Cerebral Corrupt
Cerebral Corrupt is a Half Life 2 total conversion (of which we produced one level), set during a civil war in a dreary, dystopian future. The story follows two state military soldiers, one of whom has defected to the rebel forces, as they chase one another across the country. The demonstration level which we produced begins with the player playing as Ethan Rayne, as he assaults a rebel-occupied library where he believes Lucas Kurtz is being held captive, not yet knowing that he is masterminding the rebel forces. The player ends the level as Lucas Kurtz, fighting his way out through Rayne's allies to escape.
The game features a number of new gameplay features. Most noticeable is the panic/aggression system which alters the player's speed and weapon accuracy based on factors such as character injury and the brutality of attacks that they are delivering, as well as producing visual distortions that force the player to take cover and recuperate when injured. There is also a weapon which modifies its target's AI behaviour to make it violently attack everything it sees.
While being faced with the entire uncompiled mass of the Source Engine was initially daunting, I soon managed to grasp the overall structure of what I was working with, and have learned a lot about how such a large scale project is structured to make it manageable. It also gave me the opportunity to work on a number of different interesting areas during one project.
- Engine
- Source
- Duration
- 8 months
- Team
- 1 Programmer
- 1 Designer/3D Artist
- 2 3D Artists
- 1 2D Artist
- Language(s)
- C++
- HLSL (with Source Engine variations)
- Role
- Engine Programmer
- Implemented panic/aggression/stun
- Created application and decay functions for each stat
- Integrated stats system into existing networked variable system
- Made player's basic capabilities fluctuate based on current stat values
- Added "Rage Rifle"
- Created a new "rage" damage class
- Created functions to modify a character's alignment when hit by rage damage
- Adjusted character behaviour to retaliate when attacked by an ally
- Altered standard weapon behaviour
- Added functionality for sighting up along a weapon's barrel
- Increased weapon accuracy when aiming
- Added view zoom when aiming
- Adjusted time speed while zoomed
- Created a base weapon class that allowed for both ranged and melee attacks
- Added functionality for sighting up along a weapon's barrel
- Implemented panic/aggression/stun
- Graphics Programmer
- Implemented post processing effects
- Implemented motion blur when stunned
- Created quad-vision/RGB-split/min-max shader
- Created de-saturation/over-saturation filter
- Created vertical scramble filter
- Implemented post processing effects
- Gameplay Programmer
- Added handgun, SMG, shotgun/machine gun and rage rifle
- Implemented a static object that emitted visually distorting pulses
- Implemented a "horror object" point entity that inflicted panic damage when looked at, and could be attached to game entities
- Engine Programmer




