BIRDS AREN'T REAL
2022 - 2023 | Engineer | Unity 3D, Unity Behavior Designer
Based on the real-life satirical conspiracy theory, play as a government surveillance pigeon drone on a mission. Use sneaky maneuvers and creative thinking to manipulate the public and dispel their suspicions about the government's avian task force.
PROJECT DETAILS
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Birds Aren't Real is a 3D sandbox action-stealth game in which the player flies, interacts with objects, and poops on NPCs to complete missions. While sabotaging the city and dropping objects on people's heads, the player must also avoid arousing the suspicion of the townsfolk, lest they get knocked out of the sky by rocks.
In a time of misinformation and distrust, Birds Aren't Real aims to find humor and serve as an escape from the overwhelming pessimism of the world.
EXPERIENCE GOALS
The player is amused by the cartoonish world and the antics of the robo-bird protagonist. The player also feels sneaky and crafty as they creatively solve puzzles and finish tasks. In doing so, the player feels driven to complete the objectives.
DESIGN GOALS
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Puzzle-solving is achieved through creativity, and there are multiple ways to complete each puzzle/task.
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Both aggressive and stealth-based approaches are always viable.
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Progress is driven by experimentation, and the environment and tasks encourage the player to mess around with the world.
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The game is humorous and doesn't take itself too seriously.
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The game is diegetic, and the mechanics and UI help the player feel like a part of the world, not separate from it.
CORE MECHANICS
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WALK slowly to move around without arousing suspicion or losing energy
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FLY to move around quickly and surveil more effectively, with the risk of arousing suspicion and losing energy
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Depending on the situation, INTERACT to pick-up, drop, and use items, as well as peck the ground to fool suspicious NPCs
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POOP while flying to attack and distract NPCs
CONTRIBUTIONS
I contributed as an Engineer
MY CONTRIBUTIONS
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Helped design and code three prototypes to test and iterate upon movement, stealth, and interaction mechanics
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Used Unity Behavior Designer AI trees to implement NPC behavior
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InteractorIsHolding node: conditional node checking whether the player bird or another actor is holding something with the specified properties
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CanSeeProtectedObjOutofPlace node: conditional node checking if an object in the actor's vision cone is out of place and included in the actor's "protected object" list
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Helped implement dialogue functionality with Yarn Spinner
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Helped implement UI popups for quests/tasks
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Adjusted collision detection so that NPCs are only hit by objects dropped on their heads
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Implemented several animations for 3D actors
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Implemented code to maintain the state of objects when loading between scenes
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Helped implement inspectable tablet objects for Browsing History quest
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Fixed bugs and added polish
TOOLS
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Unity 2D (C#)
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Unity Behavior Designer (AI behavior trees)
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Yarn Spinner
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Perforce
TEAM MEMBERS
Coco Zhang, Eli Tills, In Young Hwang, Alicia John, Sarah Yuen, Bianca Diaz, Jasmine Liao, Birdie Barr, Natalia Godoy, Cami Gomez, Avi Jacobs, James Lee, Caroline Zhou, Yiyang Li, Jay Lin, Yi Chen, Xiaoli Tang, Clement Chan, Elaine Toh, Alvin Wu, Matthew Leung, Carlos Vazquez, Sheily Aguilar Vasquez, Ziare Rene, Max Goeltner, Haley Adams, Sol Lagos, Megan Mo, Bobby Raps, Justin Shin, Jeremy Earnest, Lauren Kott, Angela Zhu, Megan Phi, Anna Sun
GAMEPLAY DEMO and TRAILER
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
PRE-PRODUCTION and PROTOTYPING
During pre-production, the team split up into three groups of four to prototype potential game mechanics. I helped design and code the following three prototypes:
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For the first prototype, we tested out the ability to recharge the bird's energy on power lines and at outlets. This feature would end up getting cut, but the idea was that the bird would need energy in order to fly, but getting spotted while recharging would increase the townsfolks' suspicion, introducing the need for risk-reward balance. Then, with enough energy, the bird would be able to carry objects (like a cow) to attack NPCs with.
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For the second prototype, we wanted to experiment with different ways of sabotaging the town and causing chaos. We included features such as setting off sprinklers and short-circuiting electrical systems. In particular, I worked on implementing the ability to hide and destroy anti-bird propaganda posters.
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For the third prototype, we aimed to demonstrate how a single puzzle (entering the building) could be completed in multiple different ways. The two ways of getting the door open were to 1) scare away the little girl and drop her backpack on the car to set off the alarm and 2) drink the chocolate milk, get diarrhea, and poop on the window. In both cases, the store owner would come out to investigate, at which point the bird could either fly through the doorway or hide in the box and get brought inside.
GALLERY
