'The Departed' is a horror game set in a world where supernatural and paranormal activity frequently occurs. In the game, the player will explore a variety of locations, including cemeteries and haunted houses, to exorcise phantoms and restore balance to the natural order. For three months, from Feburary 2025 to May 2025, I collaborated with other game development students, using Unity, Visual Studio and Git to create a prototype.
- One functional level
- Players can freely explore the environment and complete mandatory objectives
- A working inventory system for item management, allowing the player to select and use gathered items
- A functional heads-up display (HUD)
- An enemy AI that detects, chases or flees from the player character
- A torch mechanic, allowing the player character to emit a light from their torch, which can deter the enemy AI away
- AI Finite State Machine (FSM): Control structures, triggers, enumerations, booleans and coroutines were used to implement the enemy AI's FSM, allowing it to seek, chase and flee from the player character
- Animated Heads-Up Display (HUD): By using UI tools and the animator, a dynamic HUD was implemented, which displayed the player character's current stamina and the current charge of the player's torch
- Torch Mechanic: The Torch Mechanic was implemented by using control structures and triggers, allowing the player to shine their torch and deter the enemy away
- Inventory System, Objectives & Level Manager: Arrays and booleans were utilised to create the Inventory System, Objectives System and Level Manager, allowing the player to use objects and progress within the game
- Alfie Oatley - Level designer, GUI designer and programmer
- Kingsly Coke - GUI designer and programmer
- Unity
- Visual Studio
- Git
- Procreate
- Figma
- C#
Designs for the Battery Power Bar, which I created in Procreate.
Design of the Stamina Bar, which I created in Procreate.
Captured image demonstrating the HUD, inventory system, level objectives and torch mechanic.
Gained Skills
- Organisational Skills: Planned, designed, implemented and tested the project, whilst ensuring to use a Gantt chart, source control and maintain backups
- Computational Thinking: Utilised computational methods including decomposition, abstraction and visualisation
- Testing & Debugging: Throughout the development process, source code was continuously debugged and tested to address any bugs, warnings or errors
- Documentation: Produced thorough documentation throughout the entire planning, design, implementation, testing and evaluation phases
- Teamwork: Effectively communicated and collaborated with peers to develop the prototype and deliver a group presentation
- Unity: Created MonoBehaviour scripts and utilised the UI Toolkit, Animation Window and Lighting System
This was the first time I developed a 3D game in Unity. Whilst working on our game, I was able to develop a variety of transferable skills, including teamwork and leadership, and improve my understanding of the C# programming language. One of the most rewarding aspects of working on 'The Departed' was incorporating the Torch Mechanic and the enemy's FSM, which was a challenging yet rewarding experience. I am pleased that I was able to implement the Torch Mechanic into our prototype, as it provided a way of evoking tension within the player and encouraged the use of strategy.
Disclaimer: The prototype was developed for educational and portfolio purposes only. To my knowledge, all third-party assets used and their creators have been listed, with appropriate credit being given to the creators for their work. I do not claim any ownership of any third-party assets used. If there are any issues regarding the use of these assets or the credits, please contact me.
- Flashlight — By RRFreelance
- Church 3D — By AndreiCG
- Grave Stone Collection — By Kigha, licensed under CC BY 4.0
- Dry Trees — By DigitalAntichrist
- Stone Fence — By Ben Droste
- Handpainted Keys — By RoboCG
- Toyota Corola — By danieljorge435, licensed under CC BY 4.0
- Golden Jewelry — Snowforge
- Rusty Black Shovel — By Sergi Nicolás
- Street Lamps 2 — By SpaceZeta
- Outdoor Ground Textures — By A dog's life software
- Skybox Series Free — By Avionx
- Wooden Garage Door — By Dimitrios Savva, licensed under CC0
- Flashlight Clicking On — By baidonovan (Freesound), licensed under Pixabay Content License
- Free Fire VFX - URP — By Vefects
- Scarekrowz Font — By deedeetype, licensed under Freeware
- Tomatoes Font — By Billy Argel Fonts, licensed under Freeware, Non-Commercial