Deep Blue
Genre: First-person Exploration Game
Project Role: Solo Developer
Platform: PC
Engine: Unreal Engine 4.22
What is it?
"Deep Blue" is a first-person exploration game where the player plays as a scuba diver who witnesses a shooting star falling into the ocean.
Your goal as the diver is to follow and locate the shooting star.
If you are interested in playing this game, the installer can be found here.
What did I do for this project?
For this project, I created a guided swarm system which has parameters that can change the shape of the swimming path, the swimming direction, the swimming speed, and the spawning number of the fish. This system allowed me to produce a graceful underwater environment, utilizing models I made myself.
The most prevalent use of this system is the schools of fish. I used my system to let schools of fish swim in various patterns and continued spawning meshes after the previous meshes’ timer ran out.
I used my own experiences of scuba diving to create a realistic diver player controller. Instead of using traditional 3D space control (moving in the direction that the player is looking in), the player must use the mouse buttons to control their buoyancy. When the buoyancy is positive, the player floats toward the surface of the ocean, and vice versa.
What went wrong?
The lighting was too dark in some places, which made some fishes difficult to see. There were not enough effects to give the player sufficient feedback for their actions, in addition, when the player enters the last level, performance noticeably drops.
What went right?
Playtesters reported the player controller felt realistic, and that the creatures and environment were graceful. Players were also extremely satisfied with the resolution and overall experience of the game.