The Mafia Pigeons Development
Initial development
The Mafia Pigeons was made as part of my third-year group project at Falmouth university. I was the game designer on the team, but I also contributed directly in Unreal Engine. It was a challenging project, but one that helped me grow significantly in both confidence and capability.
The Mafia Pidgeons Splash Art.
One of the biggest challenges early in the project was cross-discipline communication. There were times where goals weren’t aligned and work was being done based on assumptions, which led to avoidable delays. To help resolve this, I put together a clear and centralised design document that outlined systems, goals, and expectations.
While it wasn’t used as consistently as I’d hoped, it still helped refocus the team and reduced confusion going forward. I’ve since taken what I learned and applied it in other projects – like Psycho-Kin – by introducing regular meetings and shared documentation ownership right from the start. Moving forward, I’m planning to use single-page design docs to improve engagement, especially in early development when clarity is most important.
Working in Unreal & Managing My Time
Going into this project, I didn’t have much experience with Unreal Engine. Most of my past development had been in GameMaker, so Unreal felt a bit intimidating at first. I was nervous about breaking things or not being able to contribute on the same level as the rest of the team.
But I made a decision early on to get involved directly in the engine, and that choice paid off. I built a sandbox map to help test mechanics, implemented a minimap system, and created UI tutorial prompts to improve onboarding. These weren’t flashy features, but they were important, and they helped the team prototype and iterate faster. By the end of development, I was contributing regularly to our GitHub repo and solving in-engine problems without hesitation.
At the same time, I was also juggling freelance work and developing Psycho-Kin, which made time management especially difficult. There were moments where I felt stretched thin, but I learned to adapt by building a proper schedule and blocking out time for each project. That structure helped me stay consistent, reduce stress, and show up for my team when it counted.
Looking back, I’m proud of how far I’ve come. I’m now fully confident working in Unreal Engine, and I’ve developed habits that help me manage multiple projects without burning out.
Current state of the project
The Mafia Pigeons will be showcased at the Falmouth Games Expo 2025, where players can try out a complete vertical slice of the game. The current build includes one fully polished level that shows off the game’s core mechanics, character abilities and visual style.
The level includes working enemy AI, interactive objectives and full controller support. It’s been refined for public play, with a short tutorial and clear goals to make it easy for new players to jump in.
The project is stable, easy to pick up, and ready to be shown. I’m proud of what we’ve built, and I’m looking forward to seeing how people respond to it at the expo.
Playable Character Line-Up
Gameplay Screenshots
