DIMSUM HUSTLERS

Role: Gameplay Programmer, Game Designer

Dim Sum Hustlers – One of my first games, Dim Sum Hustlers is a 2D isometric cooking game inspired by Overcooked.

Players race against time to prepare and serve dim sum dishes across three unique levels.

Gameplay Video

My Roles

  • Designed and built the core cooking mechanics (recipes, cooking timers, plating, and serving).

  • Created three unique level layouts, each with different challenges to test player coordination.

  • Balanced gameplay pacing by tuning order frequency, scoring thresholds, and time pressure.

  • Collaborated with teammates across programming, art, and design to ship one of my first complete playable games

Cooking Mechanic

Game Mechanics

Crafting Recipes

Tools Used

Custom C++ Engine – Alpha Engine
(provided by SIT for student projects)

  1. C++ for gameplay programming (core mechanics, recipes, and level logic).

  2. Alpha Engine as the custom school-provided engine to build the game.

  3. GitHub for version control

Alpha Engine

Takeaways

Dim Sum Hustlers was one of the first few games I ever created, and it gave me an invaluable opportunity to step into the roles of both game programmer and game designer.

Working with the Alpha Engine, a custom C++ engine provided by the school, allowed me to gain early hands-on experience building core gameplay systems and designing levels from the ground up.

Beyond programming recipes, cooking mechanics, and balancing gameplay, I also learned how important teamwork and collaboration are when bringing a project to life — coordinating with designers, and other programmers to ship a playable game. While the project wasn’t perfect, it remains an important milestone in my journey, showcasing how I grew from those early experiments into a more confident and capable game developer.