Mid-Death Crisis

Steam

A strategic, turn-based couch co-op game for three players. Command skeletal minions aiding Zeborius Zelgon, a lich battling the amphibious Rana Empire. Redirect Zeb’s waning magic to empower allies, conquer foes, and reignite his evil fervor amidst a cryptic adventure.


I contributed 350 hours to this project over 22 weeks. My roles were Lead Programmer, Gameplay Programmer, AI Programmer and SVN Manager. I did the following for the project:


Led 3 programmers through support, organization, and collaboration to remove blockers and help the team succeed. Facilitated communication between programmers and the rest of the 16 person team.

“Joey has been amazing as a team lead. He makes sure we’re supported and advocates for us to the rest of the team when we run into blockers or are having a hard time keeping up with the expected workload.”

Dillon Drummond, Gameplay Programmer
https://dillondrummond.com/

He was really good at giving support when I was stuck and made sure I took care of my mental health.

Neo Kattan, UI Programmer
https://neokattan.com/

Joey was always cool, calm and collected as lead programmer and never afraid to help out.

Matt Woods, AI Programmer
https://mattwoods123.itch.io/

Joey significantly contributed to the productivity of his programming team by diligently maintaining up-to-date documentation and consistently considering the programmers’ requirements during discussions with other team leads. His proactive approach ensured alignment and accountability, thus fostering effective collaboration. Additionally, Joey’s proficient programming skills were instrumental in developing various game features, and his creation of early rapid prototypes proved invaluable in elucidating the game’s envisioned trajectory.

Quincy Gomes-Cedeño, Producer
https://quincycedeno.wixsite.com/portfolio


Spell ability creation system with intuitive designer interfacing and modular architecture, used to create 26 unique spell abilities.

Joey’s spell ability system remained easy to use and adapted perfectly as design decisions and system requirements shifted throughout the project

Joseph Romanowski, Product Owner & Technical Designer
https://www.josephromanowski.com/


Planned overall architecture for the game and systems to make the project as modular and expandable as possible.


Rapidly created 5 prototypes to test different initial concepts.


Made initial version of enemy AI.


Added debug controls to help aid development, including keyboard controls for all 3 characters and stamina regeneration.

“Joey’s debug controls on Mid-Death Crisis were instrumental to our rapid development timeline and allowed us to reduce inefficient uses of time.”

Dillon Drummond, Gameplay Programmer
https://dillondrummond.com/


Assisted with tutorial and menu implementation.


Implemented adaptive music and sound effects.

“Joey did a great job as both a lead and as a programmer. He’s been super accommodative when it comes to implementing audio into our game, and was always willing to meet and make things work.”

Graham Sullivan, Lead Sound Designer on Mid-Death Crisis
https://grahamsullivan.wixsite.com/graham-sullivan


Managed team bug and polish tracker while solving a large amount of bugs, with a focus on increasing stability for builds.