PROJECT DETAILS:
- Created with Unreal Tournament Editor (Unreal Engine 4).
- Realized in five days.
- Solo personal project.
- Map created for deathmatch mode.
WHAT I'VE DONE:
- Design and create a BP_InteractiveObject to answer my gameplay intention.
- Design level from paper to blocking integration.
- Create a particle system responding to gameplay constraints.
THE MAIN IDEA:
After having fun many hours with my friends on the various maps offered by the game Unreal Tournament, I made the following observation : Each map contains vantage points on which you can easily dominate your enemies if you have the good weapon.
Most of the time, when you enter an area where there is a vantage point, if an enemy has taken it, you have unlikely to escape alive.
The main idea was to create a map in which the player has the possibility to escape or retake the advantage on his opponent when this last has taken a vantage point.
THE PROJECT:
I wanted to do this project in order to train my skills on Unreal Engine 4. Working on a project on which there is an existing gameplay base I can exploit to design my level and playtesting in order to attest to my work and my design intentions. I also wanted to bring a new gameplay element to the game in order to improve my skills in blueprint.
PREPRODUCTION
NARRATIVE INTENTION:
The level takes place in Rookburgh, a fictional retrofuturist steampunk city in which the pioneers of aerial exploration come to visit. The city is a fusion of urban and industrial decorations. Explorers come to have their zeppelins repaired and stay there, the time to refuel.
GAMEPLAY INTENTIONS:
- Create possibilities of escape or regain the advantage for a player when he is chased by another one.
- A game environment based on 3 levels of verticality.
FEATURE - THE STEAM BARREL:
To answer my gameplay intention, I wanted to create an interactive element in the game environment with which one player will interact to create opportunities to regain the advantage or create an occasion to escape. This element is a gas cylinder which projects thick vapors when a player shoots on it with a weapon. These last are strategically positioned in the level and allow the player who is being targeted or hunted, to temporarily obstruct the vision of his attacker who then loses sight of his prey.
TOP-DOWN LAYOUT:
=> Define vantage point of the map.
Vantage points of the map have been defined by watching all the possibilities to shoot enemies from a specific point of the map. If the location allows for more possibilities to shoot than possibilities to be shot, it’s mostly a vantage point (excepted if there are a lot of possibilities to be shot by enemies).
Top Down view of the map
PRODUCTION
THE INTERACTIVE OBJECT:
=> THE PARTICLE SYSTEM.
It was the first time I realized a particle system on Unreal Engine. In the past, I’ve already made some on Unity, so it was not too complex on this new engine.
The result I was looking for had to meet several Game Design requirements :
- Be thick enough not to be able to see through.
Don’t generate a collision with the bullets, so you can shoot through them.
Can be enlarged or narrowed depending on the space to be visually obstructed.
=> THE BLUEPRINT INTERACTIVE OBJECT.
To create the Blueprint Object, I have reused a part of the doors blueprint code to be able to detect the collision of bullets on an object collider. Then, I have added some parameters to quickly change how the gas barrels work like the time of projecting vapors.
To finish, I have added the particle system inside the blueprint object to instantiate him when a collision with a bullet is detected.
BLOCKOUT:
The level is divided in three parts which each presents a different combat approach.
To make items interesting with the environment, the idea is to respond to obstacles or needs generated by the game environment, by placing appropriate items at good places and to propose ways to regain advantage.
=> LEVEL 01: BASEMENT
In the basement area, spaces are very small and there are a lot of blankets as well as view blockers. The only way to shoot enemies here is to have a short range weapon like a shotgun. The approach to combat is extremely nervous and required a lot of reactivity.
=> LEVEL 02: GROUND
On the ground, the spaces are very clear, this is the level on which the players spawn and it acts as a bridge between the air and the basements. They have assault rifles, and it’s almost impossible to survive if you don’t keep moving.
=> LEVEL 03: THE AIR
The air spaces are largely composed of roofs, chimneys, airships and rails. Players access it by climbing the city’s architecture or using jumpPads. There are precision weapons such as snipers. Players are in an elevated position but also highly exposed.
