InVidious
Gameplay and networking programmer
InVidious is an asymmetric horror game set in an abandoned port. One side plays exorcists searching a dark map for the objects tied to a restless spirit; the other side plays the spirit, and is another player rather than an AI.
That asymmetry is the whole design. The exorcists have torches, an inventory, a spirit box, and an ouija board, and win by placing the right banishment items on the ritual plates. The ghost has movement the exorcists do not, a set of skills on cooldown, and the ability to disturb items and attack - drawn from Indonesian folklore rather than the usual western horror cast.
Technically the work is mostly networking: keeping two very different player experiences consistent across a session, with proximity voice chat so the exorcists can hear each other panic.
Built with
Engine
Networking
Systems
What went into it
- Asymmetric multiplayer
- Exorcist and ghost run different controls, different cameras, and different win conditions inside one synchronised session.
- Networked with Netcode for GameObjects
- Room creation, public and private lobbies, host migration handling, and state replication for items, doors, and the ritual plates.
- Voice chat via Vivox
- Players hear each other in-session, which does more for a horror game's tension than any scripted jump scare.
- Ghosts from Indonesian folklore
- Kuntilanak, Tuyul, and Wewe Gombel each get their own movement and a signature skill rather than being reskins of one another.
- Progression that persists
- An experience and level system carried in an encrypted save file, so progress survives a session without being trivially editable.
Screens
Captured from the packaged Windows build, running windowed at 1600x900. The multiplayer lobby is not shown because it needs a second player to fill.
Title scene - red fog, a campfire, and three ghosts hidden in the scene. Lobby - loadout, ghost choice, and the level and match statistics carried between runs. Singleplayer - health, inventory, compass, and the in-game clock counting down the night. The forgotten port, with the fort's lights in the distance. Settings - every scene carries this menu, with values shown on each bar.