Avoidance

First Year Group Project

Avoidance is the first multidisciplinary group project that worked on during my second term of university in year one. Our goal as a team was to produce a functional vertical slice of a game; and the project was an introduction to working in a team dynamic alongside other university discplines.

[ Brief: To deliver a proof-of-concept for a digital product or service through transdisciplinary collaboration in a context which mirrors industry. ]

Game Engine:

Unity 2022.3.2f1

Role Played in Team:

Sole Programmer/Designer

Time Taken to Complete:

December 2023 - May 2024

Overview:

Avoidance is a third-person, top-down horror game in which the player must navigate each room, avoiding enemies as they go.


The backstory within the game involves archeologists who discovered an ancient Egyptian relic that contained a mysterious power. The relic was studied due to its profound effects on humans that were exposed to its energy, who claimed to hear the voices of Egyptian gods and were driven to insanity as a result.


The player character is a human experiment who is attempting to escape the laboratory, but they must navigate past other experiments who are too far gone. The final room is a boss fight in which the player must avoid an enemy that fires projectiles, and attempt to direct these projectiles into four cells, which shuts down the reactor and allows the player to exit.

Contributions:

  • Player movement

  • Enemy types and abilities

  • UI design

  • Reactor level functionality

  • Reactor level art

  • Particle effects

  • Version control management

  • Keycard function



Reflection

Avoidance was a challenging game to create, mostly due to the team consisting of only five members. This meant that managing both time and workload were especially important. The project helped me to develop my skills in Unity, as well as get a hands-on understanding of working within a team dynamic for the first time. While the game itself did not meet all of its initial goals, I was able to achieve all of the gameplay mechanics I wished to implement, as well as some stretch goals such as assisting in the level design and creating a win state for the game.


Final Grade:

[ Overall: 2:1 ] [ Personal: 1st ]


Watch the gameplay trailer here:

Access the itch.io page here