Engine: Unreal 5.7

Platform: Windows

Team Size: 3

Single Player VR

November 2024 – December 2024 | January 2026 – April 2026

Neighborhood Watch places you, the estranged and disgraced journalist, in a position where you’re doing whatever it takes to get your next big piece. As you were job hunting, you came across a newsletter that caught your attention. “Possible extraterrestrials hiding in our city! Attention!” Equipped with nothing but your camera and your wits, you must navigate through the night to capture the residents of your neighborhood. But, be careful, as some of them aren’t what they seem…

Role:

  • Level Design

  • AI Systems

The Evolution

A very basic prototype was created in four weeks. However, the team was not quite satisfied with its end state, so we decided to continue the project. We restarted development from scratch, using the original prototype as a foundation for ideas while rebuilding systems with a much stronger skillset.

  • During the four week prototype, my role on the team was solely working on the AI. For this we wanted a simple AI that completed tasks. This was my first experience with AI programming and thus my first introduction to behavior trees.

    This version of the AI was very choppy between actions and did not have the best planning or infrastructure. Along with this, the AI had trouble switching actions and often got stuck on objects in the level.

  • For the fifteen week prototype, my role on the team expanded to also include level design. At the beginning of this prototype, I began the AI scripting and level design from scratch to better accommodate the needs of the game.

    This prototypes AI is a lot less choppy, includes transition animations, and was designed with the functionality of the level.

    While designing the level, I tried to keep what tasks the AI would be doing in mind to allow for easy implementation.

My Work

Level Design

  • Designed house floor plan

  • Adjusted scale and spacing for VR readability

  • Iteration based on needs

  • FAB asset implementation

AI Functionality

  • Designed basic AI Movement

  • Developed a task schedule

    • Specific tasks are completed at specific times

  • Developed shared tasks between two AI’s

  • Developed individual tasks for separate AI’s

AI Tasks

  • Sitting on Couch

  • Paranoid Look

  • Open Fridge

  • Walking Around