About

My name is Fabrice Lété, I am born in 1979. I have been a professional C++ video games developer since 2003 and a hobbyist for much longer.

Through my career I have been involved with a lot of technologies but the only constant is C++, this allowed me to reach a good level of proficiency in the language and in the low-level aspects of programming in general. I am reluctant to use the term “expert” because the more I know, the more I realize how much I still have to learn.

I am also really good at debugging, but don’t tell anyone.

Development

Here is a chronological overview of the projects I worked on so far at various companies. Most of these projects are the work of a whole team of dedicated people, please see the accompanying text to get a better feel of my personal contributions.

Beyond Divinity (PC - 2004) My very first assignment at Larian Studios involved writing gameplay scripts for the isometric RPG Beyond Divinity, this was done using a DSL developed in-house. It was some sort of inference engine that controlled NPC dialog trees and triggered predefined events created from the level editor. I also contributed a few specific parts of the C++ code dealing with text localization, and I took care of integrating third party copy protection into the game. The game engine was custom made and used C++. The game is now available on Steam, and I am delighted to see that some people are still playing it after all this time.

KetnetKick (PC - 2004) KetnetKick is a PC2TV video game developed for the Flemish children’s TV channel Ketnet. It is a 3D platformer that acts as a hub to a variety of mini games and creative workshops. I worked on some parts of the 3D platformer and of the game engine itself, but my main contribution was writing roughly half the gameplay code for the mini games and workshops. I wrote clones of old classics like Pac-Man, Bomb Jack, Boulder Dash, The Incredible Machine, a shooting game, a 3D snowboarding game, a 2D animation workshop and a stop motion studio (added to the game after the initial release). The game used the GameBryo engine, and all my programming was done in C++. I keep fond memories of this project, it was a fantastic learning opportunity. Unfortunately, the plug has been pulled on the servers powering the game a few years ago.

KetnetKick Zeepkistenrace (PC - 2007) The first game I worked on that involved real-time networking. This game was a Mario Kart clone, and was released as an update to KetnetKick. The game also contained a level editor and took some inspiration from Stunts in that regard. I was one of the only two programmers who wrote all the code, we got along together really well and it was a wonderful experience. The sad thing is that I didn’t keep any good quality material (screenshots or movie) from that game. At the time there were several gameplay videos around and plenty of screenshots, and now only 8 years later hardly anything can be found about it anymore. The best I still have is the splash screen.

CBBC Adventure Rock (PC - 2007) This game was a reskin of KetnetKick, this time made for the CBBC children's channel. This game was technically really close to the original one, I worked on the character control, customization and physics, and on refactoring all the 2D stuff to make the transition smoother. The tech and specs were the same, and the game servers have also been disconnected since then.

KetnetKick 2 (PC - 2008) For this project, I worked on everything related to character control and physics. The platforming aspect of the game was more important in this game than in the previous ones.

Divinity II (PC / PS3 / 360 - 2009) I was only involved in the pre-production of this game, I worked on the engine and physics. I also worked on early versions of the level editor and some ad-hoc pipeline tools. I left the project when it was still PC only, at the time we had released a few private demos used to secure a publishing deal, but the game still looked quite far from what it finally became. The tech was all C++ and built on top of GameBryo, it used various middleware.

NeuroVS (PC - 2009) For a while I worked for a company that provided real-time virtual TV sets. By using camera tracking (motion, zoom, focus) and color keying, we replaced the background with real-time 3D. This solution provided presenters with immediate feedback about what the result looked like, and allowed live broadcasting. I have done engine level development and sales support, demoing the software within the premises of potential customers while using their own hardware.

Knockout Party (Wii - 2009) I only very briefly worked on this title. I wrote a flexible camera control system that integrated with our external level editor. And I also implemented basic 2D platforming controls.

Dungeon Twister (PlayStation 3 - 2012) This board game adaptation was made by a rather small team, and I have been one of the only three programmers for almost the whole duration of the project. We originally developed the game for Xbox 360, but we also ported it to PlayStation 3, where it was finally released. I implemented significant parts of the gameplay features (player control, action validation), and I wrote the artificial intelligence and networking layer. I also worked on the transition of our in-house game engine from Wii to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I took care of the input, sound and network layers. At the very end of the development, our editor went bankrupt. The game was finally self-published on PSN much later (after I left the company), this turned out to be last release of the studio before it also sank. Even if the game was met with harsh critics, I am proud of it. It was a great ride, and our team was fantastic.

