Digital Defense Force

// Overview

Digital Defense Force is a working game prototype developed for DigiDefendr by Tech Safe Kids, designed to teach digital safety concepts through interactive gameplay.

I served as the Lead Programmer on a six-person multidisciplinary team, helping translate gameplay concepts into functional systems while coordinating technical work with the other programmer and collaborating with artists, UI, and audio.

// What I Worked On

My work spanned several parts of the game's gameplay and supporting systems, including:

• Gameplay mechanics and player interactions
• Game state and progression
• Tilemap-based environments
• Player input using Unity's Input System
• UI and gameplay feedback
• Animation and scene interactions
• Scene transitions and state persistence
• Debugging and iteration based on playtesting and team feedback

Two of the main gameplay experiences I worked on were the Mining Game and Mindstream.

Mining Game

The Mining Game involved navigating between above-ground and underground areas, interacting with the environment, and managing items collected during gameplay.

I worked on the underlying gameplay flow, including scene/state transitions, player interactions, tilemap-based environments, and inventory-related functionality.

Mindstream

Mindstream is a gameplay experience built around evaluating and responding to online comments.

I implemented and worked on systems involving comment cards, positive and negative feedback, progression, and the UI feedback used to communicate the player's actions and their effects.

// Technical Challenges

One of the most valuable parts of the project was learning to work within a shared Unity project while multiple disciplines were contributing simultaneously.

This required me to consider not only whether a feature worked, but also how changes affected other systems and team members' work. I gained practical experience with Git, scene organization, shared assets, debugging, and resolving integration issues.

I also had to become comfortable learning unfamiliar Unity systems while actively contributing to the project, including Tilemaps, the Input System, game state, UI, and animation.

// Collaboration & Leadership

As Lead Programmer, I helped coordinate the programming work while collaborating closely with artists, the UI designer, and the sound designer/programmer.

The project followed an iterative development process with regular planning, reviews, and retrospectives. This gave me experience translating design ideas into technical implementations and adjusting systems based on feedback.

// What This Project Demonstrates

Digital Defense Force represents my transition from primarily software-focused work into hands-on gameplay development.

It gave me experience building player-facing systems in Unity while also developing skills that are important for professional game development: technical ownership, multidisciplinary collaboration, debugging, iteration, and communicating implementation decisions within a team.