Running The Mine 2

This game was an experiment to test out the unity AI navigation system. The game has 3 AI agents, a helper, a normal enemy and a boss. This game was a shared assignment between my introduction to artificial intelligence and psychology of play assignments, therefore there is a mix of both technical and psychology related documentation

Prototype Documentation:

Aim of the game:

The aim of the game is to make a game which must have at least 3 AI agents(1 self playing intelligent agent that follows assist the main character, multiple enemies and a boss). I aim to make the game as claustrophobic and infuriating as possible to have a similar affect to getting over it in that you get so angry that you either want to quit the game or can’t stop playing it.

Inspirations of the game:

The main inspirations of the game are the backrooms, getting over it, spook’s jumps care mansion and Pac Man

aims for psychology of play: A challenging and claustrophobic game environment aims to trigger emotional responses in the player, mainly frustration and anger and also has influence through operant conditioning by things like getting more points being positive reinforcement. Another thing is classical conditioning, with the more the player plays the game the more enemy movement patterns and maze chunks are found and therefore with that conditioning and new learned special awareness skills(which is made harder to learn by the fog) would make the game more fair, although still challenging.

One thing I might add is the helper giving the player feedback when an enemy is killed using things like glowing, but that is a very low priority function in the grand scheme of the game. I might also add a way to warn the player when an enemy is near if I find that it doesn’t make the game too easy as it would also bode well with classical conditioning.

Enemy AI logic:

- fixed spawn points

- fixed patrol movement

- starts following if player is in sight

- can pass through walls if locked on to the player

- starts damaging player until helper kills enemy or player dies

Helper AI logic:

- follows player

- in the story translates the power ball pickups into usable power and inflicts damage to enemies

Boss AI:

- spawns in fixed direction

- can pass through walls

- follows the player

- player ends if player collects enough points before dying

Main gameplay loop:

- navigate map maze

- collect points

- sound plays when close to enemy

- kill all enemies and survive boss by picking up energy/points for helper.

Point system:

- the more the points, the more damage the player can give

- points spawn after a set time interval

- some areas have more points than others

Rules might be subject to change depending on development

Post Prototype Documentation:

Map:

The old map was supposed to be procedurally generated, but due to the procedural generation giving performance issues I found that it would be the best idea if I put everything in a single map. Before the idea of having a single map I also had the idea off the maps constantly changing but after a while I realized I would not have time to implement that mechanic so I just stuck with one map. It also helps with making the game more fair since I made the game harder with other mechanics and I want it to be at least beatable.

Old map:

Each different coloured box was supposed to represent a different maze wall orientation

New map:

Enemy:

Before I knew about the brief for the AI subject, the enemy was meant to be just one enemy that patrols around the map looking for the player, chasing the player, and killing the player. After I received the brief for the AI subject I had to change the enemy behaviour to having another enemy that inflicts damage on the player but the core functionality relatively remained the same apart from the patrolling. The main reason I didn’t keep the patrolling was performance and making the game slightly easier for people to play despite having implemented it before and the goal being that the game has to be relatively hard The main reason the enemy is invisible is to give more mystery and make the player rely on the helper’s coloured smoke more.

Helper:

The helper was not implemented before the AI brief, the main function of the helper is to follow the player, shine light on the map and show the player when an enemy is near. In the past I wanted the player to shoot the enemy but then I realized that it would not fit well with the game’s theme and instead I just made it invisibly damage the enemy. Traditionally helper characters are usually beside or behind the player but due to me wanting to keep the game first person to aid in immersion I decided to make the helper stay in front of the player

Boss:

Originally the player was supposed to ill the boss by collecting enough points, similar to the enemy, but instead I made it so that the boss chases after the player and the player must stay away from the boss until the remainder of the time passes. When the boss is chasing the player, the screen turns red and the player’s visibility is reduced to give the player a larger degree of panic

Gameplay:

The time mechanic in the game is both an an obstacle and an asset
If the normal enemies are still alive, the time running out means the player lost the game
If the normal enemies are dead and the boss starts following the player, the time running out means that the player wins
I decided to make the music intensify when an enemy locks on to the player with the aim of trying to manipulate the player’s mood. The music is essentially a modification of a metronome in the rain which I got from a youtube video
The partial blocking of the screen by the helper normally and the overlay when the boss is chasing the player aims to further increase the sense of panic and claustrophobia in the game
In order to make the game feel even more cramped I decided to make the roof of the game lower and reduce the visibility with fog
The main strategy my playtesters mentioned was intentionally waiting and then killing the enemies fast enough so you don’t have to run away from the boss for such a long time

Immersion:

Environment:
Eerie and fast paced music
Dark graphics
Heightened sense of pressure:
Timer
Boss starts following player right after enemies die with no break for the player
Player types:
Game is mainly geared towards achiever and killer player types, which is why the main aim of my game was to make a game which depending on the type of player makes the player either quit or not stop playing in hopes to beat the game

Colour theory:

In colour theory, the colour purple is sometimes considered to be one of the colours of mystery and evil
The colour red is most commonly used to refer to danger which is why I made it so that when the enemy is close(Evil is near) the helper glow turns purple and if the enemy is chasing the player(Enemy is inflicting damage) the helper glow turns red

Flow:

Keeping the game challenging
To win the player must keep focus at all times
Main motivation:
The satisfaction of beating the challenge
Point system
I wanted to implement a stored point system to have a personal best but I did not have time to implement it