Technical Progress

This week, our team made foundational progress in Unreal Engine 5, focusing on integrating interactive visual effects. We implemented fire and heat distortion effects around the giant’s body and a screen distortion effect triggered by its roar. These effects were made dynamically placeable, which allows us to test different spatial compositions directly in engine. These VFX not only needed to look good in isolation, but were also stress-tested under different lighting and camera angles to ensure they would hold up in a real-time, cinematic environment.

We also developed a prototype for smoke-giant interaction, which served as an early testbed for environment-character linkage.

Meanwhile, we built a hybrid state machine and upgraded the input system to allow dual control of the player and level logic, which will later enable fluid interaction between the performer and the virtual scene. These systems were validated through quick simulation scenes and actor-driven previews.

Art Progress

In preparation for physical filming, we conducted multiple iterations of 3D printing to refine our miniatures. This process wasn’t just mechanical; it was highly iterative and problem-solving-intensive. We encountered common resin printing issues such as UV light leakage, base separation, and weak supports. These were systematically resolved through targeted fixes like taping light gaps, increasing exposure times, and revising support configurations.

These improvements ensured our models would withstand handling during shoot days and maintain visual consistency under lighting.

Also, we updated the virtual terrain and baked the gaint model.

Others

Outside of direct development, we wrapped up comprehensive blog entries that detailed our creative process and technical decisions, supplemented with photos and videos. We also drafted the first version of our playtest documentation, outlining interaction flow, feedback points, and user behavior we aimed to observe. This set the stage for understanding how audiences might engage with our piece—whether emotionally, mechanically, or through curiosity about the production setup.