MARTYR
ROLE
Game Designer / AI Programmer
DESCRIPTION
Martyr is a survival horror with a heavy focus on sound as the killer is blind but has a very acute sense of hearing. The player must make his way through an abandoned crypt armed with nothing but a flashlight in order to save his girlfriend and escape the killer, but beware, the flashlight must be recharged by hand crank, one of many ways the player can alert the killer. This game was inspired by games like “Outlast (2013)” and “Alien Isolation (2014)” as well as films such as “Don’t Breathe (2016)” and “A Quiet Place (2018)”
TIMELINE
3 MONTHS
GENRE
First Person Survival Horror
ENGINE
Unreal Engine 5
PLATFORM
PC
GAME DESIGN PILLARS
THE KILLER IS
ALWAYS LISTENING
Sounds made by the player (cranking the flashlight, footsteps, throwing bottles) can either help or hurt them. The killer reacts dynamically to noise, forcing players to think before they act.
HAND-CRANK
FLASHLIGHT
The flashlight must be manually cranked to recharge, creating a constant risk-reward dynamic. Using it provides visibility but generates noise, forcing players to decide when light is worth the danger.
THE CRYPT
TRAPS YOU
The environment plays a big role in creating a horror atmosphere using tight corridors to create a claustrophobic feel.
We wanted to create a horror experience that captures the feeling of holding your breath, knowing that any sound could mean death, a feeling that lingers throughout the entire game.
This game that isn’t just about hiding, but controlling your fear, making calculated choices, and understanding that silence is never a guarantee of safety. The killer is always listening, and every footstep or crank of the flashlight carries risk as his crypts trap you in their claustrophobic, maze-like corridors, forcing you to stay composed and calculate every move. The killer is always close by, listening and waiting—but as long as you stay in control, you might just survive.
AI – MECHANIC
HEARING SENSE
The AI’s main way to sense the player is through its hearing. I scripted this in a way that enables my teammates to add their own level objects, which can contain their own audio radius and noise scale so that each object can be unique.
The AI in Martyr is inspired by Alien: Isolation (2014), where the Alien has two “brains”—one that always knows the player's location and another that relies on its senses to track them. Similarly, the Priest always knows which room the player is in and will slowly make his way to that room. Once close, he patrols the area, listening for any noise before moving to another room.
This creates tension as the killer will always try to be as close to the player as possible without feeling unfair, since the player can always escape, as long as they stay silent.
PLAYER MECHANIC
HIDING SPOTS
Hiding spots provide a way to evade the killer, but they are never a guaranteed safe zone. I designed them to make sense within the game’s context while maintaining tension. Once inside, players can peek out to assess their surroundings, but the killer isn’t fooled so easily. Depending on its AI state (hunting vs. roaming) and its proximity when the player enters the hiding spot, the killer has a chance to check and pull them out, preventing players from relying too much on hiding as a failsafe.
REFLECTIONS
This project was the first “complete” game my team and I made and I’m very proud of what we accomplished in such a short timeframe, while being fairly new to unreal and game development as a whole.
Personally, while the end product ended up being amazing, there are a couple things I would’ve ended up doing differently
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Balancing gameplay additions and playtesting.
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Being new to unreal and scripting, it took me a while to figure out unreal engine’s behaviour tree system, which led to delays in feature additions and playtesting. Instead, I would’ve rescoped the project to feature less, but more refined systems and playtest those systems to make sure the game feels great and bug-free.
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Add more sounds and music
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Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned complications on the programming side, we weren’t able to add as many sounds as we would’ve liked or even music. This is also due to not realizing the scope of sound design. Going forward, I always make sure to plan ahead in terms of sound as it adds a lot to the experience, especially in a horror game.
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