Knightmare was the student project I worked on with my team during my freshman year at DigiPen Institute of Technology. We were partially inspired by Dark Souls and Apex Legends to make this game which has a single player campaign where you fight bosses, as well as a pseudo battle royale we call “mosh pit” which features 39 AIs fighting each other and the player in an arena. It is like a 40 person battle royale but, we weren’t allowed to do any networking so it had to be AIs. There is also a 1v1 mode in which you can fight against another human player.
As for my contributions, I was known as the “engine manager”, I knew the engine inside out and I also wrote a lot of the gameplay code. I wrote the AI code as well as the player controller. We only had the single player campaign mode for the majority of the project, until one night, I decided to add a battle royale mode because they were incredibly popular at the time, with every new game having a battle royale mode. I also thought it would be good for increasing teammate morale because the current state of the game was somewhat lackluster. I implemented the majority of the battle royale code overnight and my plan worked, my teammates’ excitement to work on the project was reborn and we were putting in a lot more time into making the game than we were before. Afterwards came the human versus human 1v1 mode.
I was enrolled in Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center (CBTech) in addition to Othello High School during my Junior and Senior years. I joined Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) during my time at CBTech and our chapter is known for performing well at FBLA competitions. FBLA allows students to compete in a variety of events testing knowledge, skill, production quality, and presentation competency. I was my chapter’s club president during this time, (September 2017 – July 2018).
My team consisted of an artist and myself. I was formally known as the team’s producer and programmer, but I also made much of the art because my artist was just learning how to 3D model while I had previous experience. I was passionate about the project and I would finish my homework as fast as I could every day, after school, to work on the project. The project was a video game for FBLA’s ‘Computer Game and Simulation Programming’ competitive event. I would work on the project until 2am every night. I spent many hours researching the engine, debugging my code, and 3D modeling in Blender.
Being the club president however, meant I had even more responsibilities on my plate. I would speak during school assemblies to update the school on our community service project progress. I would also announce events to the school during assemblies and I would go on to represent the chapter during the FBLA competitions.
I turned in our team’s first build of the game for the regional competition. The feedback we received emphasized that the game was enjoyable despite its bugs. My team placed first place at this competition and qualified to compete at the state level.
I knew the next build of the game would be due right after winter break so, I spent every waking hour developing the game even further during this time. If I was not sleeping, I was either programming or 3D modeling. This is the first time I experienced development crunch and I’m glad I voluntarily put myself through it because it meant our next build would be great. I also optimized the game during this time with occlusion culling which quadrupled the frames per second.
A big part of how a project performs at FBLA has to do with how well the developers can present the project. My partner and I spent hours making sure we knew the presentation inside-out and coupled with our great project, we were sure to succeed!
Pictured: Me (on the left) and my partner (on the right) holding our FBLA state competition award plaque for 2nd place.
My team finished in 2nd place, which meant we qualified for the national competition. I was ecstatic; it was my goal to compete at the national level. Our accomplishment was covered by local newspaper ‘Columbia Basin Herald’ and their coverage can be read here.
The FBLA national competition took place in Baltimore, Maryland. I took some time to study the game design document I wrote for the game before coming up with a presentation with my partner. I felt I had to study the game because I worked on other student Unity projects for the three months leading up to FBLA nationals. My teammate and I practiced our presentation throughout the day before we had to present. We would weave it into our normal speech to each other so as to not forget a single detail.
We were nervous. I remember feeling if I were to mess up, it would be over for us. Our presentation went really well despite our concerns. I remember how excited I felt that night while reading that my team made it to the final round of presentations. The next morning, my partner and I utilized a couple hours to study the presentation. We knew this would be our final presentation and we could not help but feel nervous about it. This was reflected in our final presentation because we tripped over a few words. We may not have placed at nationals, but we did become national finalists. This was my first Unity project ever and I’m glad it turned out this way.
