Fallen Crown
Gameplay Engineer & Lead Programmer
Unreal Engine 5 · C++ · Blueprints
Team of 5 · 2024
A third-person action-adventure game featuring melee combat, enemy AI, environmental interactions, and narrative-driven exploration.
Game Overview
Fallen Crown is a third-person action-adventure game developed by a five-person team in Unreal Engine 5. The project combines exploration and narrative interactions with player combat, enemy encounters, environmental triggers, and responsive UI.
As general engineer and lead programmer, I focused on the game’s core gameplay architecture, including player controls and combat, enemy AI, interaction systems, UI/HUD, VFX, and audio integration.
My Role and Contributions
Systems Worked On:
Enemy AI · Combat Systems · Player Movement · Damage Systems · Dialogue & Level Events · Interactions · UI/HUD · Audio
- Developed and iterated on enemy AI and combat systems, including custom ranged-enemy behaviors, player movement, damage mechanics, projectiles, and AOE attacks.
- Implemented dialogue and level-event triggers for approximately half of the rooms, collaborating with another engineer on dialogue and interaction systems.
- Programmed interactable objects and integrated them with gameplay and event systems.
- Implemented and polished the player HUD, menus, screens, and UI interactions.
- Designed, edited, and integrated audio for enemy attacks, environments, UI, and dialogue.
Technical Highlights
A. Enemy AI & Combat Systems
Developed and iterated on enemy AI and combat systems in Unreal Engine 5, including custom ranged-enemy behaviors, projectiles, AOE attacks, player movement, and damage mechanics. Integrated these systems to create varied combat encounters and refined enemy behavior through testing and iteration.
B. Dialogue & Level Events
Implemented dialogue events and level triggers for approximately half of the game’s rooms, connecting player progression with dialogue, interactions, and audio. Collaborated with another engineer on dialogue and interaction systems and adapted existing code when needed for gameplay and audio integration.
Challenges and Solutions
A. Creating Varied Enemy Combat Behavior:
Challenge: Ranged enemies needed combat behaviors that went beyond simple attacks while working consistently with the game’s movement and damage systems.
Solution: Implemented custom ranged-enemy behaviors using projectiles and AOE attacks, then iterated on their interactions with player movement and damage systems through gameplay testing.
B. Integrating Dialogue and Level Events:
Challenge: Dialogue and level events needed to trigger correctly across different rooms while coordinating with interactions and audio.
Solution: Implemented dialogue events and level triggers for approximately half of the map’s rooms, collaborated with another engineer on dialogue and interaction systems, and adapted existing code where needed to support gameplay and audio integration.
Development Team
Team Size: 5
University of Utah