The Elder
The Elder is a 3D 3rd-person adventure platformer where you play as a young boy (Mokosh) accompanying a sapient Tree (Chi) on a journey to restart the cycle of the forest. Mokosh is the more mobile and dexterous character while Chi is a ent-like mystical creature who can use fantastical abilities to help Mokosh traverse the treacherous environment.
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Final Project at Vancouver Film School
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My Role: Gameplay, AI & Audio Programmer
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What I Did: Base Player Controller & Movement, Camera Controller, Tree Companion AI, Mechanics: Catapult & Crystal Shooting, Audio Implementation, Animation Implementation, Butterfly Flocking AI, Implemented some Shaders & Particles
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Tree Companion AI (Chi)
For this game, the team wanted an AI Tree companion that would follow the player and act as the keeper of all the main mechanics. The main challenge was designing the AI companion to be useful and consistently available to the player but never feel like he was inhibiting the player. To overcome this, Chi was designed to always follow behind the player off to one side depending on the camera angle and to prioritize re-spawning out of camera view. Iterating Chi's behaviors were made easier with the help of the level designer on the team, whom I worked closely with to ensure that Chi was behaving in a way that was beneficial while ensuring that he was never in the way. The collaboration of our entire hardworking team made it possible to create an amazing project that we all could feel proud of.
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges coming into this project was learning Unreal C++. Prior to this, neither myself nor the other programmer on the team had any coding experience in Unreal and learning was made even harder by the sparse documentation and forum help. However, after spending months knee deep in the engine and doing a combination of research and experimentation, I feel very proud of the progress we've both made as C++ programmers and the final outcome of the project. Another challenge that I haven't previously mentioned was for the camera. I hadn't realized the amount of time and effort it takes to create a camera plus transitions that are both cohesive and smooth. I dedicated a few weeks solely to camera programming and while I know there will always be areas to improve upon, I'm very happy with the result of this labor. There were many other challenges in regards to the design of the game and its mechanics that my team and I handled together. For example, the boss fight at the end of the game went through many iterations and design changes and I have nothing but respect for my teammates who worked tirelessly to ensure that it was the best experience we could create. The project overall went much smoother than I was expecting, especially since my team was one of the larger ones in production. I am so proud of every member and their dedication and passion that they brought to this project and I believe that the end result is magical.