Patrick Fischer

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SAE Game Jam - 2024

Wake Up

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Global Game Jam - 2024

Bouncy Kingdom

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SAE Game Jam - 2023

Travel Through Time

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• PlasticSCM

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SAE Game Jam - 2022

MARkus Movers

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Pooling Tool for Unity

Pool It

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SAE Institute Frankfurt

Head Instructor Games Programming
Aug 2021 - todaySupervisior Games Programming
Nov. 2020 - Juli 2021As Head Instructor for the Games Programming area, I lead the department, which is largely composed of organization, management, development of the program, teaching and technical support. A detailed list of duties is available below.Personal Highlights:
My first course, which I supervised from the beginning, won the first SAE Student Award in Frankfurt in 2022, for the best games programming project from all SAE sites.Subject-related assignments with the student:
- Main lecturer for the practical classes at the Frankfurt campus.
- Lecturer for theoretical lessons GSA* wide
- Technical support for students
- Support on student projects
- Technical support for bachelor topics
- Performance evaluations of students
- Conducting workshops and seminars
- Technical support of project work
- Contact person for interested visitors at the Open CampusOrganization
- Planning of the course development of the department GSA* far
- Planning the schedule and content of practical classes
- Planning and organization of local events (Game Jam etc.)Management
- Assignment of tasks to the departmental assistants
- Contact person for academic and subject-related questionsAdministrative tasks
- Maintenance of student data
- Planning and expansion of social media activities* (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)

SUPER CROWD ENTERTAINMENT GMBH

Unity Developer
Oct. 2020 - Sept. 2020Products Working on:
Indie Arena Booth Online 2020Course before the realease of the Indie Arena Booth 2020 for Gamescom, Supercrowd has been looking for support to get the project ready in time for Gamescom.

Responsibilies include:- Bug Fixing and Troubleshooting: Identified and resolved issues on the platform to ensure smooth event operations.- Functionality Testing: Conducted tests to verify that all features were functioning as intended.- Documentation: Provided detailed documentation of identified bugs, tests performed, and solutions implemented.

Schenker Deutschland AG

Unity Developer
Oct. 2019 - Sept. 2020Products Working on:
- VR Kleinpack
- VR Großpack
- VR Casino
Responsibilies include:- Developing New Game Features: Implement and integrate new features into the game to enhance the overall player experience.- Collaborating with Game Artists: Work closely with Game Artists to ensure a seamless integration of visual and gameplay elements.- Expanding Internal Editor Tools (Kite): Enhance and optimize internal editor tools, particularly "Kite," to improve game flow and development efficiency.- Debugging and Problem Solving: Independently debug and fix issues to ensure smooth gameplay.- Creating and Documenting Bug Tickets: Identify bugs, create detailed bug tickets, and document the issues and their resolutions.- Level Content Creation: Design and populate game levels with engaging content to provide diverse and exciting player experiences.

Project Management

In this project, I was responsible for project management. It was a unique experience, as it was my first time using Jira as a tool. In the past, I had primarily worked with Trello or similar applications.Engaging with Jira was very interesting, as I was able to discover its strengths. Although it took some time to understand and properly apply the essential and fundamental features, Jira ultimately helped me gain a clear overview of all departments, track the process, and implement agile project management more effectively. This included sprint planning, regular meetings, and sprint reviews.

Gameplay

The game starts in a lobby, where you can assemble your equipment. When you're ready to start a round, you can either create your own lobby or join a random lobby via Quickplay.Once the game begins, your goal is to protect the Hangar Console. Enemies will spawn in waves and attempt to capture the console.If you are defeated by an enemy, your teammate can revive you. If your teammate defeats the wave, you will be automatically revived.There are two types of enemies: Soldiers and Drone Bombs. When you defeat these enemies, they drop their weapons, which you can pick up. They may also drop Healthpacks that you can collect.The game is won when all waves are defeated!

AI Behaviour

For the Artificial Intelligence (AI), I decided to go with a simple Finite State Machine (FSM). Before starting the implementation, I planned the AI using Draw.io to visually represent the states and transitions. The resulting diagram shows how the FSM is structured and how it functions.One particularly interesting aspect was synchronizing the FSM in a multiplayer environment. The FSM itself runs only on the host machine, but the positions and animations of the AI characters are synchronized to ensure smooth gameplay on all clients.Challenges and Solutions in Synchronization
One challenge was keeping the AI running when a player leaves the game. One might think it's enough to sync the AI information once when someone exits, but with a sudden disconnect, it's not that simple.In the event of an unexpected disconnect, no code can be executed to save or sync the current state. Therefore, it's crucial to ensure that the AI information is always up-to-date. This means the relevant data must be continuously and reliably transmitted throughout the game.

Inventory System

The inventory system is very simple. The basic idea is that players can scroll through their inventory using the scroll wheel. This allows a player to hold a primary weapon (e.g., AK, Scar) as well as a secondary weapon, such as a pistol.For network synchronization, only the ID of the weapon currently held by the player needs to be synchronized. This means that whenever a player scrolls through their inventory or picks up a new weapon, a network synchronization must occur.Additionally, we do not destroy weapons when they are switched or picked up; instead, we simply deactivate them. The reason behind this is that instantiating and destroying objects is a resource-intensive process in Unity. By keeping the objects in memory and not deleting them, we can avoid this overhead.This approach applies to both the first-person and third-person models. The weapon held by Player 1 is created in their first-person model, not in the third-person model. However, for all other players, the weapon is created in the third-person model.It is also crucial that when a player joins the game later, the weapon ID of each player is synchronized to the new player so that they are also up-to-date.

Recoil Pattern Tool

For our weapons, I developed a Recoil Pattern. To make this pattern more comprehensible, I created a tool that allows for precise visualization of how the weapons behave in a recoil pattern. I intentionally chose not to use a procedural spray pattern for this project, enabling quick and easy adjustments to the recoil pattern.UsageWith my tool, I can easily add new points, adjust tangents, or delete points. Each point can be moved afterward, except for the "Root" point. However, the tangents of each point can be individually adjusted.Technical DetailsThe tool is built on a custom spline system that allows me to move points via drag-and-drop. Tangents can be displayed to fine-tune the curve. The spline curve is then used to generate points necessary for the recoil during runtime.A key feature is the proper placement of tangent points when creating new points. To ensure consistent results, I align the tangent in the direction of the second tangent of the previous point.

FMOD

Goals
The primary objective was to craft an immersive and reactive soundscape that fully immerses players in the game world. Repetitive and monotonous sounds can make a game feel very dull, so we implemented the following strategies:Variety in sound effects: To avoid monotony and create a more dynamic and engaging audio environment, we used different sounds for the same effects.
Dynamic soundtrack creation: To enhance emotional impact, we developed a music system that adapts to the in-game situation, changing dynamically with the gameplay.
Randomized sound adjustments: To ensure that sounds do not become repetitive, we varied parameters such as pitch, volume, and filters each time a sound effect was played. This introduced a natural variation and made the audio experience feel more lifelike.Results
By implementing FMOD, we were able to utilize its robust core functionalities without the need for extensive custom coding. This greatly simplified the workflow between audio production, FMOD integration, and development. The end result was a significantly more immersive and engaging player experience.