open world level experience using assets from the Unity Marketplace.

● Used built in Unity tools: terrain generation, foliage system, post-processing, lighting, VFX, etc. to enhance the visuals of the world.

● Created and editted art assets in photoshop and blender/maya.

● Created voice-over clips in audacity and adobe audition.

Watch Demo itch.io link

Curly Brackets (C#)

Curly Brackets is a school group project that was developed my spring semester of my freshman year of college. The game is a tower defense that has an external tool to develop maps and enemy waves outside of the main project. Amongst my collegeues I developed:

● The tower interactions and upgrade paths.

● The enemy path finding system.

● The data parser which takes information from the external tool to create levels.

Watch Demo itch.io link