TECHNICAL DESIGN INTERNSHIP

Duration: June 2024 - August 2024

As an intern working on Funcom's Conan Exiles’ new season, Age of Heroes, I contributed to various tasks in the Exiles Unreal Engine 4 editor, developing and debugging projects for the new seasonal update.

MY TASKS:

DISCLAIMER
The ideas and prototypes for Conan Exiles shown on my website were developed during my internship with Funcom, Inc. in the Summer of 2024. Not all of these features were included in the game's recent updates and are not currently planned for future inclusion. All content is for demonstration and educational purposes only. Funcom owns all rights to the game’s intellectual property.

TAVERN BAR FIGHTING

My main project was to create a new and unique mechanic in the game with the new Tavern Bar buildable just added in the last update. I came up with adding bar fight mechanics and AI events!

TAVERN BUILDABLE?

In short, the Tavern buildable can be placed by players, allowing NPCs to spawn, sit, drink, and hang out nearby. An example is on the right!

Below are me and my mentors whiteboard concept ideas to start the design process of the unique bar fight mechanic. I designed it to trigger randomly by NPC's, players, or a new NPC type—the 'Tavern Drunk'.

With the game being in a barbaric Conan-style world, bar fights seem to fit well!

PROTOTYPING

TAVERN NPC FIGHTING ISSUE

In Exiles, every NPC is assigned to a "tribe," causing endless attacking with each other if they aren't in the same tribe. Tavern Patron NPCs had combat disabled to ignore this system. If I just reenabled it, they'd attack everyone!

MY SOLUTION

My task required working around the above NPC system, which hadn't been done before. I prototyped multiple ideas to maintain functionality without breaking other elements.

THE TAVERN "DRUNK"

I designed a new “Tavern Drunk” NPC to taunt players and provoke fistfights. The goal was to add humor and unpredictability to the tavern while making it feel more alive and interactive, inspired by how NPCs in RPGs create memorable unscripted moments.

MODIFYING PLAYER CALLS

Upon accepting the Drunken Patron's call, a fair bar fight wouldn’t involve weapons. I modified the main player’s class to auto dequip weapons and equip fists when the event triggers.

ADDING PLAYER CHOICE

What if the player wants to cheat the fist fight and use weapons? I solved this in the next section by creating the "Brawl Minigame." Want it to be more than a 1v1? Check the next section, "Tavern Bar Fights"!

WITH TIME, MORE IDEAS CAME TO BRING EVERYTHING TOGETHER!

THE BRAWL MINIGAME

THE RULES

Upon accepting the Tavern Drunk's brawl, as mentioned before, both pawns unequip weapons & use their fists! to keep the bar fight "fair".

WINNING THE GAME

When the Drunk Patron’s health falls below 15 percent, he either insults the player, points at them, or flees using a custom Behavior Tree I made. This makes the fights end in a more memorable / comedic way instead of feeling routine.

BREAKING THE RULES

If the player wants to end the fight quickly or take it to a barbaric finish, they can. Equipping a weapon prompts the Drunk to shout and draw a broken bottle weapon, turning it into a fight to the death.

NOW WHAT IF PLAYERS HIT ANOTHER PATRON, ACCIDENTALLY OR ON PURPOSE?

FULL TAVERN BAR BRAWLING

ITS IN THE NAME

I built a new brawling subtree for Tavern NPCs and updated their class data so they could fight each other regardless of tribe, then return to their seats once it ended. This was the first system of its kind in Exiles and gave the tavern more realism by letting NPCs resume normal life after a barbaric bar scuffle.

HOW DOES IT BEGIN?

GROWING THE FIGHT

I created a “Brawl Manager,” an invisible actor that spawns at the start of a fight & expands over time. Any patrons inside its radius grow aggressive & eventually join in, escalating the chaos and making each brawl feel crazy fun.

THE TAVERN DRUNK

The Tavern Drunk has two states. He can either start a 1v1 with the player or provoke nearby patrons until a fight breaks out, adding variety to tavern encounters.

ENDING THE FIGHT

Fights end either after a set time or when weapons are drawn and a few deaths occur. Patrons then laugh, drink, or cheer before returning to their seats, making the brawls feel barbaric, enforcing the world setting of Conan.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

WHAT WENT WELL?

The tavern brawling system fit naturally into Conan’s brutal world, adding humor and chaos that made the tavern feel alive. The Drunk NPC and Brawl Manager created unpredictable fights, while new AI subtrees let patrons return to normal life afterward. Getting everything replicated and working ahead of schedule was another major plus.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

A big challenge was building a new system on top of older ones while keeping it stable. Fights sometimes dragged or ended too quickly, & players weren’t always sure why NPCs joined or quit. NPCs could also get confused or disappear from conflicts with old logic. Adding an event system to a six-year-old game had rough edges, but I enjoyed it all.

WHAT I LEARNED

One of my biggest takeaways was seeing how a AAA studio operates day to day. I learned how projects are managed and features prioritized, team collaboration across design, QA, & programming, & what it’s like working under producers, timelines, & sprints. Along the way I sharpened my skills in coding, AI design, debugging, & communication.

