Choppy Waves

Choppy Waves is a four-player party game prototype developed in Unreal Engine 5, centered around mixing drinks and serving customers on a ship in the middle of a turbulent ocean. While players are preparing and serving drinks to customers, they, along with objects on the ship, are flung around by the waves, creating a chaotic and unpredictable environment that players must adapt to.

The project was developed in a small team, with my primary responsibilities being the implementation of the wave simulation system, the ship movement and physics, and the multiplayer replication of these systems.I developed the wave simulation system with a focus on multiplayer replication and consistent physics behavior across clients. Rather than moving the ship and players directly, which would add unnecessary complexity to networked movement and replication, the system keeps them stationary and simulates their movement relative to the environment. The ocean surface, skybox, and sun are moved to create the visual impression of the ship traveling through the waves, while simulated objects receive corresponding physics forces based on the wave simulation. This approach kept the networked movement model relatively simple while still producing a convincing sense of motion and interaction with the ocean.