[{"content":"","date":"15 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/","section":"","summary":"","title":"","type":"page"},{"content":"","date":"15 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/3d-party-brawler--technical-lead/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"3D Party Brawler | Technical Lead","type":"tags"},{"content":"Maid Mayhem is a 2-4 player local multiplayer party game developed in Unity as a capstone project. Players compete in a chaotic household, beating the gunk off of furniture and the other maids to score points. Whoever has the most points at the end of a match wins, and is dubbed THE BEST MAID EVER!\nTrailer # Available for FREE on Steam!\nAward Winning | Level Up Student Showcase 2026\n1st in People\u0026rsquo;s Choice, 2nd in Achievement in Audio\nPatchd Up Games People\u0026rsquo;s Choice Achievement in Audio \u0026nbsp; Previous Next # Role: Technical Lead\nTeam Size: 11 total members, 5 programmers, 5 artists/designers, 1 composer\nDuration: 8 months\nEngine: Unity\nLanguage: C#\nTools: Git, P4 Plan (Hansoft)\nMy Role # I was the Technical Lead on Maid Mayhem, leading a team of 5 programmers within an 11-person capstone project.\nWrote and maintained the Technical Design Document, including system architecture, APIs, and UML diagrams Designed and implemented core gameplay systems including player controllers, cleaning/combat mechanics, score system, and match flow Helped define the project\u0026rsquo;s overall architecture and coding structure to keep systems modular and maintainable Coordinated programming tasks and supported teammates with integration and debugging Managed the Git repository and supported weekly task tracking using P4 Plan (Hansoft) Technical Challenges # Overcoming Pipeline Bottlenecks # During development, we ran into a implementation pipeline bottleneck wiht our \u0026ldquo;cleanable\u0026rdquo; objects. These requred a lot of manual setup, which made it difficult for designers to create and iterate on content without programmer help.\nTo fix this, I learned tools programming and built a Unity editor tool that automated 90% of that process. This reduced implementation time and allowed designers to independently create and modify cleanable objects.\nLarge-Scale Pivot # Midway through development, we found that the core gameplay loop wasn\u0026rsquo;t engaging enough. Cleaning was separated from combat, but combat was driving most of the moment-to-moment fun.\nWe decided to rework the core systems by merging cleaning directly into combat and adjusting the scoring system. This included adding score multipliers, point loss mechanics, and expanding attack variety with two light, one heavy, and one special attack per tool. With five different tools, this resulted in expanding the combat mechanic from 5 basic attacks to 20 different unique attacks.\nAs Technical Lead, I coordinated the programming refactor, helped restructure priorities, and worked with the team to get the new systems ready for an upcoming playtest.\n","date":"15 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/projects/maid-mayhem/","section":"My Work!","summary":"","title":"Maid Mayhem","type":"projects"},{"content":" Highlight Reel A quick look at what I\u0026rsquo;ve been working on.\n","date":"15 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/projects/","section":"My Work!","summary":"","title":"My Work!","type":"projects"},{"content":"","date":"15 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"15 April 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/3d-office-simulator--producer--programmer/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"3D Office Simulator | Producer \u0026 Programmer","type":"tags"},{"content":"Hardly Workin\u0026rsquo; is a goofy office simulator game where you play as Buddy Inepta, a supreme slacker. You balance your work and fun in a goofy and chaotic office and have to avoid falling asleep on the job by slacking off. Just don\u0026rsquo;t get caught by the BIG BOSS Karen\u0026hellip;\nTrailer # Available for FREE on Steam!\nRole: Producer, Programmer Team Size: 7 total members, 3 programmers, 4 artists/designers Duration: 6 months\nEngine: Unity\nLanguage: C#\nTools: Git, P4 Plan (Hansoft)\nMy Role # I was the Producer and a Generalist Programmer on Hardly Workin\u0026rsquo;, working across gameplay systems, AI, animation, and production management for a 7-person capstone team.\nManaged agile-style production, including sprint planning, task tracking, and weekly team check-ins Helped keep development priorities aligned across programming, art, and design Designed and implemented Boss and NPC AI using Finite State Machines (FSMs) Contributed to UI systems including menus and HUD implementation Integrated animation systems, VFX, and audio to support gameplay feedback and readability Challenges # Designing Reactive NPC AI # One of the main technical challenges was building AI that felt responsive to the player while staying predictable enough for gameplay.\nI implemented FSMs for both NPCs and the Boss character, allowing them to transition between states like patrol, alerted, and interaction in a structed way. This made the AI easier to tune and expand over time.\nMaintaining Scope and Development Focus # Another challenge was keeping the project scope under control as new ideas were added during development and playtesting.\nAs Producer, I helped prioritize tasks, organize sprint goals, and make sure the team stayed focused on the most important gameplay systems for each milestone. This helped keep development stable while still allowing room for iteration and polish.