3D Programming

I was one of three programmers on the team for Clocking Out. I was responsible for all the mechanics and functionality inside the 3D environment of the game, the most significant of these being the pixellated shader that gave the game its 'indie horror' aesthetic. It was my first time exploring shaders and Godot's shader language, and I was pretty happy with the result.

Early work on the pixellation shader and core functionality

There's a lot more nuance to the shader than just lowering the resolution – the image still had to remain clear and not negatively impact the visible experience. One of the issues of the early shader implementation was that objects more distant in the environment would have heavily reduced detail as a result of the pixellation and this removed the depth in the environment, creating a more flat and harder to navigate visual expereince. To resolve this, I added a dynamic outline that would appear as objects moved further away from the camera that kept them identifiable and retained the room's depth.

Development on shader outline and lighting support

Aside from the shader, I also created the 'inventory' mechanic used for stacking the shelves and elements of the UI such as the crosshair that reacts when you're able to interact with something. Outside of my programming duties, I assisted with designing and building the level environment in-editor – ensuring the atmosphere was engaging, immersive and functional to the game.

You can play the game for free on itch.io: