Three years later...

 Hi, it's been a while...

  • So what's new?
Well, for the past three years, I've been employed as part of the Near Light studio at nDreams. I've really enjoyed being part of the team and making some incredible games (more on those later).  Unfortunately, I've been informed that my role is at risk in a proposal for studio closure, so now seems like a good time to update you on what I've been doing during my time at the company. I might also have a few more personal projects coming to depending on how things work out, and I'll be posting about some of the specific features I've worked on in the coming days. But for now, I'd like to introduce you to the games I've been working on!

  • Frenzies:

Frenzies is the game I was hired to work on originally. I joined the project as a junior coder soon after it started, when it was still using the Unreal Lyra default models and had only example maps. I worked on the game until it was released to the public in October 2024, and continued working on it as a live service title, with many major updates being released after the initial release. Today, the game has had over 150,000 unique players and stands at 4.7 stars out of five on the meta store.

But what is the game? Well, according to the company website, "FRENZIES is the chaotic PvP shooter for the ultimate show-off, combining nDreams’ precision gunplay with a lucky dip of frantic round types." One thing not mentioned there though, which I've also not mentioned yet, is that nDreams is a VR studio. Creating a networked VR game (with up to twelve players at once) had many interesting challenges which I'm looking forward to discussing in future posts.

Here's the most recent trailer for the game. It's still fun looking back at all the aspects of my work present in it, but also all of the things we've improved since it came out!



  • Hands:
Hands is an unreleased, unannounced(ish, it was at Guildford games festival a month or so ago) game, so I'm not sure yet what I can share here, though I expect to find out in the next couple of weeks. Sadly, despite it being ready to release, the closure proposal means it is unlikely that this game will ever be made public. I hope to be able to share more with you about the game and my part in it, but for now I'll say that it was a pleasure to work on. It was a smaller team than Frenzies, and I really enjoyed the flexibility that gave in terms of being able to organise and make decisions quickly with the people involved. I felt a greater degree of personal responsibility than ever on Hands, and delighted in the chance to put myself forward more and be more proactive on new features. Apart from the personal side of things, the saddest aspect of the studio closure for me is that this game never got the full release it deserved, despite being ready to go.


  • My time at Near Light
Sorry to end on such a bittersweet note, but I've really enjoyed my time at the studio. I went from a junior to mid level, vastly improved my skills as a game programmer (I was looking back on a programming test I did over three years ago and the difference is startling), and finally got a game I'd worked on professionally out into the public for people to enjoy. It's been amazing reading the positive reviews on Frenzies, and watching the discord community develop. (It would be remiss of me not to mention the fantastic friends I've made at the studio too). But I'm also excited for where I can go in the next step of my career, and where I can take my skills and experience I've been gathering for the past three years.

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