INDIECADE INTERNSHIP:
BILGE JUNCTION
Summary
A real-time UE5 survival game where players help an Alaskan highway town through a snowstorm.
Bilge Junction was created for Climate Jam 2024, and I pitched the concept, recruited the team, and led development across 4 sprints in June and July 2024.
My Work
Recruited and led a team of 5, including an artist, engineer, composer, and writer, through a 5-week development cycle.
Wrote and scripted narrative content in Blackboard/Behavior Tree, Ink, and Sequencer, including cutscenes, dialogue, and character routines.
Built an optimized level recreating an Alaskan highway town using Landmass, World Partition, Megascan assets, Niagara, and Unreal foliage.
Designed, implemented, and balanced core systems, including fires/fuel, character behaviour routines, companion characters, weather and day/night cycles, character navigation, and daily objectives. Optimized game and created custom tools to iterate character routines.
Led standup meetings, writers’ rooms, voice recording sessions, playtests, and provided feedback to team members. Presented progress to IndieCade staff and climate specialists.
Compiled build deliverables and created promotional materials, including a trailer and page for an itch.io release.
Results
A free real-time survival game with a full narrative sequence.
A positive reception throughout Climate Jam 2024.
A release on Epic Games Store and Steam with 25k+ downloads.