Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Languages: Visual scripting (blueprints)
Team Size: 4 scripters/designers
Platforms: PC
Project Length: 4 weeks
Year: 2015
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I scripted character movement (wall, ceiling and floor movement) and designed levels for a fast-paced 2.5D platformer.
DESIGNED half of the level
Facilitated PLAYTESTER SESSIONS and incorporated FEEDBACK into the LEVEL DESIGN (communicating some issues to the team so larger design decisions could be made as a group)
My level design for the middle of level.
My level design for the end of level ("elevator" to boss fight).
I chose to make the camera zoom out so players had a clear idea where they were in relation to enemies.
Since these areas were nestled between areas with zoomed-in views of the player, they added greater variety to the level design.
​Players found an electric enemy too underwhelming and didn't realize it was an enemy. I found reference images to demonstrate how the enemy design could be changed. These changes were then implemented into the game.
SCRIPTED a character movement prototype (for fast-paced traversal on walls, ceilings and floors)
Worked with another scripter to deliver additional versions of characters movement
IMPLEMENTED TRIGGERS, sounds, etc.
Movement was the biggest challenge of creating the game, since Unreal Engine 4 didn't allow an easy way of switching gravitational direction. Corners also posed a problem for smooth movement.
I used LINE TRACING to determine how far the character was from a given surface (wall, floor or ceiling). This method of using line tracing for detection ended up in the final version of the character movement.
A MAIN DIFFERENCE between character movement in the prototype vs. the final game, was I initially ADDED FORCE to the character, depending on the closest jump-able surface type. Subsequently, I tried to balance the force in each corner so the player would move smoothly around it. This method ended up proving imprecise.
I COLLABORATED with another scripter, where we decided to use an enum for 5 PLAYER STATES - floor state, left wall state, right wall state, ceiling state and jumping state.
When players jumped to the ceiling, the controls flipped (although players were unaware of this because the control directions reversed when the state was changed).​ This helped resolve movement issues.
The corner issue was resolved by shifting between 5 player states to change the character's controls​.
The system checked the closest wall and discretely moved the player beside it using a static distance value, thereby ensuring smooth movement around corners.
We also included logic to adjust camera location and to CHECK JUMP DISTANCE.
The challenges in creating character movement reinforced the need to DEVELOP A SOLID FRAMEWORK in the initial stages of game development.
Such as framework encapsulated each major component within its own function (i.e. checking walls and corners, line tracing from the character).​
As this was my first game project where I collaborated heavily with other scripters, I learned how to better ORGANIZE scripts and COLLABORATE with other programmers to developer an EASILY MAINTAINABLE SYSTEM.
CODED KEY SYSTEMS, including the dialogue system, quest log and system, etc.
Scripted many of the sounds, particularly pertaining to the dialogue and UI elements.
I coded UI pop ups, ensuring specific text displayed at specific times. The quest system I created allowed for different conditions (such as player inventory containing an item or allowing a new quest to start when others were in progress or complete).
I programmed the quest log system, ensuring icons in the quest log displayed on quest start, AND icons changed to a star background on quest complete.
The dialogue system receives information (such as quest text) from quest classes:
Designers could use the below fields (in Unity's inspector) to easily create functionality for new NPCs placed in the world.
Due the behaviors NPCs inherited (from the system I created), NPCs could immediately interact with players.
Engine: Unity 5
Languages: C#
Team Size: 4 scripters/designers
Platforms: Mobile (iPhone, Android)
Project Length: 7 weeks
Year: 2015
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I coded systems for an adventure game, where players bring life to new worlds and help characters along the way. My contributions included creating a dialogue system, quest log and system, etc.