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Jared Brandjes: Game developer & lecturer.
I make to challenge myself and learn; to refine my craft.
I specialise in Unity gameplay programming (C#), systems development, multiplayer networking (Mirror), and all things UI.

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Make Games

Shapez Mobile

Rebuilt the popular desktop factory game, Shapez, for release on iOS and Android.

Jelly Jumper

Experience the ultimate climbing adventure in our futuristic lab. Climb, compete, and conquer!

Fractalians

Crossplay 3-in-1 Web3 ARPG & MOBA & BR Mobile & PC Game.

Virtual Window

Meet the lecturers, learn about the arts, share experiences with your friends and unlock the secrets of Virtual Window.
Features:

  • Online Multiplayer
  • Cross-platform
  • Playfab Player Profiles
  • Quests
  • Items, Customisation
  • Levelling & XP
  • Chat
  • Emotes
  • NPCs

Codename: Survive Me Not

City Builder with elements inspired by Suits from Love, Death and Robots
Features:

  • Unit Management
  • Resource Management
  • Settlement Construction
  • Combat
  • Tech Tree & Upgrades

Codename: Down by the Lake (Abandoned)

First-person sandbox
Features:

  • Overhauled building mechanic from Codename: Osiris
  • Overhauled FPS controller from Codename: Capture Z
  • Environment from Ember Online

SuperSnap (On Hold)

Online multiplayer WebGL card game
Features:

  • Mirror networking
  • Lobby and matchmaking

Codename: Mini RTS (On Hold)

Multiplayer RTS
Features:

  • Unit Management
  • Resource Collection
  • Overhauled Fog of War from Codename: Space Cow
  • Camera rect display on minimap
  • Mirror Networking

Codename: Safari Sim (Abandoned)

Features:

  • Dynamic Fencing
  • Road Terrain Painting
  • Economy, Building, Hiring, Stocking
  • Animal AI, Staff AI
  • Animal Data
  • Remove Terrain Objects in Collider

Ice Bru - Making Of Timelapse

Making of hyper-casual shooter "Ice Bru". Experimenting with intuitive gyro and one-button controls. Easy to play, difficult to master vibes.

Zombie Zone VR

Zombie Zone VR is a virtual reality survival shooter demo currently in development.

Codename: Capture Z

Modular AI Framework.
Features:

  • Scriptable Object based AI
  • Capture the flag example

Codename: Space Cow (Abandoned)

Base Building Survival Adventure
Features:

  • Economy, Mining, Building
  • RTS Controller
  • Action Queue
  • Fog of War
  • Building connections and resource transfer/requirements
  • Human AI, Lifesupport
  • Modular connected buildings
  • Cheats console

Ember - Existential Game

Explore the thought-provoking mundane through the existential purpose of a stick drawn to a bonfire.

Codename: Osiris (Abandoned)

Features:

  • Persistent procedurally generated "infinite" asteroid belt.
  • Gravatational bodies
  • Zero-G fps controller
  • Flexible building system with 3 and 4 point shapes

Mars Missions

Pilot your space ship through a deadly wave of asteroids into open space as the world around you gets faster and faster.

Game Jams

Redneck Rocketeers

Step into the boots of a spacefaring entrepreneur and take command of your very own SPACE TRUCK in this immersive VR experience. Your mission? Keep the credits flowin' and the ship a runnin'.

Aetherbound

Take your last breath and embark on a cosmic journey to break free from corruption in the forest of lost souls.

Roll With It [GMTK 2022]

Tumble your way through a daring gauntlet of luck, lava, dungeons, and dice. Challenge your friends in this Multiplayer Rush to become the one and only Lord of the Dice.

Cops 'n Robbers [12HR JAM]

P2P networked Scalextric prototype using Mirror + Light Reflective Mirror self-hosted relay.

Don't Be A Dodo [LD50]

Chase, Torment, and Terrify a flock of below average intelligence dodos. Help them in their journey to fall into lava, off cliffs, through fire, or just about anything without a railing.

Good Boi, Puggo [SA GAME JAM 2021]

Winners: Technical Excellence, Best Art

Who's a good boi? Is it Puggo? Tell me, is it Puggo!?

