Prehistoric Pack is a dinosaur auto battler. Rip open card packs filled with ferocious dinosaurs, then get ready to unleash them upon enemy hordes! I worked on this project part time with a team of 8, which we expanded to 16 halfway through development.

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

Our card opening sequence is the centerpiece of our game. It needs to be cinematic, showcase varied cards and rarities, and do so all without disrupting the flow of the player experience.

My Solution

I used Unreal’s Sequences to control the camera, dynamic mesh painting is used for our card pack ripping, our reveal system allows players to open all 4 cards their own pace, and I implemented a rotational inspection system.

What I Learned

Research is worth it. Between the technical research for each feature of the system and the research into other card games - there’s direct inspiration from TCG Pocket, Hearthstone, and Balatro all in the sequence - everything came together for a high-fidelity experience!

The Problem

Our card opening sequence is the centerpiece of our game. It needs to be cinematic, showcase varied cards and rarities, and do so all without disrupting the flow of the player experience.

1/4

The Problem

Our players need to understand how our merging mechanic functions. The system is core to late-game progression and not very obvious from the get-go.

My Solution

I developed an interactive sequence that locks away other features of the game temporarily to force the player to merge two units together.

What I learned

The hardest part of creating this sequence was disabling all of the player’s input outside of the action I wanted them to take. Building infrastructure for tutorialization is actually crucial, even if it doesn’t come up during the majority of development.

The Problem

Our players need to understand how our merging mechanic functions. The system is core to late-game progression and not very obvious from the get-go.

1/4

The Problem

Our game constantly needs to change material parameters on dynamic material instances - dinosaur outlines, tile highlights, our card opening rarity hinting, and more.

My Solution

I developed a Dynamic Material Manager component that handles the creation and management of Material Interfaces for developers. It works on any object and supports basic parameter swaps as well as parameter interpolation using curves!

What I Learned

Tools require constant iteration. Over the course of development, I had to tweak the system to be able to handle more use cases. That said, the tool is now so robust that I’m looking forward to using it for other projects!

The Problem

Our game constantly needs to change material parameters on dynamic material instances - dinosaur outlines, tile highlights, our card opening rarity hinting, and more.

1/4

Prehistoric Pack was developed using Unreal Engine 5.6. Over the course of two semesters, our team developed intuitive strategy gameplay with a focus on player clarity, environment interactions, and giving players a sense of wonder and amazement often absent from the auto battler genre.

My significant duties included developing the game's core structure (camera pans, drag and drop, phase transitions), designing our dinosaurs and flairs, integrating dynamic shaders, developing tools to enable the team's process, and acting as our Scrum Master during our development period to keep the team excited and on task.

Conclusion

Prehistoric Pack has been an amazing experience for me as a developer. I've never worked for so long with such a committed team on a project before. A huge focus for me on Prehistoric Pack was developing a shared vision that our entire team could have a piece of, and it paid off in dividends.

It has been nothing short of magical to see all of my team members find something to love about this project. Whether it is our shared interest in dinosaurs, of the thrill of high-rolling a card pack or auto battler build, or even just the fact that our team wants to play the game even outside of internal testing, I know that focusing on our shared vision has brought me endless amounts of joy and energy that I want to cherish for as long as I can.

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Like what you saw? Check out the game on Steam!

Mason Crochetiere

Technical Designer

Conclusion

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