Derek Baert

Student Project (Group)
Designer, Developer
Unreal Engine

Rift City Rebels is a Platform Fighter developed as the capstone project for my Game Development program. In this project I worked with 5 other developers and 12 artists. Some features I worked on are:

• Developed a camera system by calculating player positions to position the camera and determine zoom to show up to 4 players on screen at once.
• Developed a comprehensive system for tracking player character selections, game modes, and match statistics, displaying results post-match for all 4 players.
• Developed a training mode that allowed players to select 5 enemy AI presets, and dynamically swap between all 7 playable characters to test out their unique moves.
• Designed a moveset consisting of 9 distinct abilities by researching frame data and real-world references to develop a unique and cohesive moveset, including a tether ability for pulling opponents into melee range.
• Collaborated with a 3D artist to design a playable character, creating mood boards and reference materials to create a character with a unique design.
• Regularly wrote and submitted patch notes bi-weekly for review, explaining rationale for balance changes made in the game.

Student Project (Group)
Designer, Developer
Unreal

Virtual House Editor is a project developed for an external client where I worked alongside three artists as the sole programmer. Responsibilities included:

• Developed systems which allowed users to change materials for 5 different house elements, including walls, doors, countertops and roofs.
• Developed UI for selecting options for 5 different house elements, including changing the material applied to the mesh, and swapping wall panels for window panels.
• Developed three movement options for ease of use and accessibility, including WASD controls, double clicking the ground to move, and fast traveling between rooms.

Student Project (Group)
Designer, Developer
Unity

Spearguy is a game I designed and developed myself as an exercise in mechanic and level design.

• Designed character concept and core mechanic
• Programmed behaviour of player character, enemies and world interactions.
• Designed challenges and level for player to traverse.
• Created screen transition system.
• Playtested mechanic and challenges, and integrated feedback into project.

Student Project (Group)
Designer, Developer
Unreal

Zecromancer is a VR Prototype in which you control a hoard of zombies to defeat soldiers and tear down obstacles. For this project I worked with one other programmer and 6 artists. Features I created were:

• Programmed AI behaviours, including Zombie NPC behaviour which could be influenced by player inputs.
• Created development tools to automate workflow of converting animations to vertex animations using Unreal's AnimToTexture plugin.
• Programmed system to change animations of NPCs which used vertex animations in place of skeletal animations.

Designer, Developer
Godot
Theme: Extra Life

Necrohamster is a reaction based game where you must perform quicktime events to ressurect your hamster friend, but be careful not to get caught by your owner! This was developed for the Extra Life Game Jam over the course of 2 days. My contributions were:

• Led a team of 5 for a 48-hour game jam.
• Implementation of animations for hamster and owner.
• Implementation of a quicktime based minigame, requiring the player to time button presses based on an animated UI.
• Programming events for when the owner arrives, random selection of quicktime events, and player inputs.
• Conducted playtests, adjusting design based on player feedback.
• Managed tasks for team members, delegating tasks based on member interests and adjusting scope as needed.

Designer, Developer
Unity
Theme: The bees!

Hands Off My Honey! Is a twin stick shooter where you control a Queen Bee preventing greedy hands from stealing your honey! This was developed for the 2024 Annual Peg Jam over the course of 3 days. My contributions were:

• Led a team of 5 for a 72-hour game jam.
• Implemented kinematic movement system for player character.
• Implemented system for player to pick up honeycomb objects and return them to stash.
• Conducted playtests, adjusting design based on player feedback.
• Managed tasks for team members, delegating tasks based on member interests and adjusting scope as needed.

Designer, Developer
Unreal
Theme: Waves

Jelly Terror is an endless runner where you try to reach the end of each level before the hoard of killer jellyfish catch up to your submarine, all while collecting fuel to maintain your speed. This was developed for the 2023 Peg Jam over the course of 3 days. My contributions were:

• Led a team of 5 for a 72-hour game jam.
• Collaborated on design of core game mechanic
• Implemented velocity-based movement in UE5 blueprints.
• Implementation of music, sound and visual effects including screen shake.
• Managed tasks for team members, delegating tasks based on member interests and adjusting scope as needed.

Designer, Developer
Unity
Theme: Limited Space

Emotional Baggage is a puzzle game where you must pack up your belongings at different stages of your life, having to make the difficult decision of what to keep and what to leave behind. This was developed for Ludum Dare 54. My contributions were:

• Led a team of 5 for a 48-hour jam.
• Player controls, including the ability to pick up items, place items, and rotate items.
• Implementation of 2 differnt control methods, Controller and Keyboard + Mouse.
• Designed 3 different levels of different difficulties, using game's narrative to inform design of level.
• Managed tasks for team members, delegating tasks based on member interests and adjusting scope as needed.