Cooking Fist
Description
Cooking Fist is an indie fighting game where you fight for control of the kitchen. Clash over ingredients, complete orders, and become the king of the Iron Chef tournament!
Cooking Fist is currently in a pre-alpha build, art assets sound files and gameplay are all subject to change. If you have feedback or wish to follow the development of the project, consider joining the official discord: https://discord.gg/AydQNDfKHC
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Cooking Fist was built in Unity and developed for PC and Xbox platforms
Visual Scripting
One of the biggest technical achievements working on Cooking Fist was the AI visual scripting system. Many Fighting games struggle to implement robust AI that can execute long-term strategy, and for Cooking Fists objective-based gameplay, the AI needs to be aware of the multi-step process of cooking.
​To solve this problem, I utilized a reactive behavior tree system, where AI actions are broken down into discrete tasks that are executed sequentially. The nodes are individually simple. Examples include finding an ingredient on the ground or moving to a set position. Composite nodes then sequence these simple actions into more dynamic behaviors. In this example, the Collect Behavior tree identifies an ingredient and attempts to move towards it and pick up, all the while ensuring the character is not in danger.
​​I wrote a visual scripting system to arrange nodes and composite nodes together. The system extends Unity’s experimental node graph system and UIToolkit. As a result, designers can quickly create complex behavior from simple building blocks, and can get visual feedback on the decision-making process of the AI in real-time. In this example, the AI uses the collect tree to find and ingredient, then switches to the Cook tree to win the round
Reflection
Cooking Fist is the largest funded game project that I’ve worked on. Cooking Fist has not only taught me only the fundamentals of programming a game engine to support custom deterministic networking, but it has also taught me how to be a leader
The game supports a robust custom engine built on top of Unity. The GGPO “Fight the Lag” article inspired my work on the engine. The entire framework redesigns Unity to be fully deterministic and rollback compatible. As a result, players enjoy a nearly seamless online experience, with playtests spanning the US to Brazil.
My cofounder and I founded Spaghetti Code LLC in the state of Washington to own and publish Cooking Fist. I’ve also hired multiple art contractors to help with 2D inbetweens and 3D environments. We have had to ensure creative control while delivering on tight deadlines to our investors.
Cooking Fist has been received well in its unveiling to the public. We were interviewed at the Evolution 2024 Championship in Las Vegas and won 2nd place, players' choice at Community Effort Orlando.