MAU (In-Progress)

'Mau' is a single-player, first-person, boomer shooter style video game that was created by a group of roughly 40 students, including myself, that were studying either Computer Games Programming (CGP) or Computer Games Modelling and Animation (CGMA). The project was developed for an end-of-course assignment in my final year of University. The CGMA students split themselves into multiple groups related to various aspects of the game's visuals and audio, while the CGP students were split into two groups related to the player mechanics and the enemy AI implementation.

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I worked in the enemy AI team, which consisted of five people. I worked under a lead in the group, working on tasks and feedback given to me. I also worked closely with one of the project leads who had full creative control over the enemies and what they should do, as well as the character design and animation team leads who worked on the models and animations for the enemies. There was also a couple weeks in the middle of development where I stepped up to project lead for the AI team, as the actual leader was not available for that time.

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During this stint as project lead, I ensured everyone in the AI team were working on their tasks and getting them complete for their deadline. I also attended the project leads meeting to discuss next plans and current progress. The entire project was conducted in a simulated working environment to give real-life experience to all involved. SCRUM meetings were taken every week, as were live showcases of the work students had done for that week. Deadlines for an alpha, beta, and gold release were set, and so far the alpha has been met.  The lecturers, some guest students, and the entire Mau team played this version of the game, offering feedback from their experience for improvements for the beta. The beta is due shortly, with the gold due at the end of the University final semester for 2023/2024 in June.

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I had a really fun and challenging time with this project. It was by far the most engaging and interesting module I had taken in my University years, offering valuable real-life experiences working in a game development team. I had to ensure I was creating my best work which matched the wants of the project leads in-line with the set deadlines. It was a tough experience, but it certainly helped me gain incredibly useful skills in developing my game programming, working in a team with other programmers and various art departments, and working with a work-sharing platform in GitHub - this was used for everyone to work on the project in their own branch, committing and pushing their work to the main branch for the merging of each build of the game.

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I increased my knowledge of C++ Blueprints massively with this project, as I delved into multiple new topics that built on what I had learned from all of my previous work with projects that used C++ Blueprints. I also slightly worked on pure C++ code, which helped me develop my skills with the programming language. I still have much to work on with my C++ programming, but I am constantly trying to use it where applicable to learn more of it. Below is a list of everything I worked on, along with the extent of the work.,

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Here's my full list of what I worked on in Mau:

- Tank Grenadier Enemy AI: I am behind the creation of the Tank Grenadiers within the game. They patrol random or assigned routes when unalerted of the player's presence. When alerted, they take smart positioning away from the player before shooting a single grenade from their grenade launcher. They will then take up a new position before shooting again to make themselves a mobile target. If the Tank Grenadier loses sight of the player, they will search their last known location. The Tank Grenadier utilizes an advanced armour system consisting of a head-piece, chest-piece, two arm-pieces, and two leg-pieces. The player can shoot off these armour pieces to then target pure health damage. If the armour value is depleted, any remaining armour pieces attached to the Tank Grenadier drop off.

 

- Tank Melee Enemy AI: I am also behind the creation of the Tank Melees within the game. These utilize the exact same patrol, search, and armour systems as the Tank Grenadier, but of course are different in their attack method. When alerted, the Tank Melee will close its distance to the player by charging them, dealing damage and knockback on contact. It will then perform one of three attacks if in suitable range, which also deals damage and knockback. The three attacks for the Tank Melee are: right-hand punch, left-hand punch, and slam. The slam deals the most damage and knockback of the three, but is also the least likely attack to be performed.

 

- Global Shared Enemy Tasks: I played a big role in ensuring all necessary enemies shared certain global tasks. After discovering many of the enemies need the same requirements (patrolling, searching, setting and resetting focus, changing movement speed, and more), me and another two members of the AI team worked together to create one of each of the shared tasks for global use across all necessary enemies. This included re-organizing and remastering existing code, creating core C++ base enemy implementations, and playtesting to ensure the code worked as intended for all enemies using it.

This description will be finished upon project completion.

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