REFERENCE LETTER

Below is a reference letter from my awesome mentor at Funcom, Robert Gaither, Senior Technical Designer. I’m beyond grateful to have learned from him and the Funcom as a whole to gain insight in AAA game development, as well as his encouragement in sharing this on my site and LinkedIn.

Michael Connelly

Technical Game Designer

TECHNICAL DESIGN INTERNSHIP

Duration: June 2024 - August 2024

​As an intern working on Funcom's Conan Exiles’ new season, Age of Heroes, I contributed to various tasks in the Exiles Unreal Engine 4 editor, developing and debugging projects for the new seasonal update.

MY TASKS:

Created new AI logic

Designed a new AI event system

Programmed reusable functions

Debugged assigned issues

Used Funcom's in-house source control & Unreal Editor

Developed AI behavior trees

Created AI behavior tasks

Modified NPC, Weapon, and Player Spreadsheets

Pitched design ideas with the rest of the team for the next release

implemented Exiles' new dialogue system

TAVERN BAR FIGHTING

My main project was to create a new and unique mechanic in the game with the new Tavern Bar buildable just added in the last update. I came up with adding bar fight mechanics and AI events!

TAVERN BUILDABLE?

In short, the Tavern buildable can be placed by players, allowing NPCs to spawn, sit, drink, and hang out nearby. An example is on the right!

Below are me and my mentors whiteboard concept ideas to start the design process of the unique bar fight mechanic. I designed it to trigger randomly by NPC's, players, or a new NPC type—the 'Tavern Drunk'.

With the game being in a barbaric Conan-style world, bar fights seem to fit well!

PROTOTYPING

TAVERN NPC FIGHTING ISSUE

In Exiles, every NPC is assigned to a "tribe," causing endless attacking with each other if they aren't in the same tribe. Tavern Patron NPCs had combat disabled to ignore this system. If I just reenabled it, they'd attack everyone!

MY SOLUTION

My task required working around the above NPC system, which hadn't been done before. I prototyped multiple ideas to maintain functionality without breaking other elements.

THE TAVERN "DRUNK"

I designed a new “Tavern Drunk” NPC to taunt players and provoke fistfights. The goal was to add humor and unpredictability to the tavern while making it feel more alive and interactive, inspired by how NPCs in RPGs create memorable unscripted moments.

MODIFYING PLAYER CALLS

Upon accepting the Drunken Patron's call, a fair bar fight wouldn’t involve weapons. I modified the main player’s class to auto dequip weapons and equip fists when the event triggers.

ADDING PLAYER CHOICE

What if the player wants to cheat the fist fight and use weapons? I solved this in the next section by creating the "Brawl Minigame." Want it to be more than a 1v1? Check the next section, "Tavern Bar Fights"!

WITH TIME, MORE IDEAS CAME TO BRING EVERYTHING TOGETHER!

THE BRAWL MINIGAME

THE RULES

Upon accepting the Tavern Drunk's brawl, as mentioned before, both pawns unequip weapons & use their fists! to keep the bar fight "fair".

WINNING THE GAME

When the Drunk Patron’s health falls below 15 percent, he either insults the player, points at them, or flees using a custom Behavior Tree I made. This makes the fights end in a more memorable / comedic way instead of feeling routine.

BREAKING THE RULES

If the player wants to end the fight quickly or take it to a barbaric finish, they can. Equipping a weapon prompts the Drunk to shout and draw a broken bottle weapon, turning it into a fight to the death.

NOW WHAT IF PLAYERS HIT ANOTHER PATRON, ACCIDENTALLY OR ON PURPOSE?

FULL TAVERN BAR BRAWLING

ITS IN THE NAME

HOW DOES IT BEGIN?

Randomly through a low chance timer that "increases aggression" in NPC's

If a player attacks a non brawling Patron

If an already brawling Patron punches another non brawling Patron

If the "Tavern Drunk" Patron randomly pushes a non brawling Patron

GROWING THE FIGHT

I created a “Brawl Manager,” an invisible actor that spawns at the start of a fight & expands over time. Any patrons inside its radius grow aggressive & eventually join in, escalating the chaos and making each brawl feel crazy fun.

THE TAVERN DRUNK

The Tavern Drunk has two states. He can either start a 1v1 with the player or provoke nearby patrons until a fight breaks out, adding variety to tavern encounters.

ENDING THE FIGHT

Fights end either after a set time or when weapons are drawn and a few deaths occur. Patrons then laugh, drink, or cheer before returning to their seats, making the brawls feel barbaric, enforcing the world setting of Conan.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

WHAT WENT WELL?

WHAT WENT WRONG?

WHAT I LEARNED

REFERENCE LETTER

Below is a reference letter from my awesome mentor at Funcom, Robert Gaither, Senior Technical Designer. I’m beyond grateful to have learned from him and the Funcom as a whole to gain insight in AAA game development, as well as his encouragement in sharing this on my site and LinkedIn.

Michael Connelly

Technical Game Designer

As an intern working on Funcom's Conan Exiles’ new season, Age of Heroes, I contributed to various tasks in the Exiles Unreal Engine 4 editor, developing and debugging projects for the new seasonal update.