Atlantean Descent
-Click here to visit the project's Itch.io page-
A vertical slice project created in Unreal Engine 5. In Atlantean Descent you play as two divers on their journey to discover Atlantis. Gameplay consists of turn-based combat where you control the two characters fighting their way through AI controlled mermaid monsters, with exploration elements. The game was worked on for 10 weeks, after which it was displayed at the Gotland Game Conference 2024.
Behind this project was a team of 14 people, I was one of three programmers. Some of my contributions include implementing the enemy combat AI, entity pathfinding using the A* algorithm, metasound callbacks for the adaptive music and general contributions to the combat system and hexagon grid. All of the game's code was written using Unreal Engine's Blueprint scripting language.
This project taught me a lot about working with the Unreal Game Engine and its components. It was the largest project I had been a part of up to that point and it gave me useful experience working with larger code bases, which meant larger and more complicated bugs as well. For the most complicated bugs, I found it really helped to collaborate with other programmers. Toghether we'd usually be able to step through the problem. When one was stuck, the other could ask questions to make sure that all options were exhausted. It really gave me a new perspective on teamwork in programming!
I found the experience of working alongside 13 others on a game project really insightful. For a student project this was quite a large team, and as such, developing good working structures and effective communication were key. This sometimes required uncomfortable confrontations and brutal honesty when parts of the team saw problems with scope, ambiguity in the game's vision etc. I noticed especially how important it is to have a clear game vision with so many people sharing the responsibility of making it into a reality. As a programmer it wasn't enough to work on your own tasks, you also spent time talking to the art team, QA team and audio designer, working together where disciplines overlapped. All in all, it is a rare experience I am grateful to have had as part of my time at University.
Atlantis holds many riches... and dangers.