Rose Abernathy

Game programmer & indie developer

Mars Generation One: Argubot Academy EDU

MGO: AA is what you get if you cross Pokemon with the study of argumentation. In this iPad game, students collect robots that represent types of arguments and pit them against each other in argument battles. Players can only win battles if they learn to pinpoint the flaws in their opponent's arguments while backing up their own claims with appropriate evidence and backing.

MGO: AA was my first project as a programmer at Glasslab Games. I hadn't used Unity before, but picked it up quickly. As one of just two programmers on the team, I took responsibility for many key features, including:
  • The turn-based argument battles
  • Most of the game UI, including complex interactions like the core fusion machine
  • The NPC dialogue system, which used custom features and UI on top of the Dialogue System for Unity
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I really enjoyed working closely with the team's artists and designers to ensure that the game was as engaging and polished as possible. One of the challenges our team faced was creating the content for such a text-heavy game, so I made a custom web-based tool that our designers used to write and link together hundreds of claims, evidence, and arguments that appear in the game.