Programming: Spikey Block

Programming For Artists: Spikey Block

For our game we had to make a Spikey Block based off of the Womps in the Mario series. It had to have a visual cue and I added a little wiggle for the warning. I made both a normal spikey block and a side spikey block. This is to add more of a challenge to our game.

I know that I  wanted to have a really cute, simple but at the same time indicating to the player that this block is dangerous and will kill you. I think overall I was successful in designing the block. In the Unreal Engine Blueprint we are introduced to BP classes and animating in timelines in them. We learned we can change colors, add sounds, and even learning how to use the construction script.

This image shows the Event Begin Play that is Setting and Getting the Location of the Static Mesh of the Block. We use this later on for out timeline to animate our block. Above it we are setting it so when the Spikey Block falls, and it is saying when our character overlaps the box (On Begin Overlap) attached to the mesh the Scott's Death Function will kill the player, followed by turning on and off the collision so we can see us hitting the player.

As I was mentioning earlier, the Construction Script which I will go more into detail below, is setting up a Create Dynamic Material Instance. We are referencing the eye and setting the color change variable.

These nodes are representing when the player Overlaps the Trigger Box and sets it off, it is playing the animation, sound, camera shake and changing color of the block when the character is stepping in the range. We are getting references and locations so it doesn't get messed up in the process of  getting player controller and locations. The timeline is below.

In this particular part of the Timeline I am animating a shake and a fall and a slow rise up using the Z axis and time. I'm not using the Y or the X to animate this. Under that, I am setting the eyeball to change color and do a red to orange blink before hitting and fading back to white using the shake and the fall as a reference.

I do the same for both the Camera Shake and the Impact Sound both for when they hit the ground when  the animation timeline is dipping to the bottom when it hits. I made my own sound, and my own custom camera shake to fit.

Level Proposal

Level Proposal: Saving the Gators

For my level proposal I decided to do a lava themed map and also includes some sci-fi elements. The story is that a evil cooperation kidnaps poor little gators and you have to saved them. Of course throughout the whole map you quickly realize you have to get the key. I thought it would be interesting in doing something else with the enemies and have the only enemies be the environment of the level like the spikes and lava. Maybe eventually I'll add turrets if I can implement them but for now I'm not sure. Also I really enjoy my idea for this one! I wanted it to be pretty difficult and some story, but not so much puzzles. I also wanted to add key cards and just more doors and keys because I wanted to add a bit of difficulty and more gating.

Reference Images:

Game Analysis: Inside

 Game Analysis: Inside

Inside is a 2D puzzle platform by Playdead. (the same developers of Limbo) I ended up choosing this game for this project because it's fairly new and I think it has a very good tutorial stage and how they introduce different mechanics and not necessarily giving it to the player.
It first begins by you being able to interact with the environment. In the beginning they have you balancing on a log and crawling through fences. Walking, jumping, and climbing, are things that aren't really taught to you. Nothing is told to you, since there is no dialogue so the player interprets both narrative and figuring things out all on their own. After awhile of exploring they start to add a bit of a challenge, like enemies and actually interacting with objects. You have to interact with objects in order to get higher places like boxes. This also isn't really told to you but is left for the character to figure it out, but it shows the object usually clear in your path so you can't miss it. I think this game really breaks the mold of what 2D platformers are known for and shows that it can still be a dark and serious game.Overall, I feel like the pacing of this first stage is a good example on how to do other tutorials, and rewarding the player for doing things on their own. 

Link to Gameplay: