BLOG ENTRY 31 - 6.3.2021

DEV STATUS

Working with Unreal Engine 5 has not been as difficult a transition as I thought and I’ve been able to work with things quite well. I’ve fixed a bit of the tech debt and the Ragdoll finally works!… Sort of. I have a few kinks to work out but I’m sure it’s nothing a little bit of math can’t fix. I’ve been mostly concerned with making sure the migration has had no hidden side effects, but so far so good. I’ve been using it for the past week and everything is fine. I’ve yet to fully tap into it’s full potential with nanite, and the metahuman animation targeting, and I haven’t even started with testing the full body IK. But that’s okay, that means I still have more end game content to explore and level up.

PARTICLE SYSTEMS STUDY

I have been working with different particle effects and reworking them to fit what I want for the game. Most of them have ended up pretty good. However, they will never fully fit since I have particles from many different creators and packs. So I’ve been learning how to make particle systems from scratch. I’m very happy that the unreal engine 4 tutorials from years ago still work right now. I’ve only made 2 systems this week and they’re far from perfect, but they will give me a good start to create the particle effects for the rest of the elements. I honestly think that while it’s more work, the game will be better in the long run since it will all be custom. Worse comes to worse, I can sell particles on the marketplace.

I started working with the loot beams for the item drops. Since I’m not a VFX artist or a visual designer, I’ve been experimenting with how I want loot to be cataloged. I believe this is a good start as the gradient, however I’m not sure if it is reading properly at the moment. The Idea being the bottom color represents weapon Faction, Teal for the Indies, Blue for the Galactic Union, Yellow for Scrappers (Not pictured) and Red for Prototech (cus they bad, but also cool, it’s a dilemma to be sure).

I believe adding some more effects like a pulse on the ground and some kind of energy pulsing through the beam will provide more clarity as to the rarity, right now I feel the faction reads well, but it’s not enough, I think I also need to create some kind of outline for the item, as it feels a little separated from the gun. It’s still the prototype and we have plenty of time to iterate on it. maybe even after early access since I also have to consider some kind of indicator for people who are color blind. Gradients mean nothing If you can’t tell them apart.

PHYSICS FINALLY ENABLED

After so much time with the enemies just dropping to the floor I was able to create some basic ragdoll physics, and It is already looking way better. The game feel of seeing how impactful your weapons and abilities are is so much more now.

The problem I’ve run into is that it kinda always goes the same way, if you can tell by the gif they keep sorta jumping from the bottom, and I need the enemy to feel like it got hit where it got hit. I know it has to do with using the physics part of the mesh rather than the mesh itself. But that’ll be reworked at a later date. as This week i will continue working with particles as well as readjusting the HUD in UE5 and making custom huds for everyone.

I will also be working on the other classes skills. I’ve yet to make the ultimate abilities for everyone. so I think it’s better that I work with those that I’ve already designed and try to implement them as best I can, Once I do I’ll move on to other systems.

NEXT STEPS

I’ve already been studying the inventory component as per my previous blogs, however I’m realizing certain conventions need to be readjusted. Torchlight 3 does this simple way of closing in to your character and rotating it so it faces the camera. rather than add a completely different mesh and having to deal with persistent levels or out of bounds mesh copies.

I really want to get working on this as looting is a big part of a looter shooter, but I feel the base abilities and making sure moving your character feels good and not janky at all, or at the very least, slightly janky. After that It’s finishing the skills, then on I’ll move on to the inventory and equipment system revamp.

For now Imma call it a day and be happy I made enough progress this week to have a day off without feeling guilty about the work I could be doing. Instead I’m gonna go get fucked up by dark souls 3, or worse, Stardew valley hard mode :V

Absolutely (Loot) Beaming

Daniel “Freaky” Aguilar

Game Designer

Plasmapunk Studios

SHINY NEW PARTICLES! SHINY NEW PHYSICS!