December 31, 2009 in category Projects and tags unreal, csgs

By Robert Utter

D.A.V.I.S. is the second total-conversion UDK project I worked on with Chico State Game Studios. This time around, we focused on puzzle mechanics and environmental storytelling.

You wake up in the remnants of an abandoned subterranean complex. Through exploration, several facts will become clear: most of the base was once styled after a generic 1950s suburb, terrible things have happened to whoever lived in this place, and a strange woman named Katherine has brought you here to rekindle a connection from your long-forgotten childhood.

Read more about D.A.V.I.S. on the CSGS website.

My responsibilities included:

• During pre-production, advised design team on technical goals and limitations.
• Designed and implemented several backend systems, including an inventory system, save/load support, custom Kismet nodes for puzzle mechanics.
• Assisted with UI frontend programming, including inventory, story page collection, puzzle clues.
• Trained and oversaw student programmers working in an unfamiliar tech stack, including some students with and without hard computer science backgrounds. Had to find tasks suitable for multiple skill levels.
• Coordinated efforts with other teams, particularly including UI artists, level designers and technical artists.

Technology used during this project included UDK, UnrealScript, Kismet, UnCodeX, Redmine, MediaWiki and Subversion.