Gary Loves Trees [GMTK 2020]

A cute line art experience where you help Gary and other townsfolk stay calm by placing them in their favourite environments, and keeping them away from the things they despise. See how many townsfolk you can keep satisfied before they start fights, burst into flames and disappear!

Ember Online [LD46] - Online Multiplayer Experience

Explore an atmospheric island as a stick together with more sticks. Set yourself alight and add more sticks to keep the fires alive. Discover the hidden and not so hidden beauties within this wordless world. Enjoy an ambient relaxing experience as a stick until you meet your aesthetic fiery end.

Vitae Defense [SA Game Jam 2019] - Tower Defense

Winner for "Technical Excellence" SAGJ 2019. I took part in South Africa Game Jam and created Vitae Defense as my submission under the theme of Crafting.

AMAZE Train Jam to Cape Town 2018 - Fuse Gameplay

~30 hrs or so jamming on a train from Johannesburg to Cape Town for Africa Games Week.

Splice [SA Game Jam 2018] - Couch Fighter

​Mix and match DNA from distinctly South-African species to create the ultimate animal. Collect all the strands to experiment with a nearly endless range of possibilities... and fight for survival! AAAAAAAAAH!! No animals were harmed during the making of this game.​

This Way Up [LD42] - Couch Coop Package Management

​Top down, multiplayer, couch game you can enjoy with 2-4 friends. Load up delivery trucks with packages with the help of your friends before the trucks leave. Work fast for the packages could clutter up the warehouse, look out for a flamethrower to clear up some space.

FuBall [Goethe Jam] - VR Trickshot Soccer Game

FuBall is VR soccer inspired experience. Use portals, bounce pads and other obstacles to perform incredible trick shots. Combine tricks to increase your score and top the leaderboard.

Doesn't Add Up [LD41] - VR Math Shooter

The Open Window LD41 Jam game. A VR educational FPS with silly monsters and VR shooting madness.

Stupid Humans [LD38]

Lecturers and students from the Open Window game design department came together to make "Stupid Humans", a game about eradicating the humans before they overrun and destroy your planet.

Game Dev Tutorials

Playfab + Unity Tutorials

Setup, Sign In, Device ID Login, Get & Set UserData, Statistics, Leaderboards & Display Name

Unity + Xcode - Building for iOS

Build and test your application on iOS then archive and submit to the app store.

Git Gud - Unity & Git Repos

Creating and using Git repos with Unity & Github Desktop. Note: Any git service (Github, Gitlab, Bitbucket) can be used with this method.

Mirror Networking - Lobby & Matchmaking in Unity

In this tutorial series, we take a look at using Mirror in Unity to setup a multi-game single-server environment, complete with lobby and matchmaking.

Simple Dialogue System with Scriptable Objects

Create a simple yet robust dialogue system using Scriptable Objects in Unity. Great for NPCs or Narrative games.

Unity JSON Saving and Loading Tutorial

This tutorial covers saving and loading data in Unity, to and from a JSON file on disk.

Resources & Tools

Awesome Game Idea Generator

For all the avid game creators, hobbyists and students wanting to flex their creativity for jams or for fun, the Awesome Game Idea Generator will get those creative juices flowing.

Code Library

A collection of systems, mechanics and development concepts.

Blackjack Framework

A modular framework for Blackjack.

Dialogue System with Scriptable Objects

Scriptable Object based dialogue system. Easy to use.

Fog of War

This Fog of War system stamps a texture of your choice to a renderTexture which is then projected onto the scene with a modified version of the Lux Essentials Decal shader. The system is based off of Unity Fog of War by Tunied. Many optimisations have been implemented, the biggest of which is the switch from multiple Graphics.Blit calls to Graphics.DrawTexture, saving tons of resources.

Node Network

This system is a network of connected nodes that are aware of the nodes they are connected to as well as the network they exist on. Networks can be merged or split. Nodes can search (BFS) the network for particular nodes; useful for games where nodes can manipulate behaviour on other nodes. Placement supports angle snapping and grid snapping.