Broken Lines

My Role: Lead Programmer and Game Designer
Time on project: 3.75 years (summer 2016 – spring 2020)
Average team size: 6-10 people
Available At: Steam, Switch, Xbox, Playstation
Publisher: SuperGG.com
Platform: Windows/OSX/Linux/Switch/Xbox/Playstation
Input: Keyboard + Mouse / Controller
Engine: Unity 3D
MetaCritic Score: 76

Contributions:

  • Team management:
    • Led the programming team throughout the development of the project.
  • Game framework:
    • Responsible for the save and load functionality.
    • Setup the Steam integration and achievements.
    • Created an XML database structure with an in-editor interface for all the game data – characters, events, weapons, etc.
    • Created the weapon framework for customizing projectiles, delivery method (raycast/physics) and visualization.
  • Combat:
    • Designed the core combat mechanics of suppression, cover and panic.
    • Setup enemy AI using the plugin Apex Utility AI.
    • Worked on physics and game predictions – being able to visualize the results of actions during planning.
  • Animations:
    • Managed the character animator and IK for hands and feet.
    • Setup transitions back and forth between animation and ragdoll state for both player characters and enemies.
  • UI:
    • Setup the UI logic for menus and combat.
    • Created aiming visualization shaders for combat targeting.
    • Created a framework for dealing with dynamic switching between keyboard+mouse and controller on the fly.
    • Setup UI to deal with an alternative layout for smaller screens, such as the Switch.
  • Localization:
    • Setup and handled the localization process using the I2 Localization plugin for Unity.
    • Created a syntax for dealing with gendered language in events with random characters.
  • Community:
    • Monitored our steam socials and support-inbox to provide support for our players.
    • Streamed the game during several social events.

Awards:

  • Spilprisen
    • Game of The Year (Nomination)
    • Best Visuals (Nomination)
    • Best Game Design (Nomination)
    • Best Narrative (Nomination)

Theme and Gameplay:

Two planes with soldiers crash lands in foreign hostile territory. As the survivors group up they realize that their commanders are dead, they have no idea where they are, and the land is besieged by masked enemies and a mysterious fog. They must now navigate the environment and keep their composure together if they are to make it out of the situation alive.

Broken lines is a we-go tactical-action game. The game switches between a campfire scene and combat missions. By the campfire the player must manage the resources of the squad (food/salvage/equipment) as well as each soldiers composure through social events and vendors. The player then selects a mission and brings 3-5 soldiers. The missions play out in two phases, first a planning phase where time is frozen. Here the player must plan out the actions and timings for each soldier. Once the plan is ready the player hits ‘go’ and the game goes into execution phases where all character acts simultaneously for 8 seconds – both enemy and player. Once the 8 seconds has passed them game goes back to planning and the loop continues like this until the objective is completed or all soldiers are downed.

The game features permanent character death and several different endings depending on event choices and which missions are selected each day.