My team's submission to the 2025 Ubisoft Montreal Game Lab Competition is this destructive co-op puzzle platformer. Hit your friend with hammers, set off wild chain reactions, and leave no pottery unbroken!

Step through each gallery to learn problems I faced, my solutions, the reasoning behind them, and what I learned by the end of the project.

The Problem

We needed to combine all of our pottery mechanics and set them up for convenient use during level design. Bisque Bash is a puzzle game, so constant iteration on our levels was necessary.

My Solution

I made an inheritable blueprint that contains all of our gameplay functionality. I also set up a folder with each separate model for our level designers - it was intentionally easy to parse visually.

What I Learned

Highly technological solutions can be great, but they need to be tailored around the individuals who are using those solutions for maximum results. Human-centered design matters just as much for developers as it does for players.

The Problem

We needed to combine all of our pottery mechanics and set them up for convenient use during level design. Bisque Bash is a puzzle game, so constant iteration on our levels was necessary.

1/4

The Problem

We needed to change our player controller from using one button for similar hammer actions to using two. This was key for player clarity, but could cause issues in animation timing.

My Solution

I made a state machine that processed both inputs in tandem. Each input checks its value, its previous value, and the other input's current value. As a result, you can switch between the two swings seamlessly regardless of input or game state.

What I Learned

Making player input follow through in a way that feels natural goes far to help them understand the full experience. With input, because it can be boiled down to a set of boolean states, handling every case can be an effective strategy.

The Problem

We needed to change our player controller from using one button for similar hammer actions to using two. This was key for player clarity, but could cause issues in animation timing.

1/4

The Problem

We needed to implement player feedback assets networked across each client. The rest of our team is unfamiliar with networking, so my solution needed to shield them from that process.

My Solution

I used a data table. Asset creators add sound, visual, and other effects to that data table. Then, networked gameplay events call rows on the table, which play all of the effects associated with that event.

What I Learned

Unreal has animation events that I could have used to play all of these things simultaneously. I'd like to use that next time - then I only need to network animations!

The Problem

We needed to implement player feedback assets networked across each client. The rest of our team is unfamiliar with networking, so my solution needed to shield them from that process.

1/4

Bisque Bash was developed using Unreal Engine 5.4. It is a fully networked 2-player game, and all of our assets & blueprints were made in-house by our 8 person team. We were nominated for Best Art Direction & Production.

My significant duties included developing networked prototypes, creating and refining our 3Cs (character, camera, control), implementing character assets (VFX, SFX, and animations), and supporting other asset implementation (dynamic music, level objects, and more).

Conclusion

Our team for Bisque Bash was mostly comprised of artists. Our goal was to make a fantastic looking game. However, that meant that our technical scope needed to be a lot lower - Only I and our dedicated programmer were capable of navigating the networking requirement for the competition.

As a result, my key role in this project was developing systems and mediating the conversation between our artists and the game itself. My pragmatic, interdisciplinary mindset was key to enabling our team's collaborative efforts and ensuring we got everything implemented!

Play Game

Like what you saw? Check out the game on its itch.io page!

Mason Crochetiere

Technical Designer

Conclusion

Play Game