Stealth Game – Midterm Devlog

Introduction

This devlog marks the halfway point on this project! This is my first project where I am actually building and implementing pieces together to create a real playable game. While it has been overwhelming at some points trying to figure out Blueprint coding as well as how to run Unreal Engine, I am very proud of the improvement I have made from when I first began this project. In this update, I will cover all of the work that has been done to the project up to this point. I will focus on the block out stage and the game mechanics as this is what is currently completed.

Game Design Document

For this project, we were given a Game Design Document to follow along with while developing the game. This significantly helped me while making decisions on how to build my character, enemies, and levels. Below are specific elements that I incorporated into my project. 

Core Gameplay Loops

The core gameplay loops for stealth games is sneaking, getting detected, fleeing, and then finally losing or defeating the enemies. This is heavily incorporated all throughout my project. Players have to sneak from cover to cover to avoid being detected by enemies. If players get caught, they have to quickly flee to avoid being killed by enemies. After losing the patrols, players restart the gameplay loop by sneaking once again.

Player Mechanics

Players have the ability to pick up items, use or throw items, crouch, and dash. All of these mechanics add to the game by allowing players to sneak through the level, distract enemies, as well as quickly dash away or to the next hiding place. I will go into further detail on each mechanic below.

Level Design Principles

I carefully crafted the level to allow players to feel fully immersed in the stealth gameplay. To do this, I created long pathways, corners and barriers to hide behind, as well as low and high paths. There are intentional moments of relief built into the level that allows players to catch their breath and plan their next move. There are also multiple different paths for players to take. While designing all of this, I also carefully thought out the enemies' sight lines and where players could hide or dash to the next cover to avoid detection. 

Player Emotion and Engagement

My main goal with this project is to create an engaging gameplay experience that players will enjoy. The overall emotion I wanted players to feel was a sense of anxiety about being detected and potentially being killed. To do this, I scattered enemies throughout the whole level so that the possibility of getting caught is higher. I also provided just enough covers to sneak past, but not enough to easily move through the level. I also wanted players to feel curious about the level which would encourage them to explore the environment. I did this by creating multiple different paths for players to take. Each enemy has their own patrol pattern, which encourages players to take their time to memorize them in order to find the right timings to sneak past.

Level Design

In the video above you can see images from the blockout of my project. The blockout was created to design the spatial layout, sight lines, and gameplay pacing prior to adding finalized assets for the finished game.

The design choices for this level were made to create a sense of anxiety for players. With so many enemies, players are forced to use coverage to stealth through the level. I also created many different paths players can take to evoke curiosity in players and encourage them to explore. Players can choose to stealth through the middle section of the map, using covers to sneak past guards. They can also choose to to take the higher path on the right which will lead them to the small treasure area. It is also easier to avoid detection as there are less guards to sneak past. If players take the lower path on the right, it is also easier for them to avoid being spotted for the same reasons. However, both the higher and lower path will lead back to the center area, so either way players will have to prioritize stealth and memorizing the enemies' patrol patterns in order to safely escape. Overall, I chose to go for a more open environment so that players had more space and did not feel like they were stuck on a linear path. 

There are also intentional moments of relief where players can rest and decide on their next move without having to worry about enemies chasing them. It is important to include these areas because it gives players a break from the high anxiety of being chased by patrols. The beginning area as well as the small treasure area are safe spaces because enemies cannot enter them. Some covers outside of the safe spaces also provide moments of relief because enemies will not patrol around some of the corners. This allows players to hide behind them to avoid detection. 

While this is only the blockout, my goal is to create an outdoors environment that takes place in the ruins of an ancient civilization. For this reason, there is only a roof in a few areas while most of it remains uncovered.

Below is the original map I designed and based my block out on.

Characters and Enemies

Main Character – Viewport 

For the main character, I used this character from Arberry. 

Main Character Event Graph

There are a lot of blueprints for the main character, so I will break down the implementations below.

