Runic Games

Torchlight

Ogre 3D

Torchlight is an action RPG developed by Runic Games, known for its fast-paced combat, deep loot system, and charming art style. The game is set in the fantasy town of Torchlight, built atop a vast dungeon filled with dangerous creatures, valuable treasures, and the corrupting influence of Ember, a powerful magical ore.

The game follows the classic hack-and-slash RPG formula, featuring:

• Three Playable Classes:
  • Destroyer: A melee-focused warrior with brute strength.
  • Vanquisher: A ranged expert with traps and precision.
  • Alchemist: A spellcaster wielding elemental magic and summons.
• Pet System: Players are accompanied by a pet that can assist in combat, carry loot, and even sell items in town.
• Dungeon Crawling: The game is centered around exploring randomly generated dungeons filled with enemies, bosses, and hidden secrets.
• Loot and Customization: A robust loot system with randomized weapons, armor, and enchantments allows players to optimize their characters with various builds.
• Fishing Mini-Game: Players can fish in designated areas to find special items and pet transformations.
• Modding Support: Torchlight features extensive modding tools, including an official editor (TorchED), allowing players to create custom content.

The town of Torchlight sits atop rich veins of Ember, a magical substance with great power. However, Ember also corrupts those exposed to it. Players descend into the depths of the dungeon beneath Torchlight, uncovering its secrets, battling monstrous creatures, and facing off against a corrupted alchemist who threatens the world.

As part of the Runic Games development team, I played a pivotal role in the creation of a custom in-house game engine built on the Ogre3D rendering toolkit. This engine served as the backbone of Torchlight, supporting the game's core systems and providing robust graphical rendering capabilities.

• Implemented a custom cross-platform GUI using the CEGUI framework, ensuring a consistent and scalable user interface.
• Integrated the Particle Universe plugin into Ogre3D, enabling advanced physics-based particle effects.
• Utilized NVIDIA PhysX to enhance the game's visual fidelity with dynamic particle simulations.

To ensure Torchlight ran efficiently across multiple platforms, I focused on optimizing game performance and developing essential tools for debugging and profiling.

• Developed tools for performance analysis, including tracking in-game loading procedures, analyzing memory usage, and optimizing algorithms to reduce load times.
• Collaborated with department heads to devise workflow and technology solutions, streamlining development processes and improving team efficiency.

Maintaining consistency and scalability in game development is crucial. I contributed to establishing a structured engine framework that supported both present and future projects at Runic Games.

• Standardized the engine framework by defining explicit APIs and enforcing consistent module separation.
• Maintained technical documentation to support ongoing development and ensure seamless collaboration among team members.

Bridging the gap between creative and technical teams was a key part of my role. I worked closely with the Art Director and Lead Designer/Creative Director to bring Torchlight's artistic vision to life while ensuring feasibility within the technical constraints.

• Assisted in implementing shaders and visual effects that aligned with the game's art style.
• Provided technical support to the art team, ensuring smooth integration of assets into the game engine.

Torchlight was widely praised for its engaging gameplay, vibrant art direction, and smooth combat mechanics. The game was seen as a spiritual successor to Diablo, largely due to its development team consisting of ex-Blizzard North members.

My contributions during the early stages of Torchlight helped set the foundation for the franchise's success and established a solid technical framework for the studio's future projects. The game remains a fan favorite for ARPG enthusiasts and continues to be a benchmark for indie-developed hack-and-slash titles.