Nox Frame
Modular template for survival-horror games — Unity 6
In survival horror, the same systems get rewritten on every project and end up coupled to that specific game. Nox Frame separates engine from content: 25 modules with boundaries the compiler makes impossible to violate, complete save, event, inventory, dialogue, and NPC systems, and 20 editor tools so designing a game means configuring, not programming.
Problem
The inventory that knows about that mansion's keys. The save system that knows that scene's objects. The dialogue that knows that specific character. Code that's impossible to reuse and fragile against any change. Nox Frame's measurable goal: starting a new game should mean assembling prefabs and configuring ScriptableObjects, not programming the engine.
Solution
- Layered architecture with real boundaries: dependencies only flow downward, and it's not a convention — a cycle between modules literally doesn't compile.
- Complete, validated systems: save system with atomic writes, backup, and automatic recovery; an event bus where every event is an asset; inventory with an action pipeline; graph-based dialogue; documents; objectives; extensible NPC AI; doors with a three-layer lock model.
- Data-driven: events, conditions, items, documents, and dialogue live as ScriptableObjects. Extending content doesn't require compiling.
- Tooling as a product: 20 editor commands and 14 fail-loud validators that report the component, the missing dependency, and the corrective action.
Architecture
Solo engineering process. The project started as a prototype and was migrated to a modular architecture in batches, preserving asset GUIDs to avoid breaking scenes, with a change log and per-batch validation. Decisions are documented with their trade-off — including the ones I decided not to make, and under what condition they'd be revisited.
I also directed the implementation using AI assistants under my own specification: public contracts, acceptance criteria, and final validation were mine. That's exactly what the project demonstrates — the ability to technically direct a large system and preserve its structural integrity.