Danger Zone

Overview

Danger Zone is a top-down air intercept controller (AIC) training simulation developed in partnership with the United States Navy, Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division. This was a four-month project to create a new, modernized AIC training program prototype using the design and reference material provided by subject matter experts. Our clients provided three main constraints for development. First, the game had to be realistic and facilitate practical training sessions. Second, the player needed to be able to “hook” aircraft to display their bearing and range from the bullseye. Third, the simulation needed to have an interactive pause functionality to allow for students to engage with instructors. Below is our final gameplay demo featuring training dialogue between Navy personnel.

Role: Tech Designer

Team Size: 14

Game Engine: UE4

Responsibilities and Contributions

As a technical designer on the project, my main responsibility was implementing the single player user interface. I created the menus, sidebar and aircraft information pop ups. This required that I integrate the UI functionality with Blueprints produced by other team members (e.g., the “hooking” system). I also worked closely with the art team, producing necessary UI asset documentation and implementing all of the 2D UI art.

One specific contribution I made was creating the icon toggle system to display “hooked” aircraft’s’ friend-or-foe status and heading line. I exposed the friend-or-foe status to allow the level designers to easily manipulate the aircraft which also automatically updated the UI elements accordingly.

Another contribution was to enable players to interact with the aircraft while the game was paused. This was critical for training purposes as only the instructor can pause the game. With this functionality students can continue to interact with planes to display aircraft data and make informed decisions.

Team Aviators

Bryce Tynes

Bertan Buyukozturk

Steven Leonard

Alec Mayer

Joey D’Amato

Marcello Rowland

Ivana Pagan

Project Lead

Technical Designer

Level Designer

Producer

Shawn Ferdig

Autin Relis

Alex Smith

Katie McConnell

Pedro Beniquez-Cortez

Ashley Luperiello

Emmanuel Otero

Yamiset Trujillo

Programmer

3D Artist

SFX Artist

Technical Artist