TheCleansing

The Game

The game is an ability-based shooter with a grapple hook for added mobility. You play as a "reaper" tasked with defeating a demonic incursion. The goal of the game is to clear all the enemies in the levels and defeat the boss.

The game can be found on Itch.io through this link.

• Prototype height navigation
• Height map
• Generated grid
• Line traced height

Summary:
I made this prototype to investigate one of the pathfinding options for flying AI that we wanted to look into. While someone else checked out a 3D grid tool they found, I investigated and prototyped a height map solution. This was based on a presentation we found regarding pathfinding in the game: Horizon Zero Dawn. While for Horizon a heightmap was generated using the Z buffer, We didn't have much time left and need relatively simple behaviour, so we decided that I would prototype a simplified version using a predefined grid and line traces to measure the height of each grid tile. the version I made, while not great for larger scale worlds, would have been fine for what we needed. We however didn't have the time to implement flying AI in the final product so it stayed a prototype.

Visualization of the grid and height map. The printed numbers are the height values at the tile the player is walking on.

The AI uses the grid values by checking the array three times: once for the target's height, once for the terrain height directly in front of itself, and once for the height of the terrain a bit further ahead of itself. If the target height is higher than the other checks, it will be used to set the AI's flying height. The other two checks combined ensure that the AI flies over obstacles and doesn't run into walls when the player isn't the highest point. By projecting the world location to the grid it can get the correct tile in the heightmaps array.

The prototype AI in action within an early mockup level that includes allot of height difference and archways to test the AI on