The X Factor (Wii / Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3 - 2011) I haven’t done anything on the game itself (a karaoke game), but I worked on porting the engine it used to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I also standardized the input layer across all platforms. This engine port was originally done for the Dungeon Twister game, but The X Factor ended up being released before.

Innovation Union Labs (iOS - 2010) This was the first time I did actual development work on iOS and Xcode, I still remember having trouble finding the power button on the Mac on my first day. I was the sole developer on this small advergame. IUL was some sort of Monkey Ball clone, where you had to explore a large level, collecting various pickups. I have been monitoring the stat servers for over two years after release, and apparently some people kept playing the game all this time. The game was playable on the whole range of iPhones and iPads available at the time.

Eyeball Invaders (unreleased) Of all the unreleased projects I worked on, this one has actually been publicly announced. This was a party game for up to 8 players, where you would compete for being the first to pick up orbs that would spawn at semi-random locations. I wrote all the game code, and also the AI that simulated a flock of opponents. It was quite cool when I was stress testing the game with a large amount of AI characters, as they would behave like a swarm of locusts.

IndestructoTank (iOS / Android - 2012) A mobile adaptation of a popular Flash game from Armor Games. Only the core gameplay was kept, everything else was done from scratch. It is a simple arcade game that I honestly think was really fun. The game was done by a team of two programmers, I handled all the gameplay code and I wrote the custom sprite engine and collision routines, together with a simple particle system that allowed covering the screen with enemies and explosions while keeping a smooth framerate. The game has been removed from the stores a while ago, but I swear it had a 4+ star rating at the time.

After Burner Climax (iOS / Android - 2013) This was an iPhone / iPad / Android port of the famous arcade game from Sega AM2, it is all about explosions, planes, and exploding planes. I worked on gameplay code, particle systems, performance optimization, and the assets pipeline. I wasn’t involved in the Android port, but it was based on the iOS one.

Teaching

Video Game Schools I started teaching programming classes at the Haute École Albert Jacquard in Namur back in 2008, at the time it was a side activity and I only teached a few hours a week. Over the years my teaching duties increased. I eventually helped setup two new specializations in video games programming, and I also joined Digital Arts and Entertainment in Kortrijk. It became a full-time activity at this point. I developed a small cross-platform sprite engine that over a hundred students used to make their graduation game projects on. The engine currently runs on Windows, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3 and Android. It could also be piggybacked on a 3rd party 3D engine, allowing turning 2D prototypes into full 3D games.

Public Speaking I have done countless interventions at barcamps, schools, universities, cafés numériques, talking about technical and/or inspirational topics. Both in French and English. As long as I have some free time I am always willing to give a small talk, so please get in touch if there’s something I can help with.

#altdevblogaday I wrote numerous articles (20+) for #altdevblogaday 1.0, a cooperative blog project led by Mike Acton. Some of my articles have been selected by Gamasutra and re-posted on their site.

Hobbies

Electronics I like to spend the little free time I have tinkering with electronics and assembly programming on microcontrollers. I am making very slow progress, but I am currently working on a PAL video signal generator together with a friend. For learning sake, we are doing it from scratch, not reusing any existing code and doing every single mistake possible along the way. Our long-term goal is to make a retro video game console.

Computing history I am really fascinated by the early history of computing, I have been reading lots of books on the topic, I visited several museums and exhibitions, and I am active in a few vintage computer preservation communities. I am also collecting old calculators, both mechanical, electro-mechanical and electronic. My goal is to save from the trash as much of these technological wonders as possible. I am also doing repairs and maintenance on these, learning a few interesting skills in the process. You can see a small part of my collection in the picture next to this text.

Game Jams and Demomaking Ever since my university days, I have been involved in various contests and events. Both as a participant and an organizer. I co-founded my university’s computer club, and we hosted several large LAN parties (150+ people). I released a few demos at demomaking events, and made games for the Global Game Jam five years in a row. I am a Global Game Jam site organizer for the 2016 edition.

Contact

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