Overview

Creative Director | AI Programmer
(Unreal Engine 5; Team of 8)

"Eidolon: Fate of Fools" is a classical arena shooter with a card game twist in which astral combatants compete using mystical abilities inspired by Major Arcana tarot cards.

As Creative Director, I document design goals, facilitate playtests, and oversee iteration of game features to reach desired project outcomes.

As AI Programmer, I implement behaviors with emergent characteristics to allow AI combatants to appear player-like in a movement-oriented combat game.

Responsibilities

  • Maintain design documentation to communicate deliverables and target outcomes to the team throughout production.
  • Develop player-like AI combatants to enable all groups of players to enjoy the experience of a full game lobby.
  • Oversee development and integration of game features and art assets to ensure design cohesion throughout the project.

Technical Highlights

  • Utilized a variety of navigation assets in each arena to enable AI bots to move fluidly and use special arena features.
  • Created custom air control logic through Behavior Tree tasks to allow continuous movement even when jumping or being launched.
  • Engineered emergent combat behavior by extending AI sense and gameplay features into an adaptive reasoning system.
  • Utilized the Environment Query System to inform AI navigation by assessing danger and utility at sample points in real time.

Design Highlights

  • Introduced the mystical narrative theme and tarot card influence to bolster card-shooter mechanics with evocative context.
  • Designed 20+ tarot-inspired abilities by incorporating symbolism from traditional tarot games into a combat-focused context
  • Evaluated specific design outcomes across 10+ multiplayer playtests by overseeing play and feedback procedures.
  • Wrote and implemented unique kill verbs for each weapon, among other text assets, to make the game feel more alive.