Owen Spreadbury

Patient R-21

The project I worked on was a point and click horror game based inside a small hospital of some sort. The player plays as a doctor who has a patient, or more accurately a lab rat, that broke out of her containment. The doctor is forced to escape the hospital as the patient prowls the rooms. To do this, the doctor must solve puzzles with normally their inventory throughout the hospital.

Programmer

As a programmer, my responsibility is to carry out the implementation of the systems and mechanics planned for the game. My main tasks were to create the Patient AI and the inventory system.

Game Designer

As a game designer, my responsibility is to plan out and design the puzzles and mechanics of the game. My main tasks of this role was to design the patient AI and inventory system.

Patient

The main feature I worked on was the patient. She is the primary antagonist to the player. She moves across each individual hospital room, giving a warning before she strikes the player. If she catches the player, after a remaining time the player is sent back to menu.

The main challenge of the patient was to program and test a lot of behavior in a short period of time. I had given myself a high scope in the timeframe of the project, thus leading me to scope down on the patient's AI.

Planned in Miro

The AI was originally planned in MIRO

AI created in Node Canvas

The tool that is used for the AI is Node Canvas

AI inside the level

The AI itself object doesn't have a physical presence

The Patient can attacks the player

The only way to survive is to hit the green target with the crowbar

The Patient can search for the player

When the player is hiding, the monster searches for them

Inventory, Items and Crafting

These three components make up the inventory system. The player has access to a grid where items are stored in. These items have a title and description, which is typically used to help guide players to solving puzzles. Some of the items can be combined in the crafting system, creating a new item that could assist the player in a meaningful way.

Knowledge and skills gained

I learned how to use Jira and Confluence
I learned how to enact weekly sprints using Jira
I gained a deeper understanding of AI systems in games
I gained experience with UI programming in Unity
I learned how to communicate and work more effectively with teammates

Challenges

Having to implement systems and mechanics in a small timeframe to match deadlines
Having to fix upcoming errors and bugs in a timely manner before shipping
Learning to use Confluence and Jira was a small challenge, but the payoff is worth it
The monster AI was more difficult to implement than anticipated, but kept to the design fairly well in the end

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