Gameplay Engineer & Designer, Level Designer, AI Engineer, and more!
RICHARD FLORES
Sr. AI Engineer
Leechbug is a Real-Time-Strategy Combat game (on PC) where players take on the role of the Leechbug to save their home from a polluting force that is sapping the will of your fellow undersea denizens.
Players use the Leechbug's powers of possession to free their fish friends, control their unique abilities synergistically to engage in combat, and reach the surface of the ocean to rescue their underwater world!
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As the Senior AI Engineer, I designed and implemented the AI system that all fish in the game use both in and out of strategic combat. I also then taught the system to others and delegated tasks for creating AI behaviors using the system.
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Website: https://leechbug.itch.io/leechbug
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Lead Designer
Koa: Journey into Ekos is a puzzle-platformer (on iOS) where you GROW the platforms.
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Players use Koa's powers to grow, cut, and climb onto branches to traverse challenging yet relaxing environments in order to save trapped forest spirits throughout Ekos.
As the Lead Designer, I planned out or advised in almost every aspect of the game to ensure that the whole game was a cohesive experience. Including, but not limited to: UI, usability, achievements, sound design, art/environmental design, world design, and progression of level complexity.
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I especially focused on gameplay and level design throughout most of production.
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Appstore: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/koa-journey-into-ekos/id1501105779
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Prototyping
Game & Level Designer
Embower is a platformer (on PC) with a gravitation mechanic where players travel the world, purifying trees of toxins by hugging their hearts.
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Gravitation and hugging revolve around a crystal the player throws that sticks to surfaces and creatures. Once the crystal is stuck, the player can gravitate to it to hang on to a surface or hug a creature to purify it instead of "defeating" it.
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Engineering wise, I prototyped and developed the original version of the game. Then when we went back to polish and release I prototyped other gameplay ideas before they were implemented by another engineer.
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Design wise, I worked on gameplay design for the original concept and focused on level design when polishing for release.
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Website: https://atsinacorrington.itch.io/embower
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Currently Working On
I like to always keep learning, so I decided to use my AI tech from Leechbug and make an AR card game out of it.
Built in Unity, using Vuforia, Leechbug AR has 2 players place up to 6 cards of Leechbug fish on either side of what I call the Field Divider. Fish will spawn in and wait for players' input to start fighting each other as they would in Leechbug, but in an AR space!
So far the project is still in prototyping; you can spawn fish and the field divider in to start a fight right now. Engineering-wise: I am now changing the rendering pipeline to URP and changing the AR package from Vuforia to ARFoundation. Design-Wise: I am exploring different ideas as to how the player can give additional input while keeping the fish combat mostly autonomous.