Dream Factory Development (Revamp) - 004

After working on the game for a while now I wasn't too happy with the amount of assets I've used from the fab or quixel marketplace. I wanted the game to be original and to show my creativity. I also had some problems with a lot of things like blueprints not working how they should be etc. So I decided to start fresh and build the game up slowly instead of rushing straight into the level development.

The first thing I did was to start working on the movement of the character and adding different movement upgrades that the player could gain throughout the game. I first added a double jump mechanic with the idea that near the end of the first level the player would obtain an item which allowed the character to double jump. Adding the double jump was pretty easy as it was just changing a value from 1, to 2. adding the particle effects on the other hand though was a lot trickier as I'm still very new to unreal engines blueprints. I got some help from reddit and someone called "Tips4490" had helped me work out how to implement the particles to appear only on the second jump and nowhere else.

My original idea for the double jump was to have the character's second jump use a cloud or a little ghost that would appear under the player for them to then use to gain another jump. at the moment I just have a basic niagra particle system there as a placeholder until I figure out what I want to be there, at the moment though I feel like a cloud appearing would be the best option as it would look good stylistically and also not as hard to use as I wouldn't need to mess with the blueprint system as much.

I ended up with this setup for the blueprint,

which I recently replaced the 'Try Traversal Action' nodes with 'Try Traversal Action Without Traversal Actor' nodes that had AC trace traversal variables hooked up to the targets. I did this to help the character so it could mantle up anything without having to add a load of boxes around the places I wanted the character to mantle to save time and just make it a lot more efficient.

There are still a couple of issues with this setup but for now it is working as intended and is allowing me to test the game properly.

With all of this sorted I finally started to develop the first level of the game. I am still going the same level design as before but I took a much different approach than last time. Instead of just creating random stuff that I though would look cool I first started with laying out different geometry so I knew a route the player would have to take and then worked around that.

I started from the outside of the cave (where the player would exit) and worked my way back to where the player would start as I knew the cave would be underground so I started the cave entrance/exit at the edge of the environment I had spawned in.

I want this middle piece in the main cave to have a light from the top of the ceiling breaking through that shines from above and goes through the holes in the centre piece that will illuminate the cube below it. Signifying to the player they need to find something and place it there to progress through the map. The cylindrical object to the right of the picture (Above) will be a tree log which when the object is placed on the cube at the bottom of the monument will make the cave shake and rumble and the log will fall from above, creating a path for the player to continue through the cave. I'm not too sure what the object will be yet. maybe something to do with the story in some way or maybe just a gem or something but will think more about it later on and try to add it to the lore of the game. I want this first cave to be a kind of Indiana jones style puzzle but nothing too big like boulders chasing the player or invisible bridges or anything like that. I want there to be things similar to that later on in the game but those to be more side quests/paths that doesn't need to be explored but can be if the player wants to, which might also reward the player for doing so.

I then started designing the cave a bit, using some assets that we bought from the market place but only for things like grass, rocks etc. If there's going to be any building type objects in the game id much prefer to make them myself.

I first made the spawn cave which I want there to be a big drop that is covered in fog at the bottom with a small jump just to get the player ready for what's to come. I first tried to just add materials to the geometry that was there as a placeholder and then decided to create a simple bridge in blender that is supposed to look like its dilapidated and crumbling.

I'm currently still having problems with lighting in this environment as the style I'm going with isn't allowing the cave to be as dark as I want it to be. I have tried using a post processing volume in a box only inside the cave and then setting the exposure a lot lower but it is making it look a bit weird. I might try just making the cave have a slight blue tint like you would do to make daytime footage look like it was shot at night but that isn't really right so maybe I can figure something else out soon but I'm going to leave that till later on in development.

I had some troubles mantling up onto the bridge from the tree log so I redesigned the bridge a tiny bit. This was before I fixed the mantling of the character which I probably could have left this but wanted to fix it as I had planned of just using the mantle boxes throughout the whole game so at the time I felt this was needed. I also added a small section for a little pond which would be at the end of a waterfall which is where I am thinking of hiding the item that's needed to put at the bottom of the monument.

I spent some time making a bridge and the main monument in the middle in blender, I'm not really the best at modelling so just made them out of some simple shapes and added a sub-d modifier to smooth out edges then added the material for the rocks onto both. I'm thinking of creating a more cobblestone looking material for the bridge but I will probably need to spend some more time playing around with the UV maps in blender so I'm going to leave that till later on in development when I start adding more details to things like more assets around the cave and some vines/moss on some of the rocks and assets.

Moving on with the cave I have worked on the waterfall that will be flowing from the entrance/exit of the cave down into the main cave room. I've also covered the top of the main room leaving a tiny bit for some sunlight to leak into the room. I might end up adding a spotlight above the hole in the top as I want the sun to be visible when exiting the cave.

I also think there will be a lot of geometry visible that shouldn't be, mostly the mountain that the cave is in so I might just make the hole too bright to see anything out of and just make it like the light above the jail cell in the starting room of dark souls 1.

I'm looking forward to finishing this first level and making it look and feel how I've envisioned it from the start. I think the cave section is close to being finished and then I can start working on the outside part. I'm not sure if I'm going to use the same windmill asset that I used in the last version of the game or if I'm going to create my own. I think just using assets from online here and there will be okay but creating a full village from the same asset pack is something I need to stay well away from.