CRAMP
Introduction
Genre: First-Person Horror Story Adventure
Engine: UnrealEngine4
Platform: PC (Windows)
Date: September 2021
(Furniture static meshes and sound effects are from unreal marketplace asset packs; Some basic game functions are from a first-person story adventure template.)
Demo Video
Game Concept
Cramp is a first-person horror game about a young officer investigating a case similar to his own experience and was trapped in his own memory. Explore the apartment crime scene to find the way out and discover each family member’s secret.
Inspiration
I have always been a fan of first-person atmosphere horror games. Devotion occurred in an apartment and was a small and narrow environment comparatively. The player controls the character investigating objects with information, solving puzzles, and experiencing the main plot. The core concept of the family also inspired me; Devotion depicts the father and daughter's family bond. I choose to demonstrate the bond and obstacles between siblings instead.
I also referenced Jennifer Pan's Story(the girl who hired killers to murder her parents) for my main story plot.
Game Flow Chart
Game Mechanics and Programming
Tic-Tac-Toe Mini Game
The game is played on a grid that's three squares by three squares between the player and the little girl. The player is O; the little girl is X. They take turns putting their marks in empty squares.
The winner is the first to get 3 of her marks in a row (up, down, across, or diagonally). When all nine squares are full, the game is over. If no one has three marks in a row, the game ends in a tie, and the player has to click restart to clean the grids. According to the scoreboard on the right, when the O score reaches 2, the player could win and proceed to the main plot.
I did not use the AI behavior tree for the player “X” for the AI player. Instead, I used line trace by channel function firing lines in all eight directions when one “O” chess is placed to detect whether there are empty spaces in the row(up, down, across, or diagonally) that the “O” player is possible to form. Then to spawn randomly in one of the empty slots, and if 2/3 slots in a row are formed, “X” will be placed at the third, preventing “O” from winning.
Candle Puzzle
There will be an inspectable note implies the player to light up the candles. The player has to light up the candles in the correct order by following the number tag aside. Liting the wrong candle or in the wrong order would blow off all candles and restart the puzzle. Lighting up all four candles will change candle colors to red and trigger animation to proceed to the plot.
Password
The game has padlock-like passcode input and pin pad passcode input that serves for chest, door, and safe. Just work like a password everywhere, click on the number buttons on the UI, match the code and the order to trigger the correct code event.
Core code of The Passcode Checking System
I used the same checking system for mechanics of passcode, such as the chest with padlock, doorlock with pin pad, safe, and even the candle puzzle. The code below demonstrates the checking method of checking both the length and index of the input.
Memory Card
In the Memory card mini-game, the player can click to flip the photos, but only one photo at a time. The player then selects another card and turns it over. If the two cards are a matching pair, then the two cards will remain flipped over. If the cards are not a match, they are turned back over. The player could win(enter the following plot)when successfully flipped over all photos. Bellow is the core code of the checking phases.
Jigsaw Puzzle
In the jigsaw puzzle mini-game, the player can click on pieces of picture and drag. When dragging to the center of the screen, the picture piece will snap in place, and it would also snap even when the piece was placed in an incorrect slot.
When all four pieces are placed correctly, the player could win and enter the following plot.
The Chaser
When the player hits a specific trigger box, the spotlight on top of the ghost will be turned on, and she will start chasing the character. When getting close enough with the character, the ghost will start attacking. When the player is hit more than three times, the character will die. The blueprint is shown below. I used AI move to create the chasing event. The two delays here are one for the attack interval and another for how long a single attack will last.
Modeling
Blender
Doorlock with Pin Pad
Padlock
Suitcase
Light Switch
Character Creator 3
I used Character Creator 3 for the character modeling. I used the headshot function to generate different facial features and applied assets from the CC3 marketplace for clothing and hairstyles.
Level Design Corporates with Game Flow
Showcase
