FLASHOUT 3D

My first commercial project will always have a special place in my heart, even though I can barely stand looking at it now.

Flashout 3D was my gateway into the gaming industry, and I was thrown straight into the deep end. I had no experience with C#, Unity 3D, or mobile games. It's a miracle I got the job, though I prefer to think it was due to my determination. I was given a test task: make a clone of Space Invaders in technologies I had never used before. I studied around the clock, even neglecting my university work a bit, but I made it in time. That's when I fell in love with Unity 3D and thought making games with pre-built engines was a piece of cake.

Jujubee offered me the job, and I was over the moon. However, the honeymoon phase didn't last long. I quickly learned about optimization, GPU and CPU bounding, the tedious work of implementing UI, testing code, and many other things you don't consider when you're outside the industry. As usual, I had more luck than sense. The company was very friendly, the people kind and helpful. I wanted to prove I wasn't a bad hire, so I continued learning after hours at home. It was a valuable life lesson in humility. We released the project on multiple platforms, including OUYA, which I'm sure not many people even remember now.

At the start, I mentioned I can't bear to look at Flashout 3D anymore, but it wasn't a bad project by mobile standards. It looked great (not my doing, just to be clear), and it was fun to play. Of course, all I can see now is the poorly interpolated movement of the racers, but when I tried solutions involving physics, weaker devices couldn't handle it. That's also when I created my first ever tool, checkpoint placer that automatically mapped out paths for AI. In fact, I wrote about 90% of the game's code.

I really enjoyed working at Jujubee and was supposed to continue development on the Flashout 2. However, I received an offer from a bigger company and thought I could become a better programmer there. The team in Katowice was young, and we made up for experience with enthusiasm. It was a tough decision, as it also meant moving, but looking back, I think I made the right choice.