Creatures of the Deep
Description
Creatures of the Deep is a horror adventure game developed as part of a university assignment in the autumn of 2024. My team of six created the game in Unity, working within the given theme of Public Domain. To incorporate this theme, we drew inspiration from myths and folklore, integrating various legendary creatures and ancient artefacts into the game's world.
In the game, players take control of an ageing submarine tasked with retrieving sunken artefacts for a mysterious company. As they navigate the eerie depths of ruins resembling a lost civilisation, they must contend with lurking creatures and unexpected submarine malfunctions. To reach their final destination, players must evade monstrous entities, repair their failing vessel, and chart a course toward the last known locations of the artefacts.
While our team worked closely together, each member took on specific responsibilities. My primary contributions included creating the sonar system and the content and controls of the book interface, which provided players with essential information on the creatures they could encounter.
The Sonar
The sonar system was developed using Unity's Shader Graph, marking my first experience working with shaders. By utilising raycasting, the sonar detected obstacles surrounding the submarine and dynamically generated the environment based on the closest hit points. The shader graph then rendered these surroundings, incorporating a rotating scan line for real-time detection and a marker to indicate the location of the next artefact. Since the submarine was constantly in motion, I focused on ensuring that detected objects faded naturally, preventing sudden visual disruptions and maintaining an immersive and smooth sonar effect. Additionally, players could manually adjust the sonar's radius, allowing them to switch between a wide-range scan for broad exploration and a narrower focus for navigating through tight, treacherous underwater passages.
The Book
The in-game book featured detailed descriptions of 15 sea creatures, each drawn from various myths and folklore. Some creatures were introduced through single, in-depth entries, while others had multiple shorter descriptions, offering different interpretations of their legends. Rather than limiting ourselves to a single cultural origin, we incorporated myths from around the world. These included creatures like the Sea Pig and Jörmungandr from Nordic folklore, Beisht Kione Dhoo and Marool from British mythology, and Umibōzu from Japanese legends, among many others. Each entry was carefully adapted from real historical descriptions found in folklore archives and online sources, preserving their mythical essence while integrating them into our game's world.
To create the book, we started with a pre-existing book template and customised its design to match the game's dark, atmospheric style. However, since the submarine had its own unique control system, we needed to adapt the book's interface and animations to seamlessly integrate with the existing mechanics. This ensured that players could interact with the book just as they would with any other onboard system, maintaining consistency and immersion throughout the gameplay experience.
