Pokémon GO
Responsibilities
Tools, Prototyping, Animation Programming, R&D
Project Length
August 2022 – December 2022 (Initial Prototyping/R&D)
October 2023 – February 2024 (Tools)
Background
Shortly after working on Transformers, the Very Very Spaceship team was brought in to update the avatar customization features in Pokémon GO. Although I was only on the project for 5-6 months or so before moving on to develop MASSIVE, I worked to develop and prototype the core body deformation feature, created a series of polished prototypes that helped get the project greenlit, and later developed some production Maya tools to help with asset creation. Although I was still mostly working in C# and my title during the project was senior engineer, my role was more blurred between tech art and engineering.
Body Customization
Our goals were inclusivity, so we knew we wanted to support as many different body shapes and sizes as we could. I worked closely with a couple of our tech artists during pre-production to develop the technology to support the customization we wanted. During this phase, I developed solutions for mesh deformation, did a lot of research, a lot of math, and created various prototypes and proof of concepts.
It was some of the most collaborative work I’ve been a part of. I even got to learn Houdini a bit, thanks to one of our tech artists. We ultimately landed on a solution that enabled the customization we were targeting, while also supporting the many clothing options the game already had.
Tools & Animation
Later, I was brought back onto the project to implement support for animation, and also develop tools to help our artists. Although I’m unable to show the tools themselves, they improved the workflow of our artists by visualizing what customization would look like in-game directly in Maya.
I also developed a Maya-to-Unity workflow and tools that enabled artists to create distortion-resistant textures that maintain the shape of patterns during body deformation.