Austin Hyatt

Programmer and Designer

Aliens Want our Mascot?!

September 2023 – Current

Programmer, Designer

Development Info

Roles: Programmer, Designer

Tools Used: Unity, DevToDev, Plastic SCM, Miro

Game Info

Genre: Tower Defense

Platform: IOS & Android

Project Status: Complete & Released

Aliens Want Our Mascot?! is a tower defense simulator released on iOS and Android platforms. Band together with your favorite high school archetypes to defend Bovine High’s school mascot from an alien abduction!

I participated in MassDigi’s Digi Studios program as a programmer and designer, collaborating with an autonomous group of students working on continued development of a published game. This studio gave us the opportunity to direct our own content updates and support a currently in production title, refining and expanding its core systems.

Contributions

  • Updated UI, adding time changing controls, dynamic UI settings, and credits screen
  • Programmed UI and costume override system for Bovis costume changing update
  • Designed and Programmed bonus level framework and content updates

What I Learned

  • I learned how to integrate myself into an existing project, identifying areas that can be improved, analyzing project code and working within existing systems to expand functionality
  • I learned best practices for Unity UI and mobile development, creating dynamic UI that stays correctly anchored across different devices
  • I learned when working in a larger team to make sure code systems are modular and well documented so that many people can make progress on a task at the same time