Class Participation #4

This is a HUD for the class game. It is a simple drawing that tries to capture the main data items the player will need. There is of course a health bar, an inventory to show the current items the player has, the amount of shards possessed, a map of the world (meant to show where the user is on the map

HW5

This blueprint represents a health pick for the player in the game. The static mesh is a simple material sphere with an interesting pattern from the StarterContent. The level designer will simply place as many of these blueprints in the level as desired. The code for the blueprint functions in this manner: when the "hero" overlaps (and only the hero) with the sphere, the code will call the AffectHealth function on the HeroCharacter object, which will ultimately add a maximum of 50 health points. The blueprint also ensures that the characters in the game will not bump into  the object but pass through. Also, it takes care of the detail that if the hero already has the maximum amount of health, the item will not be "picked up," and subsequently destroyed.

Current Status

So far, we have each been progressing toward the goal with respect to each of our tasks. Josh is working on building a character. Vincent has been working with menu and game modes. Teddy has been working on terrain. For myself, I have spent significant learning the unreal engine and blueprint system. I have a large amount of programming experience and have experimented with different game programming libraries in the past like SDL, SFML, and as some graphic programming in OpenGL and DirectX. But, UE + Blueprints is a very different system, certainly a lot easier to build something impressive but there is a lot to learn. I have gone through the tutorials from Epic for creating third person game from scratch (not using the template), setting up blendspaces using pre-built animations, materials, and working with blueprints.

I will be focusing on building the gameplay and mechanics of the game including movement, projectile weapons, AI, effects, and item pickups. This week I will be progressing toward building these elements in a prototype level. This will serve as the foundation from which we can build the game with terrain, other art assets, and menu systems.