Size Shifter is a First-Person Puzzle Shooter game. Like Chess Boxing, this game involves a combination of Adrenalin-packed action and thoughtful puzzle solving. The player will need to look for hidden passageways and movable objects while balancing the threat levels imposed by adjusting one’s size, such as giant rodents. The prototype, available here, is a single level which takes place in a jail from which the player must escape without being captured by the guard. There are multiple ways to solve this puzzle. Can you find one and escape?

Size Shifter (Originally "Natural Shrinkage") was created as a means to demonstrate the functionality of shrinking a first person character as accurately as possible. The problem was, from a first person perspective, the shrinkage of the player was indistinguishable from crouching, or going prone in that things around the player did not look any larger, in comparison. Size Shifter uses a special algorithm that takes advantage of Unreal Engine's precise camera, LOD, and FOV controls to distort the players vision in a way that simulates the shrinking and growing process.

This prototype highlights my mastery of Unreal Engine 4, Artificial Intelligence, 3D modeling, textures and shading, UI design, and problem solving skills.

Designing this prototype was a fun and engaging process which incorporated many of the skill areas I've developed over the years. There was a good amount of trial and error when dealing with the various POV and camera effects which eventually lead me to utilize a type of "dolly zoom effect", which zooms in the camera while dollying it away, or vice versa, for a very interesting perspective trick (See more on the dolly zoom effect here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5JBlwlnJX0 ). Once I was satisfied with the visual effect of shrinking, I put together a basic story: "The prisoner must escape". From there it was a matter of setting up obstacles, cell bars, a guard, etc. along with prerequisites; you must achieve A before B, and B before C, which served to make the basic story more interesting, and the game more challenging. 

Implementation of Artificial Intelligence was one challenge I had to overcome.  Without giving too much away, initially the "AI" consisted of a guard which would become alert to you if you came too close; however, this was not especially challenging and was later replaced with a more realistic AI: he will investigate loud noises, converse with prisoners, and routinely check the cells. If the guard spots the player, he will chase the player down and attempt a capture. You will need to formulate a distraction if you hope to escape!

As Size Shifter is a puzzle game, I'm reluctant to show any game play footage and spoil the puzzle; however, I have included an early-development tech-demo below, which showcases the camera effects utilized to make the size-shifting more apparent.