Alanis and the Great Eastern Wind was developed as a final group project for my studies at the AIE (Academy of Interactive Entertainment).
Alanis follows the story of a young child seeking out the source of a never ending wind. Using her wit and her only possession, an ancient shield, she must overcome the sandstorm and unknown challenges ahead to help her people.
A full version of the game is available here.
This game was developed by a team of 10 second year students of the AIE. The team comprised of 3 programmers, 5 artists and 2 designers. Each team member had a dedicated role and tasks to complete this project.
I look the lead in developing the AI for the main enemy, the Golems. The AI was constructed within the 'blackboard' system within UE4 with additional code modifications done as required. These creatures needed to have 3 distinct variables which the player interacted with in different manners.
- The red Golems, being those that had 'malfunctioned' and would wander until the player got within sight. Upon seeing the player the Golem would follow and attack the player.
- The blue Golems, which would follow a set patrolling path, set by waypoints, no interaction with the player would change this path.
- The green Golems, these Golems would wander in a set area. When the player approaches this Golem it would follow the player. If the Golem saw a interactable object it would go towards that instead. This helped the player complete some of the puzzle aspects of Alanis
I also took on the role of Technical Artist and was in charge of importing all characters, Alanis and the Golems. This involved ensuring the models and animations were setup correctly for UE4 and creating any required blending between animation states. These blend spaces and animation transitions was done with the 'Persona' tool within UE4. This collaboration between the artists and programmers allowed for extra animations and ideas to give Alanis an even richer experience for players.
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