Hello!
I'm Jeff Harper, a driven and passionate developer who makes games and tools for game development.
Want to get in touch or see my resume? Send me a message at jeff.harper.games@gmail.com.
PROFESSIONAL WORK
GOLF+
(8/15/22 - Current)
Gameplay Engineer
I am a Gameplay Engineer on GOLF+, a VR golfing sim. As an engineer my responsibilities include building game mechanics and modes. Another large part of my job is finding and fixing bugs as well as optimizing and reworking existing features. Coming into an existing live project with sometimes weekly releases, it has been critical to be able to work within other engineers' code with quick turnarounds. With this role comes new challenges, such as working with more traditional web development and working with server based Multiplayer.
EXPLOSM / CYANIDE & HAPPINESS
(2/12/18 - 8/14/22)
Lead Developer / Technical Director
I was the Lead Developer/Technical Director on Freakpocalypse. Episode 1 was released in March 2021. This project had only two developers, so there wasn't a single part of the game I didn't touch. I have built a number of tools to speed up development, including tools for narrative, localization, sequences, animations, and every image for the game. Episode 2 is currently in development.
SECTOR 5 DIGITAL
(8/3/16 - 2/9/18)
Unity Developer / Project Lead
I worked on around 15 projects in my time at S5D. I developed many AR/VR experiences–sometimes as a solo developer and sometimes as a team lead–for companies like Bell Flight, American Airlines, IBM, and Textron.
AIREAL
(6/16/15 - 8/3/16)
Lead Developer
At Aireal, I designed and built systems for Geospatial AR apps and managed all project development. Major projects I led included SOLAR–which was picked up by the Science Channel–and an AR Shark Week app for Discovery Channel.
Robot Entertainment
(6/1/15 - 8/31/15)
Temporary Balance Tester
I was a balance tester at Robot Entertainment for 3 months. I played dozens of games of Orc Must Die Unchained every day with the other testers. We evaluated the game to determine if it was balanced and fun to play; if not, we discussed with the designers where tweaks or changes could be made. We also reported bugs to the QA team and played alongside the community.
INNERSPACE
(10/1/14 - 6/16/15)
Designer
I worked on InnerSpace as a part of the early design and development, primarily as a Level Designer; I also designed some mechanics and general functionality. I built out levels within Unity using Probuilder and primitives for testing and tweaking. I also scripted and prototyped puzzles and mechanics.
GAME JAMS
5 of 'Em
Developer
Kalamari Damacy
Developer
Keep Plant Alive
Developer / Artist
The Rewind
Developer / Artist
Dreadmill
Developer / Artist
Arms Race
Solo Developer
Mix-Step
Developer
Pet Rock Friendclub
Developer
Paper Prototype
Developer
Cube Wars
Solo Developer
Colors Defense
Solo Developer
Entamaphobia
Developer
Mad Delibery
Developer
PERSONAL WORK (WIP/PROTOTYPES)
TOWER DEFENSE PROTOTYPE
In this prototype, I made several different mechanics and systems for a tower defense game, including minions, waves, auto-towers, and traps. I also built a tool to create maps and waves at runtime. All art assets were purchased from the Asset Store.
Gameplay
Level Builder
CRAFTING AND COMPANION PROTOTYPE
I created systems and mechanics for a crafting/gathering game influenced by RuneScape. The goal was to make a semi-idle game that was also fun to play actively. The skills were designed to be long grinds, but with the chance to unlock and upgrade companions and gear. Companions would then augment the player's skills and make the game easier to play while idle.
Gameplay
RANDOMLY GENERATED DUNGEONS
I recreated the Binding of Isaac's randomly generated dungeons following a very similar rule set. View the source code on GitHub, here.
Stylized Generating, Increasing Each Time
Realistic Generating, Increasing Each Time
RECREATES
I recreate mechanics from other games for practice and educational purposes. These are full coding time-lapses of building the systems.
Cannon - Sea of Thieves
Active Reload - Gears of War
TOOLS (UNITY)
TAPE MEASURE
A quick and easy-to-use tool that allows you to get the distance between two vertices of any mesh within Unity.
MODULAR ROOM
A modular room builder that allows the user to more easily build and edit rooms. Once a user has configured their prefab and added it to the list of modular prefabs, this system allows them to control the height, width, and component values in order to build a room to their own specifications.
RUNTIME CONTEXT MENU
This is a dynamic context menu that is used at runtime. It allows a developer to easily create context menus via code, scriptable object, or a custom graphview. This tool constantly grows and improves as I use it and I find areas where I can add or improve features.
SPRITE/TEXTURE TOOL
This sprite/texture editor allows for the artist to make art the way they want and the developer to implement it in an efficient and optimized way. You can convert an image to power of 2 or divisible by 4 format so that it can be mipmapped or compressed. This tool can also split an image into smaller images for mobile optimization, or place trimmed images into the scene using their original positions within the image. This tool was used heavily in Freakpocalypse. Download the Unity Package here.
POINTS
Points is a tool I created to quickly and easily generate 2D collision. It also features 3D mesh generation. Additional features allow you to create multiple paths, delete or add new points, move the points, and generate points from suitable Polygon Colliders or 3D meshes. This tool is used heavily in Freakpocalypse to generate interaction points and determine walkable spaces.