Particle Research

Particle Research

For Game Design class we are learning particles, and we now how to make our own particle to put in our racing levels. The particle I want to create is sparks that pop. I have these tall stadium lights in my level and I want them to spark randomly, and just have a random spark burst with a popping sound.

I followed this Sprite Emitter tutorial earlier, and I think it would give me a good start to getting the sparks. Here is the tutorial.

After some more research I found some documentation on Unreal Engine, they talk about creating a blueprint to help create a random burst of particles, light and sound. Here is a link to the page, I'm going to try to combine this with the other tutorial to hopefully create the particle I want.

https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Resources/ContentExamples/EffectsGallery/1_F/index.html

I was also researching some real world examples, this is about the closest thing I could find, it's a little drastic, but it gets the point across. I want this to happen but much less it would be random sparks that are popping from the light.

Barrel and Turret Design

Barrel and Turret Design

For programming class we had to make a barrel that explodes and gives indication before it explodes and a turret! I connected my turret to my train, and my barrel is helium tank!

Here is the code for my turret and barrel!

The first two screenshots are for the barrel that I made.

These bottom two are for the turret I created.

Racing Level Intro

Racing Level Intro

For Game Design we are focusing on our racing levels and we just finished greyboxing our levels, we are now moving on to making assets, set dressing, and thinking about how we want to do our intro to our level. I did some research and found a few examples I would like to show, each one has a component I like and would like to emulate in my intro. 

The first example I have is from Mario Kart 8, the level is from Toad Harbor. In this level intro I think that the way they show off the level is successful, I want to show off my level in a similar way, but I want to include more action in my level intro. 

This intro is from Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, this intro really shows off what is happening in the game, and what the player will be facing. I think that is important to include in the intro, for example when they show the racer driving over the spikes, I think that part stands out to me the most. I would like to show off some of my stunts in a similar way. 

Lastly this intro is from Need for Speed: Most Wanted, towards the end of this intro there is a part with a warehouse and just how the car is navigating through and destroying things along the way is something that stands out to me. I think showing off the destructibles is a fun thing to include in the intro.

Barrel and Turret

Barrel and Turret

For programming class we are making a barrel that matches theme of our racing level, my racing level is the abandoned train/cargo yard. We also have to design a turret. Below are my models are made in maya and put into UE4. I will also include my visual targets.



Destructibles

This is my awesome of video of my destructibles that I made in Unreal Engine 4, I have a wooden crate that you can drive through, a window and a oil barrel that explodes!

Level Storyboard

Game Design - Level Storyboard

I put together a small beat sheet of my racing game level. It gives you a quick glance at what to expect as you play through the level.

1. Starting line  

    Player: "Where do I go?"

2. Player busts through boxes. 

    Player: "I'm destroying these boxes!"

3. Electrical pole falls. 

    Player: "Oh no, it's falling!"

4. Player jumps through train.

    Player: "I'm going to make it?"

5. Player sees train underpass.

    Player: "I just beat that train."

6. Player goes through.

    Player: "Ooh, a warehouse!" 

7. Player drives through warehouse. 

    Player: "Time to explore."

8. Player breaks through the window.

    Player: "Woo! Breaking glass!"

9. Player makes a sharp turn.

    Player: "This should be fun!"

10. Player sees cranes and cargo boxes.

      Player: "How does this work?"

11. Player gets lifted in first box. 

      Player: "This is awesome!"

12. Player jumps through boxes.

      Player: "Am I going to make it?"

13. Player exits boxes.

      Player: "Woo, that was close."

14. Player finishes.

      Player: "Yay, I win!"

More fun with Arrays!

More fun with Arrays!

I learned a new way to make lights turn on and off in UE4 blueprints using arrays, I got a little more creative on this one, check it out!








Here is my code to go along with it, the first image is the event graph of the blueprint and the second one is the construction script!