Role
Gameplay Programmer
Year
2020
Category
About This Project
Antidote is an engaging cure-finding experience where players act as scientists experimenting to manufacture a remedy for a challenging pathogen. Gameplay centers on tuning cell stats, observing interactions, and documenting strategies that eliminate the pathogen while minimizing harm to neutral cells.
Project Gallery
Technologies Used
Engineering Challenges
Balancing System Dynamics: Engineering a 'Dosage vs. Toxicity' mechanic where medications provide a cure but cause collateral damage if improperly calibrated. This required creating a mathematical equilibrium between eliminating pathogens and preserving neutral cell populations through specific DNA sequence combinations.
Architecting Cellular Inheritance: Implementing a modular cell system using Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). The core hurdle involved designing a robust base cell class that could be extended into various types with unique stats and behaviors while maintaining a consistent framework for real-time interactions.
Simulating Organic Movement: Integrating a 'Boids' flocking algorithm to achieve realistic, emergent group behaviors for cellular clusters. The challenge was tuning individual steering forces (separation, alignment, and cohesion) to create a lab environment that felt alive and biologically reactive.
Technical Highlights
Cell behavior system: Designed the concept of states for cell behaviors (idle, hungry, reproducing, and dying) each designed to make the best move for the cell at that given moment depending on current status.
First experiences with Unity UI and menu systems and data reporting.
Completed a short demo of the core gameplay loop and mechanics, including a basic cell class with stats and behaviors, a simple pathogen, and a UI for adjusting medication parameters and observing results.