Nicole Scalera

Programming

Nicole Scalera has produced several games in her career as a game designer and coder. She is also a frequent user of GitHub, which she utilizes to organize and maintain code over larger projects. You can read more about her GitHub here, and about her creatives (e.g. writing, art) here.  

Murder at Supper

(Sep – Dec 2024) Below are some Programming examples from Nicole’s work on Murder at Supper.

Inventory System Nicole worked on the back end to develop an inventory system that would collect clues to solve the murder. Clues are collected in two ways: (1) through conversations with other characters, and (2) through collision-based interactions in the scene.
 
Early sketch of Inventory layout.
Below is an example of the YarnSpinner script, which contains the declaration of the clues, as well as their descriptions. These values are set in the game script, and then sent over to the C# code via the GameManager.

 

Game Managers In addition to a singular GameManager, Nicole created “Manager” Objects for other systems in her scene, including an InventoryManager, an AudioManager, a ClueManager, and more. These Game Objects contained scripts that controlled assets and logic within the scene. They were set up in an MVC pattern.
Model-View-Controller (MVC) Pattern Model-View-Controller (MVC) is a software development pattern Nicole discovered in one of her coding classes. She gathered inspiration from the practice to create a unique setup for scripts and objects in her Unity scene. As explained in this commit, she designed a GameManager object that acted as a central hub of communication for different, smaller systems in the scene.

 

Red Flags

(Jan – Feb 2024) In her sophomore year, Nicole participated in the 2024 Global Game Jam. She collaborated in a group setting to develop an absurdist, comedic dating simulator titled Red Flags. The game can be downloaded for free (for Windows) on Itch.io.

Story Overview You’re a grad student burdened with debt, and in a desperate attempt to keep the lights on, you opt for an unconventional method: going on dinner dates with rich men who will cover the check. The men, however, are some of the most outlandish playboys out there. And the only way to get what you want is to match their level of weirdness. So, throw on a nice outfit, fake a semi-convincing smile, and get ready to redefine “freaky” romance.
Project Info
  • Developed in Unity & C#
  • Coded in Visual Studio Code
  • Version Controlled through GitHub
  • Implemented dialogue through YarnSpinner
Role & Responsibilities

Programming

Players make narrative-based decisions to charm the bachelor of the evening, Jeremy, into paying the bill. Nicole utilized YarnSpinner & C# to systematically create a conversational gameplay loop. See here for more information.  

Project Management

Nicole created and managed a repository for the project, which allowed her to sync her and her group members’ work over multiple computers.
She also frequently met one-on-one with each group member to sketch out a timeline of deliverables. See here for more information.

 

Heist Crisis

(Jan – Feb 2024) In her first year of college, Nicole wrote and coded a Python-based adventure game titled Heist Crisis.

Story Overview A thrilling and comedic twist on a classic tale of thievery, Heist Crisis is an RPG following a stealthy money heist gone wrong. After the alarms are tripped on the main character’s exit, they must now break *out* of the bank by navigating from the vault to the rooftop, where the escape helicopter awaits. Use the money from the vault to buy weapons, tools, and gadgets to avoid capture.
Project Info
  • Developed in Python & IDLE
  • Art & Design using ASCII art
Images developed in Windows’ Notepad application.

What started as a class project quickly evolved into an RPG storyline of its own. She wrote and designed the game, developing visuals out of ASCII art in a notepad application. You can read more about the programming for the game here.