Lewis Starling
GAMES TECHNICAL DESIGNER
Possession
ROLE
Technical Designer (Solo Project)
DESCRIPTION
For my final year project at University I created 'Possession'. The game is based around a soul that has the ability to possess other characters within the level. This is used both in the stealth section of the game where the player must sneak past guards to avoid detection and in the puzzle section, where the player is faced with a series of tasks in which they must remember information given by notes in the stealth phase. Information such as names or guard mannerisms, such as a guards dominant hand and then imitate this behaviour when possessing them. Doing this successfully will avoid raising suspicion. This project was created over 24 weeks and uses AI behaviour trees and UE4's EQ system.
YEAR
2022
GENRE
Stealth / Puzzle
SOFTWARE
Unreal Engine 4
Motion Builder
Photoshop
3DS Max
Mechanics & Systems
AI Patrolling & Hunting
Random Patrolling Guard - Using UE4's Environment Query system, random patrolling guards decide there path by meeting four conditions. The first condition will look for the furthest possible location away from the guards current location, this is to ensure the guard covers the most ground in the quickest time. Secondly, the location must not overlap any static meshes or objects in the world. The last two conditions are ensuring the location is within a 75 degree angle, keeping the guard walking forward. The last condition being if the path exists in the navigation mesh bounds. If this is not met, the guard will turn around and run the system again.
Set Patrolling Guard - Guards following a set path patrol between target points placed in the world, these points can be changed quickly within the world to create new paths. Upon guards reaching a patrol point they will then lean against the nearest wall for ten seconds before moving to the next point.
Hunting EQ system - Both set and random patrolling guards follow the same EQ system when spotting the player for a brief moment. They will begin hunting the player. Guards will firstly run over to the location the player was last seen, and then run a Hunting EQ system 3 times in attempt to find the player, guards will find places in front of them that are not in there line of sight, making them run around objects and corners etc... this will ensure there locations are not redundant and instead create a challenge for the player.
Guard Possession
Stealth Possession - When in the stealth section of the level, the player can possess other guards for 10 seconds. This can only be done when the player is not being hunted by guards within the level, upon possessing a guard, the player will be safe to walk past other guards in the level, which will aid in getting through areas that are more difficult to succeed in. Upon the 10 seconds being up, players will then return to controlling the orb and have to wait 30 seconds for this ability to regenerate before possessing another character. The possessed guard will simply return to there starting location within the world.
Boss Guard Possession - Upon collecting all of the notes, the player can then possess the boss enemy, this is done in the same way, however will be in control of the guard for the rest of the game. They will then face a series of tasks, were they must remember the information on the notes and imitate the guards behaviour to remain undetected through the level.
Non Linear Objective
AI responding to the players actions - Upon possessing the boss character, the player is faced with a series of tasks given by other guards. Every failed task raises the suspicion of the guards, and the player receives negative dialogue pointing out there mistake. For every task there is both a good and bad outcome. Getting too many wrong will fail the player and they must start again. Getting the tasks right will give positive feedback and dialogue.
Non Linear Outcomes - Tasks are tracked throughout the game. Trying to escape too soon will cause a guard to be waiting by the door to tell you all of the mistakes you made and then catching you, alternatively remembering tasks and successfully completing them, will allow the player to escape undetected.