\n","date":"15 April 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/projects/hardly-workin/","section":"My Work!","summary":"","title":"Hardly Workin'","type":"projects"},{"content":"","date":"4 September 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/2d-unity--ongoing-project/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"2D Unity | Ongoing Project","type":"tags"},{"content":" Teaser Video # Mind Over Matter is a 2D Puzzle-Platformer where you solve state of matter based puzzles. You can shift between three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas, and must use these states to overcome obstacles.\nThe teaser video shows off the character prototype. Each state has different capabilities and drawbacks that will help the player solve puzzles throughout the level-based gameplay.\nAs it stands this is just a character prototype showcasing primarily the custom and configurable 2D Softbody I created, but expect more updates!\n","date":"4 September 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/projects/mind-over-matter/","section":"My Work!","summary":"","title":"Mind Over Matter","type":"projects"},{"content":"","date":"16 April 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/2.5d-puzzle-platformer--generalist-programmer/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"2.5D PUzzle Platformer | Generalist Programmer","type":"tags"},{"content":"In the ironic game Flicker you play as Plumby, a legally distinct plumber who had heeded a job call to repair a decrepit house. The player must navigate through all three stories, fending off ghosts, retrieving parts, and repairing that floor to progress through the house.\nGameplay Video # Role: Producer, Programmer Team Size: 5 total members Duration: 4 months Engine: Unity\nLanguage: C#\nTools: Git, P4 Plan (Hansoft)\nMy Role # I was one of the two Generalist Programmers on Flicker, responsible for implementing core gameplay systems and supporting game-wide technical features.\nImplemented animation systems and gameplay feedback (SFX/VFX integration) Designed and built puzzle-replated gameplay systems Developed inventory system and item interaction mechanics Created repairable object system used throughout level progression Implemented core manager systems to support game flow and state handling ","date":"16 April 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/projects/flicker/","section":"My Work!","summary":"","title":"Flicker","type":"projects"},{"content":"","date":"15 April 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/3d-unity--vertical-slice/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"3D Unity | Vertical Slice","type":"tags"},{"content":" Demo Video # This was a rough vertical slice individual project I worked on in my second year at Niagara College. It focused on concepts like:\nAI Programming Finite State Machines Scene and Data Persistency Optimization \u0026amp; Object Pooling ","date":"15 April 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/projects/tanks/","section":"My Work!","summary":"","title":"Tank!","type":"projects"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/authors/","section":"Authors","summary":"","title":"Authors","type":"authors"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;m always open to discussing game development, opportunities, or collaboration!\nMy Socials # ethan.william.charette@outlook.com github.com/ethancharette ethancharette.itch.io ethansdesk My Resume Download (PDF)\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/contact/","section":"Contact","summary":"","title":"Contact","type":"contact"},{"content":" Hi, I'm Ethan! Thanks for visiting my portfolio. I grew up in the Niagara Region and a graduate of Brock University and Niagara College's dual degree GAME Programming program. I specialize in Gameplay Programming, AI Systems, and Game Systems Architecture, with a strong foundation on building modular, scalable gameplay systems in Unity using C#.\nWhile I\u0026rsquo;ve worked across multiple areas of game development, my primary focus is programming. I\u0026rsquo;ve also developed experience in animation, VFX/SFX systems, and general game production workflows through team projects.\nMy proudest achievement is leading the programming efforts on my fourth-year capstone project, Maid Mayhem, which was showcased at the Level Up Student Showcase 2026 and won two awards: 1st in People\u0026rsquo;s Choice, an award voted on by the public and presented by Ubisoft Toronto, and 2nd in Achievement in Audio, and award judged by industry professionals and presented by Behaviour Interactive. We were also invited to showcase at XP Game Summit 2026.\nTechnical Foundations # These are some of the core areas I\u0026rsquo;ve studied through my Game Programming program:\nGameplay programming in C# (Unity), mostly focused on building systems that feel clean, scalable, and responsive Data structures, algorithms, and general CS fundamentals that shape how I think about performance and problem-solving Real-time graphics and simulation programming (C++), including things like rendering pipelines and the math behind transforms and movement Networked and Mobile game development, where constraints like latency, memory, and performance really matter Game AI systems, including finite state machines (FSMs), along with introductory exposure to machine learning and genetic algorithms ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/about/","section":"Hi there, I'm Ethan","summary":"","title":"Hi there, I'm Ethan","type":"about"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/series/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Series","type":"series"}]