A small update on project progress! I guess I’m making a game…

I’ll save the in depth design overview for another post, as some tidbits here and there are still coming together as I bring things online. Pictures will work better then anyways. After some revisions (and many cuts), the best ‘localized’ comparison to what I’m making is somewhere between State of Decay, Starcraft, and Battlefield. The game is online co-op (1-2 Players).

I’m pretty thrilled.

A decent amount of work on the FPS Controller / Character has been completed. The Low Poly Shooter Pack came with quite a bit to hit the ground running. I had to spend some time planning and patching it into some existing game systems, but overall it was pretty easy to figure out. I only wish the documentation was more readily available.

Very quickly I learned I needed something a bit more enticing than a ‘Mechanics Gym’ or similar. I was finding it incredibly hard to nail down what was what. Building out a POI to hit all the required mechanics I need for the basic functioning FPS Experience was a fun challenge as a level designer.

This “Mission” takes the player through exploring a POI in FPS mode. Using PCG, the world will be populated with POI’s. This first POI blockout allows me to analyze ALOT while still building out some of the core foundational mechanics.

Deciding how to implement the overarching AI system was a bit troubling at first. With little experience in the character animation and ai department, I wanted the least painful option to get started making some AI systems that could be quickly represented by the character.

After exploring some custom animation blueprints and asset packs, I ended up deciding to use ALS to drive animation. So far the experience has been quite good, adding animations to feel out behaviors is easy and quick.

Next up was establishing the basic AI patterns. This area has been a little troubling design wise. I have to make further decisions about the complexity of characters’ roles in the game. So far I’m pretty happy with just having “Basic” NPC’s that can be hostile or friendly, in both melee and ranged combat states. I’m excited but a bit nervous about the amount of work hiding here.

Wins:

• Confidence in some unreal systems has appeared!
• Implementing world based entities has been easy and enjoyable
• Weapons / Damage brings alot to life
• World Building / Level Art is a dream
• World composition is coming together well (I think it’s pretty anyways)
• Characters bring quite a bit to the world!
• Strategy Mode coming online sooner than expected

Up Next:

• Strategy Mode Controls
• More FPS Mode Polish
• Rock Solid AI Behaviours
• Overarching Game Manager to drive the complete experience.

Challenges:

• The solo-dev list grows
• Cutting Good Ideas
• Continuing to want to replicate everything
• The need to handle save/load is coming