jag0137

[jag0137]

New Blog for 3D Development

I forgot to mention, i've currently got a new blog for my new project. Go check it out if you have some time? Appreciated

@jag0137-3d-project

[jag0137]

Final Thoughts on Retrograde

Above i've linked a short demonstration of Retrograde playing through Level 1, looking back if I had some more time i'd have definitely added some sound effects and polished the backdrop/outer ring of the map more - textures too though this wouldn't have been easy because I had the bright idea of making the game have high res 64x64 textures instead of 32x32, paired with drawing them out by hand on photoshop, yeah it's pretty time consuming.

[jag0137]

Finished at last

Retrograde's essentially finished now - here's one of the screens i made for finishing the game. I also made a start screen, lose screen and win screen.

As well as this i finished necessities such as the disappearing platforms and added an enemy!

[jag0137]

Text and such

I've been messing about with text and placement of it in photoshop - I just discovered the warp tool which has some, let's just say interesting effects.

[jag0137]

Names for the game

I've been considering names, and one that's very prominent seems to be "Retrograde". I could imagine a sort of synthwave ultra-reflective silver purple and blue logo with the text written across it.

"Cathode" is up there aswell.

[jag0137]

Fonts

Here's some fonts I think could be applicable in my game

Computerfont seems to appeal to me the most to be honest.

[jag0137]

Enemies

I created an enemy in my game using a placeholder spritesheet, i'll be making my own soon enough,

Essentially, this code goes into the actor (enemy) and allows it to walk between to points (spheres) on a set path, when the enemy touches the spheres - it'll get sent off in the other direction, i've yet to add a hurt function from it yet.

[jag0137]

Error Diagnostics

Just fixed a bit of code for the switchover from integer to float on the variable health as can be seen in before and after

[jag0137]

Health Bar

I've made a makeshift health bar! although the icon will 100% be replaced, I might even make it a sort of hearts system similar to minecraft. This is easily achievable because to make the health bar, i've already converted the health variable into a float which acts more as a percentage rather than an integer.

[jag0137]

Creating HUDS

Created a HUD mockup just now, binding has definitely got to be the most complicated bit, how it works essentially is the text grabs the variable health, which then returns the value at which it is currently at, replacing the text with said value

Then, on the character blueprint it displays the UI in viewport which has been created.

[jag0137]

Spawn point and level load trigger

Tried to make it look like the old classic AIM AOL log off door, i'm thinking of making a little sign that says log on and log off to be honest - i'm not 100% sure if it fits so i may need feedback

[jag0137]

Widgets

Sort of a note for myself here, Widgets are generally pieces of a GUI that perform a specific function, I suppose you could link this to an onscreen button being a widget. For example, you have a button onscreen that says "Heal", interact with it and your health value goes up.

[jag0137]

Heads Up Displays

I'm going to look at a few games here, noting their UI's and HUD's

Dead Space:

Dead space has certainly got a unique gimmick for its UI, in that being it's 3d and sort of in the scene with you, despite the fact it's most likely rendered separately. It allows you to have a sense of awareness of enemies and what's going on in the scene around you, aiding the player in surviving. It also adds difficulty, as unlike most UI's, due to the fact it is displayed in the scene nothing gets paused and so you must navigate your UI in real-time.

Persona 5:

Persona 5 contains a more stylized HUD than practical or groundbreaking, it has most of the features of a normal menu but reminds me in a sense of the "Pop-it" from Little Big Planet in the sense it is based around the character and their position. It features a cartoony flair and doesn't take up too much of the scene

Mirrors Edge:

Mirrors Edge contains what i'd call a minimalist UI, an advantage of this gameplay wise is it doesn't take up barely of the screen at all, and it isn't distracting allowing you to focus on the difficult freerunning.

Dead Cells:

Dead Cells is the game i'm most interested in because of the art style being directly similar to mine - pixel art. The UI is situated at the bottom of the screen, generally just under where the ground will be tucking it out of the way of all of the action but still being accessible, Items are shown as a graphic inside of a box.

[jag0137]

Risk and reward

An important factor of designing games is taking into account "Risk and reward". Essentially, it's like having a direct route and an indirect and more dangerous route to a place or to a solution of a problem, the catch is, the more dangerous/indirect solution/way will reward the player a lot more than if they took the direct way of things. This creates a sense of playability for longer as 1: it's a lot more challenging and 2: there are multiple routes to take and try out.

[jag0137]

Tilemaps

I decided to go back and add a couple of assets to my tilemap:

First off you'll notice the poster, this is for the "enter button" shown in the top right which will activate the hollow blocks to temporarily change to a solid block to aid puzzles, on it is a picture of the enter button, then a diagram showing what will happen.

Secondly is a generic steel tile-block sort of thing, i'm mainly using it to border the entire scene but may have it enroach into the level in some places.

[jag0137]

First Level

So i've finally designed my first level using the tiles in unreal, it's sort of to get you used to the disappearing and appearing platform dynamic

I'll explain each section here

Section 1: A small puzzle with a poster containing a hint, when the button is interacted with you can jump on those hollow blocks as they turn into a solid sprite, and at the top is a fan to jump on to get you to the next section

Section 2: A slightly more complex puzzle, you're on your own with this one, no hints, essentially you press the first button to enable the platform at the top, and the button at the top enables the platform at the bottom to walk you all the way through, a 2 step puzzle I guess

Section 3: A break from the puzzles, two fans to bring you up to the next section

Section 4: The final puzzle, another two step one, essentially on this one you want to avoid the "magnet" boxes, which obviously kill the little computer player, jump around them and navigate up to the first button which enables you to reach the top via disappearing platforms and then reach the second button enabling the bridge at the end all the way through past a couple of spikes to reach the soon to be level end which I have highlighted in blue.

[jag0137]

In-game Test Level

Safe to say the tilemap import worked pretty well, I created a level from the tileset, just a small one to test things out it stretches not much further than what you can see, 20x10. I think the assets look pretty nice in game and compliment each other in style nicely, I'll probably animate the water soon, possibly next Wednesday afternoon.

And here's the level in orthographic camera view, which is what i'll be using!