Technical Designer
About Spirits’ Creek
During the four weeks of pre-production on Spirits’ Creek, I was part of the Game Design team. We got to apply the method of Rational Game Design, which was challenging and fun.
When production started, I got the wonderful opportunity to become Lead Programmer. Thereby, in addition to participating to the coding of every feature and functionality in the game; I needed to make sure to communicate efficiently with other departments about my team’s needs and roadblocks.
By clicking the buttons below, you will find some examples of my contributions in Game Design and Programming for this project.
Genre
Survival/Horror
Engine
Unity
Prod. Schedule
April-July 2022
Release date
January 13, 2023
my role
Lead Programmer
Platform
PC – Steam
Game Design
Rational Game Design documentation
You can access all the design documents I contributed to by clicking the button below – including but not limited to enemy design, a feature list, mechanical maps and flow strategies (all written in French).
The Beast
The Beast is the main enemy the player has to face in Spirits’ Creek. I was in charge of its design and programming.
Intent
Inspired by Resident Evil 2‘s Mr. X and Alien Isolation‘s Xenomorph, the Beast is an invincible enemy that can patrol and navigate around levels, investigate loud noises and chase the player.
The idea of its presence is meant to be a near-constant source of stress for the player.
Director
The Director is the Beast’s driving force. It’s a companion system designed to accomplish several tasks, such as :
- Spawn or despawn the Beast depending on the level of pressure felt by the player in a certain time frame
- Calculated using different factors, including the Beast’s time on screen and its distance from the player
- Adjust the Beast’s aggressiveness based on player actions
- Guide the Beast to loud noise sources and/or the zone the player is currently in
- The player’s exact location is never given to the enemy – it instead has to rely on its sensors to find and chase its prey.
First iteration – February 2022
A short demo of the Beast’s very first form. Crafted a month before the game’s pre-production started.
Below is this prototype’s design document (written in French).
Beta version – July 2022
The Beast’s design and programming has gone through many iterations between February and July 2022. Below are demos of her chase and patrol states in their Beta version.
Patrol demo
The Beast is capable of roaming through patrol zones placed by Level Designers.
Chase demo
The Beast immediately starts chasing the player upon detection.
Final version – December 2022
Numerous bug fixes and improvements were added to the Beast between her Beta and final versions. The button below will lead you to the latest iteration on its design documents (written in French).
The enemy’s final version can be seen in the game, now available on Steam. Enjoy!
Sacha Benamou | Portfolio 