Spite: Catharsis
TGA Project #5/6
Team of 18
10 + 4 weeks half-time
(200 + 80 hours)
C++/
Custom Engine
Spite: Catharsis was our first project in our own custom engine, which we decided to call FeatherEngine. This project was also divided into a pre-production project, #5, and the actual game, project #6, but I will recount my work from both as the same given the overlap.
My contributions
In this project, I worked almost entirely on the user interface. This included implementing sprite rendering in DX11 from scratch, text rendering using multi-signed distance fields, as well as video playback using the Microsoft Media Foundation framework.
After implementing these in the engine, I also made sure that all the pieces fit together, creating a menu and HUD system as well as some behind the scenes management of different settings such as resolution and playing back the right videos.
Early implementation of cooldown on ability icons.
Early implementation of video playback in engine.
What did I learn?
Skill-wise, I learned a lot about how video playback can be done in conjunction with DirectX11 as well as a lot of the nitty gritty of DirectX11 and how to work with it, particularly regarding screen-space objects like text and sprites.
It was also my first time working with technical artists and as such this project gave me a lot of insight into their work process and how we can make the workflow more efficient for both us programmers as well as on the tech art side.