• Crouch: Players have the ability to crouch as a means of sneaking past patrols. While crouching is very useful for stealth, it does drastically slow down the player's movement speed.
• Dash: Players have the ability to dash as a means of traveling more ground quickly. However, if players use dash twice, it has to cool down before they can perform this action again. A drawback to this mechanic is that it is not very stealthy, and enemies can spot you more easily.
• Save/Loading: Players have the ability to access checkpoints which allows them to save their current progress. If players are killed, they will respawn at the last checkpoint.

Enemy Viewport 

For the enemy, I used this character by Bugrimov Maksim.

Enemy Event Graph

Below is the breakdown of the implementations for the enemy AI's blueprint.

• Patrol: Each enemies patrols to a specific target point while player is not visible.
• Chase Players: When the player becomes visible, enemies will chase after them.
• Punch: If an enemy gets close enough to the player, they will punch them. If the punch lands, players die and receive a "Game Over" screen.
• Increase Suspicion (held for testing): Enemies have a suspicion meter that increases as they slowly spot players. This mechanic is still a work in progress and has not been fully implemented yet. 

Animations

The video above showcases what the animations look like for crouch idle, crouched walking, punch, and the blend space for walk to run.

Blueprints

Below are the rest of the blueprints (as well as the viewport visuals) used in this project as well as their descriptions.

Rock (Distraction Pawn)

The rock (or distraction pawn) can be picked up and thrown by players. When thrown, nearby enemies will walk towards the noise, allowing players to divert attention away from themselves.

Checkpoint 

When players activate a checkpoint by stepping on it, their current game progress is saved. If players are killed, they will respawn at the last checkpoint they activated.

Special Item

Currently there is a hidden can of beans on the level that players can find, pick up, and use for health. However, I plan on changing this in the future to better suit the visual and mechanical needs of my game.

Finish Line (Win Condition)

When players step on the finish line, the "You Win" screen appears, letting them know that they successfully completed the game!

Playtesting

Having people playtest the game was very insightful because I was able to see the game through a fresh set of eyes. It gave me a chance to catch flaws and fill in places that felt lacking to players. Below, I will go over the specific changes that were made after having players test my game.

Not Enough Enemies

Players quickly realized that the amount of enemies was too few and scattered apart. This allowed players to be able to just make a straight shot to the finish line without having to dodge enemies. To fix this problem, I added a couple more enemies to fill out the empty spots. This forced players to crouch and hide behind barriers as well as make dashes to bypass patrolling enemies.

Enemies' Vision

Over the course of the first half of the project I have had to adjust the enemies vision many times. Initially, their sight was far too... well... far. After decreasing their vision too much, it allowed for players to basically walk right past enemies and go undetected. This made the project feel too unrealistic and incredibly easy to complete. Eventually, I was able to fine tune it to where it is now, giving players not too hard of a time, but still challenging them just enough. Then a new problem occurred; enemies could see players hiding behind barriers. This problem was quickly solved by adjusting the players collision view box and making it smaller so that enemies could not see them.

Unclear Finish Line

I had some players struggle to figure out where they were supposed to go to complete the game. They would get turned around while in the level and confuse the ending area for the beginning. To fix this, I made the finish line glow a soft yellow to help signal to players that they should head there. I also created more variation throughout the map to help players get a better sense of direction. 

Barriers

I had a few players jump on top of the barriers meant for hiding. Because they were on top of them, the enemies were unable to reach and attack players. After discovering this, I made the barriers thinner, that way players could still jump over them, but could not stand on top of them to avoid being attacked. I also received feedback that players wanted taller hiding spots so that they could stand behind them and not just crouch. I also added more L shaped barriers that way players could hide in corners to better avoid enemy detection. 

Checkpoints

One of players discovered that if they used one of the checkpoints and died, it would respawn them right next to an enemy who would immediately kill them again. Oops... This was very easily resolved by simply moving the checkpoint away from the enemy target point.

Conclusion

While this project is only at the halfway point, I am still very proud of the progress I have made on it and my knowledge of Unreal Engine. Next up is visuals, so stay tuned for that!