During the Spring 2024 semester, I took CS 415, a Game Development course where I learned to use Unreal Engine and Blueprints. For our final project, I teamed up with other ambitious students to develop a horror game set in the very place we had all taken so many exams—the UIUC Grainger Engineering Library. Our antagonist? None other than Grainger Bob, the iconic statue that sits at the library's entrance.
The game's objective is to locate several note pages scattered between the basement and main floor while evading Bob, conserving flashlight battery, and solving puzzles.
This project required great communication and organization from our team. We divided tasks based on interests and skill sets, utilized GitHub for version control, and supported each other throughout the development process.
I contributed several visual elements to the game. I created the start, death, and win menus, complete with their mechanics. Additionally, I developed the functionality for the player inventory, allowing players to switch, use, and collect items. This included designing the inventory UI and player action prompts, such as "Press H to hide." My favorite contribution was designing a possessed computer enemy that would draw the player in and force them to convert a byte to an integer to avoid losing the game.
Overall, this was an incredibly enjoyable project. The game demo we submitted can be viewed above.