Software Engineer | Robot Race
A fast-paced multiplayer racing game inspired by Mario Kart, featuring item-based combat, dynamic track shortcuts, and seamless vehicle transformations into spaceships and airplanes for high-speed aerial maneuvers.
What is this game?
Robot Race is a high-speed, competitive multiplayer racing game where players control customizable robotic racers. Inspired by games like Mario Kart, it features a dynamic track system where players can pick up power-ups to interfere with opponents and gain an advantage. Strategic shortcuts allow racers to transform into flying vehicles, such as spaceships or airplanes, to speed up and outmaneuver their competition. With smooth multiplayer functionality and engaging mechanics, Robot Race delivers an exhilarating and unpredictable racing experience.
What I did:
Multiplayer Systems Development – Contributed to the design and optimization of real-time multiplayer gameplay, ensuring smooth synchronization of power-ups, vehicle transformations, and player interactions.
Software Engineering – Implemented core game mechanics in Unity (C#), including item pickups, shortcut-based transformations, and speed-boosting flight sequences.
Remote Collaboration – Engaged in weekly development check-ins, collaborating with supervisors and teammates to align progress with project milestones.
Technical Optimization – Enhanced game performance and responsiveness by leveraging company-provided hardware and software resources, improving player experience.
What I think:
As a Software Engineer Intern, my primary responsibility in Robot Race has been ensuring multiplayer stability and network reliability. Since this is a fast-paced, competitive racing game, even minor connectivity or synchronization issues can significantly impact player experience. My role involved identifying and resolving critical multiplayer functionality issues, improving game flow stability, and refining AFK detection mechanisms to prevent unfair disconnections.
During an engineering team playtest, we encountered a game-breaking issue where the post-race settlement system failed to transition players correctly, preventing them from moving to the next phase. Additionally, the game’s AFK detection system occasionally misidentified players as inactive, triggering penalties even when they were engaged in actions such as adjusting in-game settings. These issues disrupted the intended gameplay loop, requiring immediate debugging and refinement.
To address the settlement transition failure, I analyzed the relevant network scripts and event-handling logic, identifying inconsistencies in how the game processed race completions. By modifying the underlying script logic, I ensured that the transition now executed seamlessly for all players under different network conditions.
For the AFK penalty system, I redesigned its detection method to shift from distance-based evaluation to input-based tracking. Originally, the system relied on movement distance to determine player inactivity, but this led to false positives when players paused to access in-game settings. By refining the system to detect button inputs rather than movement alone, I significantly reduced incorrect AFK detections, allowing the system to more accurately distinguish between truly idle players and those engaging with UI elements.
This experience strengthened my ability to debug real-time multiplayer systems, optimize server-client interactions, and refine game mechanics to enhance player experience. Beyond technical implementation, it reinforced the importance of playtesting-driven problem-solving—leveraging direct gameplay observations to inform data-driven fixes. As development progresses, I continue working on improving multiplayer responsiveness and stability, ensuring that Robot Race provides a seamless and fair online experience.
