The Possession System - Laying the Foundations

So, what is the Possession system you may ask? Glad you did.

In our [yet untitled] game, a core mechanic is this element of possession.

From a story standpoint, you (the grave robber) stumble into the final resting place of a powerful deity. After accidentally waking it, the spirit houses itself inside your body.

You came to the spirit for power... which it does provide. However, that power comes with a catch: The Spirit wants full control, overtaking your free will if you give it free reign.

Thus, the possession system.

Think of it like a progression bar:

At 0% Possession, you are mortal. Only able to move around, crouch, and pick up small items.

As the spirit is always trying to seize control, Possession is constantly increasing. You must hold a Talisman to keep it at bay.

However, as the Possession level increases, so does your power. For example, at, say, 30% you are able to lift heavier objects. 60% means you can see through certain walls... etc.

All this becomes a balancing act. Because at 100% it's game over. The spirit's seized control.

Since you only have one inventory slot, you must juggle puzzle elements with the healing of the talisman--playing with fire and time in order to advance.

---

The idea of a Possession System is becoming incredibly central to our game's concept, and so, naturally, it's important to make it a central piece of the game's core code.

In order to do this, we enlisted the help of Professor Will Meyers and devoted this past week to making Possession a viable in-game reality.

In Unreal Engine, there is a system called the "Blueprint Interface." Without getting into the nitty-gritty, it essentially acts as an overseer, allowing any object to reference and change it without overloading the system.

The interface acts as a sort of "mailing list," allowing scene objects to subscribe and send info.

Our team put their collective minds together, and--under the direction of Professor Meyers--created a streamlined Blueprint Interface system that made future coding easy.

By adding a Possession value to the game mode itself, we could now access elements and mess with the player's ability to interact.

Of course, this all needed a visual to go along with it, so I took a couple hours over the weekend to attach a screen effect.

The bar in the bottom left is a placeholder, showcasing the player's level of Possession.

The glowing boxes, highlighted statues, and warped/darkened environment are all visual indicators for new possibilities due to the player's level of Possession.

Over time, the screen would darken, causing the level to fade to darkness as the spirit overtakes you (think Frodo in Lord of The Rings; that was a visual reference.)

All that was left was for Alfredo to tie a healing value to a "Talisman" item, and we were off to the races.

(P.S. we kind of like the name "POSSESSION," so don't be surprised if we start referring to the game as such in future posts.)