SMILE

After two months of development… here it is! For the past two months, our team of six at the IT University of Copenhagen has been building SMILE. A fast, chaotic, couch-multiplayer battle game where the weakest player actually shapes the battlefield.

This project started as part of a university course, but it quickly grew into something we’re really proud of. We wanted to make a game that is: 

• Easy to pick up, hard to stop laughing at Local-multiplayer focused (perfect for 2–4 players) 

• Chaotic, unpredictable, and extremely replayable

• Filled with weapons, maps, and modifiers that completely change each round
  
  

Selected to participate in Tomorrow’s Awesome Games Showcase - Education Awards 2026, presenting during the Copenhagen  Gaming Week 2026

Engineered core gameplay systems for a local-multiplayer Unity game, focusing on modular action architecture, round-based game flow, input systems, audio integration, and UX polish, while collaborating in a PR-driven team environment.

Focus Areas: Gameplay systems, UX clarity, local multiplayer, tooling, iteration speed

Key Contributions

Core Systems Engineering

• Architected a modular Player Action framework using data-driven abstractions (ScriptableObjects), enabling rapid iteration on combat actions, hazards, and abilities.

• Helped design and refactored player–hazard interaction systems (lava, lasers, ropes, arena zones, time bombs), focusing on extensibility and clear gameplay feedback.

• Implemented arena zone and boundary systems to enforce play spaces and support dynamic map scaling.

• Built and evolved the round-based game flow system, including win conditions, round transitions, loser/winner logic, and end-game presentation.

• Refactored player controller architecture to support default actions, action ownership, and clean input separation.

Input, UI & Local Multiplayer

• Implemented local multiplayer lobby flow, including player join/leave behavior, avatar selection, and readiness states.

• Refactored the project to use Unity’s new Input System, including:

  • Custom UI Action Maps

  • Clear input ownership per player

  • Resolution-safe UI navigation

• Built and iterated on selection menus, tutorials, pause menus, rounds menus, and end-game UI.

• Solved multiple edge cases around controller ownership, weakest/winner player selection, and menu state transitions.

Audio & Feedback (FMOD Integration)

• Integrated FMOD 2.03 into the project and replaced legacy AudioSource usage.

• Implemented event-driven audio feedback for:

  • Player damage and combat actions

  • Environmental hazards

  • Menu transitions and UI feedback

• Built a centralized music and audio management system to keep audio logic decoupled from gameplay logic.

• Worked closely with designers to tune audio timing, clarity, and player feedback.

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Visual Polish & UX Clarity

• Implemented post-processing pipelines (outlines, shadows, lighting tuning) to improve player visibility and action readability.

• Tuned camera behavior using Cinemachine for dynamic framing and round transitions.

• Improved UI scaling across resolutions and fixed preview quality issues in menus and map selectors.

• Polished lighting, shadows, and environment presentation across arenas.

Tooling & Designer Support

• Built and maintained designer-friendly tooling:

  • Data-driven hazard configurations

  • Action tuning without code changes

  • Clear prefab and folder structure refactors

• Refactored scene and asset organization to reduce technical debt and improve iteration speed.

• Created and updated internal development scenes to support rapid testing and playtesting.
  
  

Game Flow & Content Iteration

• Supported multiple playtests, implementing rapid iteration changes under time constraints.

• Adjusted map sizes, hazard timings, UI clarity, and round pacing based on player feedback.

• Implemented tutorial flows and cutscene skipping systems to improve onboarding.

Team Collaboration & Git Workflow

• Actively worked in a feature-branch + PR-based workflow.

• Opened, reviewed, and merged dozens of pull requests, frequently resolving merge conflicts.

• Refactored shared systems while maintaining team velocity and build stability.

• Collaborated cross-discipline (design, audio, UI) to translate gameplay needs into robust technical solutions.

• Took ownership of fixing bugs introduced during integration phases and late-stage polish.