A RAT'S LIFE : THE CAT CONSPIRACY
Play as a rat in this first-person action-adventure. Overcome enemies, puzzles and bosses with your rat skills. Sneak and run away from horrifying cats. Ultimately explore an interconnected world to uncover the cat conspiracy.
MAIN TASK
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Create blocking layout
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Implement Scripted Event
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Create compositions
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Do the set dressing
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Test the game: Collision, readability, bugs, dialogue flow
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Organize playtest sesions and share result
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Organize production schedule and priority to meet deadline
PUSHING THE LIMIT OF THE SCRIPTING EVENT TOOL
NEVER ENOUGH SCRIPTED EVENT
To test the scripting event tools, I created a scene that uses many types of events. To do so, I created a level where the goal is to kill enemies to free Rats that are imprisoned. Those Rats would then help you open a door to reach the end.
This narrative would cover the following types of events : dialogue, sound FX, inventory, cinematic, NAV mesh, story progression, etc.
HOW THE MAGIC HAPPEN
Here's my step-by-step process to create each event. The event system tool provided allowed me to create custom events and link triggers for them. The interface allow me to input different parameters of different type (string, boolean, integer, float, game object).
KILL 2 ENEMIES TO OPEN CAGE AND MAKE THE RAT MOVE OUTSIDE THAT CAGE
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Add ''on destroy'' trigger event on each enemy and reference them to a counter
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When the enemy count reach 0, trigger an event that opens the door.
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This event instance include these events :
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A CutScene to focus on the door while opening (reward)
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A SoundFX when the door open and when the Rat go out
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When the door is open, the Rat goes out
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Activate Rat1 dialogue trigger Box
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Talking to Rat1 will make him move to handle and open first door
START DIALOGUE AND RECEIVE CLIMBING GLOVE
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While getting out of the cage, this event activates a trigger collision box that will be use later on to make Rat2 go to its next position in the story
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Write dialogue doc and create dialogue object
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Link the dialogue object to Rat2
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This dialogue includes :
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An event that give the Gloves to the player
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A rewarding SoundFX
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The end of this dialogue triggers the next one
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This next dialogue includes :
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A shot that focus on the climbable wall
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The end of this dialogue sets the dialogue state to the next line of text
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MAKE BOTH RAT GO TO THE HANDLER TO OPEN THE FINAL DOOR
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When entering collision trigger box
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Deactivated Rat2, so there is only one instance of this character
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Activate Rat2.1 and make it run to the handle and open the second door
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A cinematic shot that focus on Rat2.1 arrival
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A cinematic shot that focus on Rats.1 while going to the handle
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A cinematic shot focus on the last open door
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A rewarding SoundFX
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A new dialogue state for Rat1 and Rat2.1
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MAKING THE CAT CHASE STRESSFULL
HOW I PLAY WITH THE PLAYER EMOTIONAL STATE
To familiarize the players with the environment, I arranged the layout to make them go through it to reach the objective: a Rat who needs help. While making their way to the Rat, the players are usually nervous, because they notice the setup of the environment and understand that something is going to happen here.
When they reach the Rat, he asks them to push 4 cans. The player knows at this point that making sound can attract cats, but the game forces them to do it. I chose to put 4 cans because players get tired of repeating the same task and their mental state move into autopilot. So, when the cinematic with the bloodstain and the cat appear, the player is completely taken by surprise, and it creates a great moment of intensity.
CREATING TENSION WITH THE LAYOUT
Since the game is in first person, it was important to create a layout that give the opportunity to see the cat while running from it. To create this, I made an alternate path to the cat that is much faster than the player's path. That create a small moment where the cat is in front of the player. A little further, the path requires the player to go the wrong way, and that create a brief moment where he finds himself face to face with the cat.
In order to replace the player in front of the cat, I create multiple shortcut for the player to move forward faster.
I placed cans to add an audible cue to the player, so they can roughly determine the distance between themselves and the cat.
For the end, I placed lights in an angle so that the shadow of the cat is always visible, no matter how far away it is from the player.
HOW I INTRODUCE CORE MECHANICS
DESIGNING THE TUTORIAL AREA
The home section restricted the character movement, so he could concentrate on how to interact with the environment and understand the narrative.
Once out of their home, the player can now run with shift. That area was created big enough for the player to get used to run, but also that he could push physic base garbage and enter pipes. There are also two interactive spots, so the player won't forget that mechanic.
The narrative part of hometown was important because it really set the political tone of the game. I created hometown on two level : your house and the rest of the village to better control the narrative but also give the impression it's bigger than it actually is.
While playtesting, I underestimated the affordance of the pipe. I didn't though the player would get drawn to it that much that they would skip Paul, a character near your home. Since the narrative was essential, I decided to hide the pipe from the player view when he got out of the house and did the set dressing to attract players to Paul first.
