It's been an exciting journey since we first introduced The Haunting Saw, our horror game that listens to your fear. As we continue to develop this terrifying experience, we’ve made some significant progress that brings us closer to creating the ultimate test of courage. Here’s a peek at what we’ve been working on! This blog highlights our progress so far, as The Haunting Saw is still in the development phase. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our first blog before this one .
Enemy Development
Creating a terrifying and intelligent enemy is a key component of any horror game, and for The Haunting Saw, we wanted to craft an antagonist that would keep players on edge throughout their journey. The enemy is not just an AI that chases the player, but a vengeful spirit with unique behavior that evolves based on the player's actions, creating a constantly shifting and suspenseful experience.
Enemy Concept:
The antagonist of The Haunting Saw is a spirit, deeply tied to the haunted house. The spirit’s primary goal is to torment the player, but it can also be a significant part of the game's puzzle mechanics. The player must confront and defeat the spirit to escape the house. Key features of the spirit:
Intelligent AI: It adapts to the player's actions, becoming more aggressive if the player tries to escape.
Fear-based Interaction: The spirit can sense the player's fear, becoming stronger and more aggressive if the player shows signs of panic (e.g., heavy breathing, rapid movement).
Environmental Influence: The spirit can interact with the environment, causing objects to move, lights to flicker, and doors to slam shut.
**Using Unity for Enemy Design:**In Unity, we developed the spirit’s behavior using the NavMesh system for navigation and Animator Controller for its animations. Here’s a breakdown of the development, including the Enemy Health system:**1. Enemy Health System:**The enemy’s health is managed using a simple health system where the spirit takes damage and dies when its health reaches zero. We also added an invincibility period to prevent it from taking damage repeatedly too quickly.
**2. AI Movement (NavMesh Agent):**The spirit moves through the house using the NavMesh Agent component, ensuring it can navigate smoothly and chase the player. Here's how we handle the basic movement toward the player:
**3. Fear Detection System:**The spirit’s behavior changes based on the player’s fear level, which is influenced by the player’s actions (e.g., running, hiding, or encountering supernatural events).
**4. Ghostly Abilities:**The spirit can trigger supernatural effects like flickering lights and moving objects, which create an unpredictable environment for the player. These abilities are tied to specific areas of the house.
AWS Integration for Enemy Behavior:
To add depth to the enemy’s behavior and make it more reactive, we integrated several AWS services:
Amazon GameLift: To handle multiplayer interactions (if applicable) and ensure smooth online experiences, we use Amazon GameLift to host dedicated servers, ensuring that the AI behavior remains consistent even in multiplayer modes.
Amazon DynamoDB: For tracking the state of the enemy, such as how much damage it has taken or how close it is to the player, we store this data in DynamoDB. This helps sync the enemy’s behavior across sessions and platforms.
AWS Lambda: We use Lambda functions to trigger certain in-game events related to the spirit. For example, entering a specific room might trigger Lambda to dim the lights or activate a supernatural event that makes the spirit more aggressive.
Amazon CloudWatch: To monitor the spirit's performance and AI behavior, CloudWatch helps us track any issues in real-time and optimize the spirit's actions to ensure a smooth experience.
Conclusion:
Developing The Haunting Saw has been an exhilarating journey so far. From crafting immersive player mechanics to designing a haunting map and developing a truly terrifying enemy, every step has brought us closer to creating a unique horror experience. By leveraging cutting-edge tools like Unity and AWS services, we're not just building a game—we're creating an interactive psychological challenge that redefines fear. This is only the beginning. Stay tuned as we continue to share our progress, tackle new challenges, and bring our vision to life. Your feedback and support mean everything to us, and we can’t wait to hear your thoughts once you step into the haunting world we’ve created.
