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Category: Portfolio

These are the posts I think showcase my level of competency

ECO Telemetry (final exam)

ECO Telemetry (final exam)

As I have previously mentioned in my posts about AI and data collection/analysis, many of the prototypes showcased on this website were developed for the purpose of being implemented into a complete project. That is what my final exam became. We named it “ECO Telemetry”, which was fancier than “weird animals eating mushrooms and running for their lives simulator.” We built a simulated ecosystem, complete with herbivores, carnivores and plants. The big twist was that the animals are capable of…

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Weight-based randomization

Weight-based randomization

What do games using loot drops and games using AI driven by behavioural parameters such as sleep, hunger and happiness have in common? At first glance, not much. But it is very likely that both of them deploy the same algorithm. Let’s start by example: There’s plenty of games using loot drops today. It’s an easy way to implement a form of replayability in a game, where character progression is tied to the gear they are wearing. By not guaranteeing…

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AI sight and memory – finished!

AI sight and memory – finished!

It took longer than anticipated, but the prototype described in the previous post has been coded and documented! There were a few changes and additions along the way, but that just goes to show how nothing is ever really final, until you sit down and produce it. Most notably was the addition of a new class called TagClass, which is used to verify if an observed object should be memorized, and how the memory should be flagged. Before I outline…

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Cel shading basics

Cel shading basics

In this article I will go through the shader I wrote for our Ecosystem student project, to implement cel shading. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, this rendering method gives a black outline to everything, giving it a cartoony look. Before I go any further, you should be aware that I assume baseline familiarity with technical rendering terms and shader basics. If you want to explore shader programming from the complete basics, I highly recommend giving this course a…

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AI move system

AI move system

As a followup to my post about search path generation, here is the prototype which the path is being fed to. As an added bonus, at the end of this post I will show you how I combined the two prototypes, which illustrates how an animal might randomly explore an obstacled environment. When working with AI agents that can change behaviors at any time, it is important to have a very robust movement system to facilitate these changes. This prototype…

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AI search behavior

AI search behavior

Working on a simulated ecosystem, it was necessary to create a Search Behavior for our animals. They would use this behavior if they ever needed something, but had no memory of seeing it elsewhere (eg. I am hungry but have no memories of seeing food). Executing this behavior generates a spiral pattern out from the animal, starting at a random angle. The points in this pattern are then shuffled randomly, to create a field of points instead of a line….

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Vector-based cloud system

Vector-based cloud system

During my studies, I was tasked with making a cloud spawning system. It had to be easily modifiable (in case the designer wanted to make changes) and work with a vector to describe the direction of the wind, alongside a value to represent the speed of the wind. By creating a prototype for this, it was determined that the easiest way to illustrate where the clouds would appear, was to restrain them to a bounding box. A random coordinate would…

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