Case Closed
School Project
Made in 3 Months
6 Person project
Game Design and Technical Design
Made in 3 Months
6 Person project
Game Design and Technical Design
Genre
First Person Detective Game
First Person Detective Game
Target Audience
PG-13+
PG-13+
All Genders
Made on Unreal Engine 5
Completed in the Span of 3 Months
Team of 6
Case Closed is a crime thriller game, where we follow Lieutenant Carlos Reyes, a detective working some gruesome and paranormal cases. He will be tasked in different cities, areas and cases, to find the culprit of each crime scene.
Explore the world of Case Closed, filled with paranormal characters, activities and locations. Speak with interesting characters, decipher puzzles and find the culprit.
Explore the world of Case Closed, filled with paranormal characters, activities and locations. Speak with interesting characters, decipher puzzles and find the culprit.
Dig deeper and find the secrets.
Synopsis
For this project, I was tasked with the Technical Design and Game Design of the game.
On the technical side, I worked on the dialogue system, the inventory system as well as the interactive trace which linked both of them together. I also produced the UV Lamp which when used, would show hidden evidence throughout the level.
On the Game Design side, I helped design the mechanics, helped create the main basis of the game, such as gameplay, systems, and user experience.
Most of the mechanics were completed in the span of 3 weeks
Technical Design
On the technical design aspect of the game, I was tasked to maintain the mechanics of the interactions of the player. Being able to pick up items, placing it in the inventory system, being able to drop them and transport them between levels, and speaking with NPCs are some of the basic mechanics of the game.
This interaction system began with a line trace with would be the base of all the main mechanics of the game. By creating a new collision trace channel, I was able to create new links with the line trace.
Then other Actor Components were created, such as the Inventory system, the dialogue system and the interactive system in order to link back to the line trace that was made previously.
Each actor component has their own UI, server and system, in order for it to run smoothly.
Ultra Violet Lamp
The other mechanic which has not been mentioned yet is the UV lamp, being able to turn it on pressing T, which will show hidden information that could not be seen by the naked eye.
By creating an array for all the targets that are hidden until the player shines the light on it. I created another trace using a sphere overlap which would show visibility on certain objects. By tagging these components using an array, I could now fit how many of them I wanted into my system.
By checking the visibility through the UV lamp trace, the player will now be able to turn on and off the lamp, and the objects that should be shown or hidden will now act accordingly.
This acted as the basis of the UV lamp system.
Inventory System
Players are meant to progress throughout the games by picking up items throughout the game. The progression system will be based on the Items that the player will gathering as he progresses in each level.
In order for these systems to work together, I had to create multiple Actor Components which would later be added onto all characters who we interact with. The first one created was the Interaction Actor Component which would focus around the button itself and the Interaction's Trace so we can gauge the area which will be affected.
The objects and characters that will then be interacted with will be added to 2 separate Actor Components. The Item Actor Component will be dedicated to the progression of the game, which requires more information. Using Structs, Data Tables, and widgets, I was able to classify all the items in the game to which it could run smoothly in the game.
Dialogue System
The Dialogue System was created through a parent Actor Component, which had over 10 different functions, each plugged into the next, in order to figure out which part of the conversation the player is going into.
Using Enumarators and Widgets, the conversation would run smoothly, and I could personally change all the text for each character. Tying all the interactions with a Blueprint Interface, the dialogue system could have multiple different respones, as well as a system to check for items to gain additional information.
Game Design
The game was inspired by many different franchises, such as Paper's Please, Phasmaphobia, Amnesia and many more. We made the gameplay revolve around finding evidence of the murder, talking to suspects and other NPCs as well as being able to possess new items to find new clues.
Game Loop
UI/UX
I was also tasked with the UI/UX of most parts of the game, including the main menu, the player menu, as well as the UI for interactions.
