CIG Design Tests - Design Test & AI Design Test
My responses to the 2 design tests sent by Cloud Imperium Games prior to my employment offer for my AI Designer position!
Team / Duration: Solo / 1 week for 1st test & No more than 8 hours on the 2nd
Genre: -
Focus: Games Design, System Design & AI Design
Role: Designer
Engine: UE5
Software: UE5 / Microsoft Visio & Word
Purpose: Solo Project (2022) - Cloud Imperium Games Design Tests
DESIGN TEST 1: GENERAL DESIGN
ALL WORK PRESENTED HERE IS WORK THAT I CREATED, ILLUSTRATED, DOCUMENTED & FORMATTED FOR THIS DESIGN TEST
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The first test I had was a simple games/system design test. I was presented with 6 questions / tasks and I had to respond to them the best I could; the questions were:
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Take a game like Pac-Man. Replace one of the existing systems in the game with a completely different system of your own design. Describe that system and how/why it makes the game better.
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Take a multiplayer game like Quake1/2/3. Design an additional system that would make the game more tactical.
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Consider Quake and CounterStrike. Pick your favourite of the two and explain what makes it a superior game from a systems perspective.
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Consider Minecraft and DayZ. Explain why in one game people kill, torture, grief, abuse each other while in the other everyone is working together and being very friendly to one another. What is the difference between the two games that generates this different behaviour?
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Name 5 ways of relaying important story elements to the player without interrupting his gameplay experience or taking control over his character. Explain the strengths and weaknesses of each of them.
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Choose a mood or emotion. Name 5 ways to bring that mood/emotion to a character in game.
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Aditionally as a proof of concept for the 1st task, I created a playable version:
DESIGN TEST 2: AI DESIGN
After passing the first test and proceeding to the next stage, I was sent the second test. The second test was the more focused AI design test, which would be accompanied with an interview, where I would explain my decisions and my design. The requirements of the AI test were:
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Using Microsoft Visio or a similar diagramming application, design the flow of a First/Third Person ‘Companion AI’ that supports the player in three different ways.
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Using Unreal Blueprint or a similar visual scripting system, prototype one of the support methods to a basic playable state.
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The buddy NPC should react to an event/stimulus.
In the interview
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We would like you to pitch the full design flow and explain your thought process.
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We would like you to demonstrate the AI behaviour live or in a pre-recorded video
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We would like you to talk through the visual scripting setup
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For the diagramming of the flow, I created this:
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I created a basic companion AI in UE5, which follows/stop following the player and can carry/drop objects:
