Production Details

Team Size = 11
- 5 programmers
- 4 artists
- 2 designers
Production Duration = ~7 months
- (first ~4 months dedicated entirely to the engine)
Levi’s Roles:
- Co-Producer
- Engine Architect (C++)
- Editor & Tools Engineer (C++ and Python)
- Gameplay Programmer (Python)
Levi’s Top 3 Contributions:
- Designed and implemented a fast, feature-complete, and designer-friendly engine/editor.
- Embedded a custom Python interpreter in our C++ engine that could match the runtime performance of Lua.
- Contributed 67% of the codebase and 77% of all documentation.
Final Grade = A

Made with PyroEngine

For various reasons, I split this team project into two pages:

the game (this page)
the engine and editor (see: PyroEngine)

I am most proud of my contributions to the engine and editor, but that’s not all I did.

Read on to hear about my contributions to the game Abyssal itself.

I implemented the following using our Python scripting frontend:

the player controller
enemy controllers & AI behaviours
global game state (similar to a “Director” pattern)

Additionally, to ensure that our designers could do their part in using the editor and scripts, I made sure they had excellent documentation for… well, everything.

It was over 100 pages, and included thorough examples, errata, and references.
The designers confirm that without these docs, they couldn’t have made Abyssal.
If it interests you, you can view the primary PDF here.

Outtakes

In my experience, most game projects have a non-empty cutting room floor for their initial launch. It’s sort of a mark of good game developers, in my opinion.

We sacrificed many cool things in order to meet Abyssal’s rather tight deadlines, but the one I feel deserves a spotlight most of all is our beloved Scythefish~