Disclaimer: These thoughts are my own, My involvement with this project is purely professional and I will not be discussing NDA information.
Cooking Mama: Cookstar was my first shipped console game. I joined First Playable Productions slightly after the production had been started on the project. I was responsible for creating designer tools, porting, audio, and general engine support.
Engine Support
The project was created with Unity 3D and utilized many of the available SDKs for Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox. My main responsibility was creating a cross-platform input manager to allow for easy porting. This involved creating unit tests for each targeted console, supporting each SDK, cross-platform input, and platform-localized input icons. One of my responsibilities was to allow for handheld and switch pro controllers. This originally was not supported, and the game only functioned in docked, using motion controls, and handheld. I made sure that this system got in, as I felt that many players would expect it. When I began my work on the project, the audio manager was the first issue I was assigned. The need was for a centralized audio manager to handle loading and unloading of audio clips. Some needed loaded for audio synchronization, others could be loaded more on the fly. This also involved support for localized audio - though I'm not sure if this was utilized.
Motion Controls
I then created the manager for motion control support. This I believe was my weakest system, and needed constant tuning. One player would pick up the controller and perform an action, and it would register perfectly, but other players would find inputs rarely registering. The producers insisted that the motion should be explicit, so I added a system to allow for "motion forgiveness" which allows for more flexible inputs if a user fails to do them correctly. The motion control was one of the major complaints by game reviewers. I believe if we had been less worried about detecting specific inputs we would have had many less frustrated players. If I have to implement a motion control manager again I will keep this in mind.
Post Release
Late in the development cycle, I worked on the PS4 port. Most of this work was already covered by the cross-platform support thus far, so this was mainly supporting trophies and PlayStation specific mechanics. There was also support for the PS4 motion controls added in. Later, after the game was released, I worked on creating the game "Yum Yum Cookstar" and porting it. I don't have much to discuss about this game, but I did implement the timing manager for rhythm games.
Conclusion
I worked closely with the art and animation team to implement what they desired. Overall I would call this a great learning experience.