Notherverse
UE4 Winter Game Jam Update #3: Conclusion & Lessons
February 11 2018

UE4 Winter Game Jam Update #3: Conclusion & Lessons

TL:DR: Got a bit too ambitious with level design, got burned out and missed the deadline. Nonetheless, learned a bunch during the 3ish days I had to work on the game. I didn’t want to take too many shortcuts so 3rd party asset usage was minimal. (See video at bottom.) Here’s a few things I […]

UE4 Winter Game Jam Update #2: Improvements
February 10 2018

UE4 Winter Game Jam Update #2: Improvements

TL;DR: Added terrain materials, a cave and tweaked the player controls. Finally got comfortable with basic terrain material blending. Added rock and some subtle melted snow in some areas. Made a cave in Blender and improved my manual UV unwrapping skills., though I try to avoid it when possible. Found a nice minimalistic untextured cabin […]

UE4 Winter Game Jam Update #1: Basic Gameplay
February 9 2018

UE4 Winter Game Jam Update #1: Basic Gameplay

TL;DR: Putting aside other projects temporarily to work on the UE4 winter game jam. Got a basic snow sport game up and running. Used physics simulation + impulse forces for movement. Experimenting with the camera locked towards one direction for both simplicity and as an interesting constraint. It’ll allow me to focus the level design […]

UE4 Mech Game Update #16: Radar
January 28 2018

UE4 Mech Game Update #16: Radar

TL;DR: Added 3D radar and dashboard mesh. It’s slowly starting to look like an actual cockpit. I’m opting for a holographic user interface since there’s more flexibility in where to place the indicators. Overall, I want to ensure that everything looks great from a geometry and lighting standpoint before moving onto the materials. Currently looking […]

UE4 Mech Game Update #15: Self-Guided Missiles
January 28 2018

UE4 Mech Game Update #15: Self-Guided Missiles

TL;DR: Added missile lock reticules and self guided missiles to go alongside the machine gun. From a programming standpoint, it’s interesting contemplating how to go about implementing these features. It seems like treating every sufficiently complex entity as an individual blueprint is the way to go. In this case, a blueprint was created for the […]

UE4 Mech Game Update #14: Cockpit Refinements
January 26 2018

UE4 Mech Game Update #14: Cockpit Refinements

TL;DR: Further focusing on enhanced cockpit experience. Added machine gun muzzle flash, laser, sound, impact effect and embark transition. Experimenting with AI health correlating with aggressiveness: Carnage: I’m generally doing things the “right way” now. Proper animation handling, performance considerations, as well as overall synchronization of logic and visual cues. Getting visual and tactile feedback […]

UE4 Mech Game Update #13: IK Rigging + UE4 Blendspace
January 25 2018

UE4 Mech Game Update #13: IK Rigging + UE4 Blendspace

TL;DR: Added IK rigging + walk and run animations in Blender, then used a 1D blendspace in UE4 to blend them according to character speed. Blender’s Auto IK worked fine for quick tests, but didn’t give quite the desired results. Turned out I only needed to have one IK handle per leg- then set the […]

UE4 Mech Game Update #12: Rigging + Animation Revisted
January 24 2018

UE4 Mech Game Update #12: Rigging + Animation Revisted

TL;DR: Rigged the model in Blender, miraculously imported it properly into UE4 and played my first in-engine custom animation. Blender has some really esoteric UI elements, mysterious buttons, and the list goes on. Between “NLA strips” and “Orphan Data”, the animation aspect of Blender can be pretty intimidating. Additionally, there’s an infamous Blender/UE4 import bug […]

UE4 Mech Game Update #11: Mech Model V2
January 21 2018

UE4 Mech Game Update #11: Mech Model V2

TL;DR: Took another jab at the mech model after looking at some references. In Blender, I started using the subdivision surface modifier as an integral part of the modeling process, setting the crease strength of individual edges to differentiate between sharp and smooth edges. The SubD modifier pretty much doesn’t work well unless your topology […]

UE4 Mech Game Update #10: First Gameplay Footage
January 11 2018

UE4 Mech Game Update #10: First Gameplay Footage

TL;DR: Finally put together a video of some pre-alpha gameplay footage. I’m super-duper stoked to see all the pieces come together. So far, it has all boiled down to the following parts: Environment modeling/lighting Cockpit modeling AI behavior Sound effects Next up, I’m giving enemy AI the ability to attack and adding a mission objective.

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Notherverse
Ryan Bennett · Software Engineer · ryanb@notherverse.com
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