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Jacob Lawson

Hello, I’m Jacob, a games programmer from the UK with over 10 years of experience in game development as a hobby, and 2 years as a professional. I graduated from the University of Gloucestershire in 2022 with a first-class bachelor’s degree in Computer Game Programming. I worked at Motorsport Games' Studio 397 on immersive racing simulation games, including rFactor 2 and Le Mans Ultimate.

I have a passion for problem-solving, and as a programmer, I love tackling challenging bugs and technical issues. I am also eager to learn new things and experiment with fresh ideas. I enjoy collaborating with a team and focusing on the technical aspects of game development.

This site is a portfolio of projects I have had the privilege to contribute to, as well as those I’ve undertaken in my spare time for fun.

Professional Projects

Le Mans Ultimate

Le Mans Ultimate is the official world endurance championship and 24 hours of Le Mans game. I worked on the title from day one until its second major update post-launch. I was a junior C++ programmer on this title and spent much of my time working on technical issues throughout the project.

My contributions:
• Automated testing tools and integration for performance and vehicle AI.
• Removed areas of technical debt from the code base.
• Particle system improvements.
• Updated and wrote build scripts for the project.
• UI endpoints.
• Investigated and resolved many user crash dumps reported to Bugsplat.
• Bugfixes throughout the entire codebase.
• Documented much of the codebase.

rFactor 2

I worked on the racing simulator rFactor 2 as a junior C++ programmer for 6 months before the team moved on to Le Mans Ultimate. I focused on graphical features and bugs while I got to grips with the proprietary engine the game used.

My contributions:
• Motion blur graphical effect.
• Graphical bugs relating to the vehicle undertray sparks.
• Various bug and crash fixes.

HOP TOP

HOP TOP is an indie arcade platformer written in Gamemaker Studio. I was hired as a freelancer on this project after the development began to fall behind on its milestone targets. I spent long hours in my evenings at weekends getting development back on track and improving team communication up until the launch of the game on Steam.

My contributions:
• Custom controls and options menus.
• High scores and high score tables.
• Cutscenes and transitions
• Visual effects such as snowflakes and background animations.
• ‘Hurry up’ hazard.
• Various Stage platform mechanics.
• I was responsible for managing the git repository and the team tasks.
• Polish and bug fixes across the game and code base.

University Projects

Planet Mush

Planet Mush was my big final-year group project at the university. It is a cozy farming game where you must go out and explore different regions for different mushrooms. You then farm these mushrooms and brew potions to sell. At Night you must defend your farm from crop-eating monsters.

I am proud of this project and my contributions to it as we developed Planet Mush over about 6 months alongside our other final-year assignments and took a lot of hard work and long hours to realize. I did the majority of the programming on the game in Unity C#.

My contributions:
• All systems within the core game loop of gathering, farming, brewing, and combat.
• Day and night cycle
• Inventory.
• NPC dialogue system.
• Enemy AI.
• Save and load system.
• Daily quests for rewards.
• Potion effects.

MIRROR CHROME

MIRROR CHROME was made for our experimental games module in year two at university. It is a small puzzle platformer about a robot who can flip between two inverted play fields.

My contributions
• Player controller and flipping mechanic.
• Puzzle objects.
• Menus and level selection.

C++ OpenGL rendering

I spent a lot of time at university studying C++ and graphics programming this third-year assignment was the culmination of everything I learned.

It features:
• Global lighting
• Spotlights
• Point lights
• Reflections
• Tessellation shader used for waves
• Basic particle rendering
• Normal maps

Many of the skills I have learned from these C++ modules have been used when writing my own framework in C++.

Hobby Projects

Sonic Legends

I joined the Sonic Legends team during the summer break in 2020 during COVID-19 and have worked as a programmer on the team in my spare time ever since. The game is an incredibly polished Sonic fan game with its latest demo receiving over 14,000 downloads.

My contributions:
• Enemy and boss programming.
• Framework development.
• Menus.
• Fixing physics and collision bugs.

C++ OpenGL entity-component framework

A 3D game framework written in C++ and making use of OpenGL. Still in its early days but I am using it to make an on-rails shooter. In the future, I would like the framework to support the latest DirectX version.

Current features:
• Scene-based entity component system.
• IMGUI support.
• Primitive drawing.
• Model loading and rendering.
• Basic collision detection and handling.

You Know The Drill

You Know the Drill started life as a submission for a game jam and was later expanded on with more levels and content. The game is about digging through layers of caverns under a time limit without running into hazards. The game was made with GameMaker Studio.

My contributions:
• NPC dialogue system.
• Stage mechanics.
• Level selection.
• Items.

Game Jams

When I have the time, I enjoy participating in game jams. I find them an enjoyable challenge of creativity and programming skills. I mostly participate in game jams by myself but have also worked in teams.