Watch Yourself | samuel-jacobsen

Overview:

Role: Programmer, Designer

Platform: PC

Engine/Tools: Unreal Engine 4, Github

Team Size: 4

Genre: First Person Survival Horror

Summary:

Watch Yourself is a passion project I started while learning Unreal Engine 4. I came up with the idea myself and designed the game around the unique gameplay mechanic of being chased by something that is always streaming it's view to you. I originally made a rough proof of concept game that I then rebuilt from the ground up to create the current version. I have created the whole game myself as the sole programmer and designer, with some help from various artists. I entered and demoed Watch Yourself at the 2019 Mass DiGI Game Challenge.

My Contributions / Experiences:

Came up with the original concept
Worked as the sole programmer and designer
Became very experienced with Unreal Engine 4, including learning Blueprint and animation
Designed and programmed an original enemy AI
Organized a team of artist to create a logo and several rough art assets
Entered and demoed the game at a game pitch contest

Unique Monster AI:

Overview:

State Changing:

Player Chasing:

All the code for my monster AI. I made sure to keep it commented and color coded for organization.

The level is a 3 floor house, so the monster will patrol different floors of the house once told which floor you're on. I did this by making each patrol route a different state, and added a randomized variable that will decide if the monster hits the points in ascending or descending order to make its movement less predictable.

Once it sees the player, the monster will chase them. Every set amount of seconds, it checks if it can still see the player, and if not, it goes back to its patrol state.

I tried to make the UI as unobtrusive as possible with elements, like the stamina bar, only appearing when relevant.

Being a phone, I used it to convey other information besides what the monster sees. It also tells you when you get a new tutorial, which you can view optionally in case this isn't the first playthrough.

Trailer for the original proof of concept, which I rebuilt to make a more functional level and enemy AI.