Shards of the Future

Project Overview: Developed in under a week, this project is a procedural puzzle game focused on precision and spatial reconstruction. As the sole programmer, I was responsible for developing the core destruction engine and the level progression logic.

Award: Best Game - Staffordshire University Freshers Gamejam

Technical Highlights

Dynamic 2D Sprite Slicing

Runtime Mesh Generation: Developed a system to dynamically “shatter” 2D sprites at runtime. This involved calculating intersection points on the sprite’s polygon and generating new, independent mesh objects from the resulting fragments.

Procedural Fragmentation: Implemented a difficulty-scaling algorithm that increases the number of slices and fragment complexity as the player progresses through infinite levels.

State Management & Pattern Verification

Initial State Serialization: Engineered a system to capture and store the “solved” transform data (position and rotation) of every fragment before randomization.

Precision Validation: Created a verification script that compares the player’s current fragment layout against the stored “solved” state using a tolerance-based float comparison to determine puzzle completion.

Game Jam Systems Architecture

Time-Attack Logic: Programmed a scalable level-timer system that adjusts based on the complexity of the fragments generated.

Performance Scoring: Built a star-rating algorithm (1–3 stars) that calculates the delta between the player’s completion time and the “perfect” par time.

Rapid Prototyping: Managed the full technical pipeline, ensuring seamless integration of 2D assets from the artist while maintaining a stable build under tight time constraints.

Gameplay Screenshots