We had our first meeting with our SME this week and the rest of the week was spent in working on the golden spike for our quarters.
Apart from this, we had the Playtest to Explore workshop where we got to present the ideas of the themes that we were thinking about to all the other teams and received feedback based on what we had presented.
This week, we decided to document our process from every department to keep it for future references as well as to showcase our process and some new things that we learnt if any.
What we did this week?
Programming:
- Gameplay: We implemented some basic character abilities based on the UE third-person template, including walking, running, jumping, crouching, attacking and combo attacking. The main goal is to get familiar with Unreal Engine. We implemented the functions we want using Blueprint, and added animation transitions according to the different character status.
- Version Control: We set up a team UE project on Perforce for our gold spike. Everyone can get access to this project and work on it.
Level Design:
- We worked on creating a blockout of a Cyberpunk quest for our Golden Spike.
- We divided the task into two parts amongst our level designers, Polly and Rushil. The quest was supposed to have a city block part and a landmark building part. Rushil worked on creating the city part of the blockout while Polly worked on creating the landmark part of the blockout.
Art and VFX:
- We worked on creating VFXs for our Golden Spike as well as getting familiar with the engine.
- We implemented VFXs for the Golden Spike using particle systems and Niagara fluid simulations, experimenting with different approaches to achieve the desired looks.
- As Technical artists, we also experimented with Perforce – Unreal pipeline, figuring out a legit workflow for the team members. At the same time we tried out potential multi-user editing tools in Unreal to see if they can help to boost our pipeline.
- We helped to solve some technical issues that our programmer encountered.
Production:
- We worked on setting the deliverables for the golden spike quarters which is next week and also planning a 2D layout for it.
- We worked on detailing the themes that we had decided and making a document for it on the FigJam board as well as a Google document..
- We worked on setting up a meeting with our SME and getting important feedback on the themes and knowing more about his expectations from the project. He suggested us to unite both of our themes and make something unique that would help us distinguish the work in our portfolios.
Some challenges we faced and their solutions
Programming:
Problems –
- Gameplay: (1) For character status change, the conditions for the animation transitions are sometimes tricky, and it took more time to make them perform well when playing the game. (2) Some attack animations didn’t work very well. When the attack animation ended, the character slid back and it looked very strange.
- Version Control: (1) It takes an extremely long time to get the latest version. (2) Some of the files are different when getting the same version on different team member’s computers.
Solutions to the problems –
- Gameplay: For the animations, we used root motion and animation blend to improve their performance. It made a very good attack combo animation.
- Version Control: (1) We need to set up the ignore file before submitting the first version to Perforce, otherwise there will be tons of useless files. (2) When getting the latest version, it is better to quit the Unreal project and wait for Perforce to update all the files.
Things we learnt –
- Gameplay: Got more familiar with Unreal Engine and knowing how to use Blueprint to achieve our goals. Also we got to know how to make Actor Blueprint and Animation Blueprint work together.
Level Design:
Problems –
- We didn’t have the tools for designers working on the same map. So, the designers had to work on separate maps and copy the outline. This caused a few problems, including UE outline meshes not being appropriately deleted and leaving world position and collision behind.
Solutions to the problems –
- We solved this problem by making a copy of the level, checking every mesh in the outline and finding what the collision belonged to. We found out that in UE5.3.2 users shouldn’t attempt to delete a folder without deleting the content inside first.
- We also tried the multi-user editing plugin in Unreal Engine and connected it with our Perforce setup to test multiple people editing a map simultaneously to check if it was possible to work on it at the same time.
Things we learnt –
- We learnt how to use the multi-user editing functionality in Unreal Engine and what are the limitations of it.
Art:
Problems –
- We were having performance issues when implementing VFXs.
Solutions to the problems –
- We solved this problem by making a copy of the level, checking every mesh in the outline and finding what the collision belonged to. We found out that in UE5.3.2 users shouldn’t attempt to delete a folder without deleting the content inside first.
- We also tried the multi-user editing plugin in Unreal Engine and connected it with our Perforce setup to test multiple people editing a map simultaneously to check if it was possible to work on it at the same time.
Things we learnt –
- We learnt how to use the multi-user editing functionality in Unreal Engine and what are the limitations of it.
Production:
Problems –
- We were having problems deciding the final theme for the level and moving forward with making the level.
Solutions to the problems –
- We decided to use the quarters presentation to present both of our ideas and the combined idea to the faculty to get their reactions and then ask them which direction we should move in.
Things to do for next week:
- Finish the golden spike level by quarters i.e. next Wednesday.
- Detail out the ideas for our themes a more for presenting them to the faculty.
- Work on making a “Defining polished” document.
