Project Asylum | Game Project

Project Asylum

An immersive horror experience where the asylum itself becomes your worst enemy.

About

Project Asylum is a first-person psychological horror game where the asylum itself is an active antagonist. Explore the dynamically changing hallways of this abandoned mental institution, uncover secrets with only a UV flashlight, and escape the nightmare alive.

Project Details

Role: Gameplay Programmer (Movement, Sound Implementation, Gameplay Mechanics)
Team Size: 15
Engine: Unreal Engine 5 (Blueprints)
Development Time: 7 weeks

Project Asylum

Introduction

In Project Asylum, you play as an employee sent to verify the demolition of an abandoned mental institution. But things quickly spiral into chaos as the building itself shifts, traps, and terrifies you. Equipped with only a UV flashlight, players must navigate eerie hallways, solve environmental puzzles, and uncover the institution's dark secrets while avoiding unseen dangers lurking in the shadows.

Gameplay and Features

Dynamic Environment: The asylum's layout changes in real-time, disorienting players and enhancing tension.
Immersive Sound Design: Sound cues play a vital role, from footsteps to slamming doors and eerie background noises.
Interactive Mechanics: "Players interact with objects like flashlights, doors, and environmental prompts, utilizing a refined interaction system."
Psychological Horror: The game focuses on atmosphere and psychological tension rather than jump scares.

Development Process, My Contributions & Lessons Learned

As a gameplay programmer for Project Asylum, I was responsible for implementing key systems that enhanced immersion and gameplay. Besides all the smaller ones, here's a breakdown of my biggest contributions:

Movement Mechanics: Developed smooth movement functions, including sprinting, crouching, and backwards movement. Integrated camera effects to heighten immersion during sprinting or crouching.
Sound Implementation: Implemented a comprehensive sound system including footsteps, flashlight sounds, door slams, and environmental cues to increase tension and atmosphere, and many more!
Environmental Horror Triggers & Dynamic Events: These are the blueprint-driven events that dynamically react to the player's presence, reinforcing the atmosphere and unpredictability of the game.
Prompt System Adjustments: Enhanced the interaction system, allowing players to engage with objects like flashlights, doors, and notes, providing dynamic gameplay feedback.
End Game Screen: Created the end-game UI screen using Blueprints to trigger after completing or failing the game.

This project sharpened my skills in Blueprint scripting, event-driven design, and integrating gameplay mechanics with immersive sound design. It also provided valuable experience collaborating with level designers and artists to deliver a cohesive horror experience.

Download the files below to explore my personal contributions during the development of Project Asylum.

Download Personal Contributions

Blueprints & Systems

Explore key Blueprint systems I developed for Project Asylum.

Movement Functionality: Blueprint for all movement mechanics, they include walking, sprinting, crouching, and also adjusted walking speed when walking backwards, smooth transitions and sound effects to enhance stealth gameplay.

NOTE: Due to possible issues in rendering, in case you can not see the lines connecting the nodes, simply try moving the nodes and the lines will appear.

Player Interaction & Equipment System: Blueprint handling player interactions, including detecting objects via sphere trace and executing default interact actions. Also manages flashlight and UV light switching to prevent simultaneous activation, ensuring smooth gameplay flow and immersive feedback.

NOTE: Due to possible issues in rendering, in case you can not see the lines connecting the nodes, simply try moving the nodes and the lines will appear.

Flashlight Component: Dynamic sound design that handles flashlight toggles, and the equip system that handles spawning the flashlight in players hands.

NOTE: Due to possible issues in rendering, in case you can not see the lines connecting the nodes, simply try moving the nodes and the lines will appear.

Flashlight Flickering: A trigger volume that causes the player's flashlight to flicker and emit flickering sounds when entered, enhancing the horror atmosphere. It detects player overlap, starts the flickering effect, and stops it when the player exits.

NOTE: Due to possible issues in rendering, in case you can not see the lines connecting the nodes, simply try moving the nodes and the lines will appear.

Furniture Drag & Sound Effect: Implemented the drag that relocates the furnitures current location to the desired location, and sound effects for moving or interacting with furniture, adding immersion and environmental feedback.

NOTE: Due to possible issues in rendering, in case you can not see the lines connecting the nodes, simply try moving the nodes and the lines will appear.

Door Slam Functionality: Created a trigger-based door slamming mechanic to surprise and unsettle players, paired with sound cues.

NOTE: Due to possible issues in rendering, in case you can not see the lines connecting the nodes, simply try moving the nodes and the lines will appear.

Closing Hallway: Created a trigger-based door slamming mechanic to surprise and unsettle players, paired with sound cues.

NOTE: Due to possible issues in rendering, in case you can not see the lines connecting the nodes, simply try moving the nodes and the lines will appear.

Falling Cabinet: Blueprint responsible for managing a hallway that progressively closes, creating a tense gameplay sequence. The Blueprint includes mechanics for detecting player entry, triggering closing sequences, and handling post-event interactions such as displaying a death screen.

NOTE: Due to possible issues in rendering, in case you can not see the lines connecting the nodes, simply try moving the nodes and the lines will appear.

Prompts System Adjustment: Enhanced interaction prompts for engaging with objects like flashlights, doors, and environmental elements.

NOTE: Due to possible issues in rendering, in case you can not see the lines connecting the nodes, simply try moving the nodes and the lines will appear.

End Game Screen: Developed the system to trigger the End Game Screen when reaching the end of the game.

NOTE: Due to possible issues in rendering, in case you can not see the lines connecting the nodes, simply try moving the nodes and the lines will appear.

Explore More

Check out the game and my contributions!

GitHub Itch.io

LinkedIn Resume