What Lies in the Dark

GAME OVERVIEW

What Lies in the Dark is an asymmetrical 4v1 competitive game that was originally developed over the course of three weeks by a five person interdisciplinary team for round five of the ETC's Building Virtual Worlds course. It was later admitted into the ETC Fall Festival. One player is tasked with controlling a human with a flashlight in a dark forest. The human is being hunted by four monsters controlled by other players who are trying to prevent the human from destroying their shrines. The human player plays inside an Oculus Rift, while the monster players play on a screen using Xbox One controllers.

MY ROLE: GAMEPLAY PROGRAMMER

As a Gameplay Programmer, I designed and implemented the human and monster mechanics, including the human's ability to fight the monsters with their flashlight and the monsters' ability to turn invisible and avoid damage by standing still. I also designed and implemented the monsters' control scheme, the minimap, and the UI. This game was playtested extensively to ensure that the control scheme was understandable and that the game was balanced between the human and monsters. Much of the final week of the project was spent exclusively on increasing the clarity of the two role's controls and goals and on balancing the competition between the two sides.