“As a time traveling handyman, it’s your job to keep the flow of time running smoothly. Zip through time and construct contraptions to help overcome physical challenges, Travel alone or with a group of up to 4 players.”
Get the free demo on the Steam store
Across the Gap is an Unreal Engine 5 game I am developing with my small indie studio Snackmunch Studios. It was inspired by various games I’ve played in the past, like Garry’s Mod, and took inspiration from the show “Destroy Build Destroy”, where contestants were tasked to build machines/vehicles to complete the challenges. That always sounded like a really neat idea for a video game, which sparked the foundation of Across the Gap.
The game is playable in both single player and online co-op, where players can build collaboratively or compete with each other. Right now the Steam demo features one level, a snowy sled building challenge.
Designing an intuitive building system that felt easy to pick up but has a high skill ceiling was definitely a challenge. It took many iterations but I am happy with where it ended up.
All of the programming was done by me in C++, while my fiancé did the level design.
On the programming side, creating networked physics-simulated objects is very difficult to pull off, since it requires a combination of client movement extrapolation and server authoritative positioning of objects. In an environment like Across the Gap’s sledding level, physics sleds are frequently bashing into walls, changing directions and accelerations, and in addition to that the player is steering the sled. The networking system needs to cleanly handle all of those conditions and more, which I did successfully in Across the Gap.