Process of Mechanics Design
The Process of Mechanics Design
Week 1
This will be the first of a series of updates to my Blog. This post will be updated on a weekly purpose, with changes that I have made based on what I have created.
There are different parts to being a game designer, you could be a level designer, a mechanics designer, a UI designer, etc. These are all good options to go for, Level design is good for those who aren't particular gifted in either art or coding. The mechanics designers are better at code than art. The UI Designer would much rather work with the art side. I have already done a level design Blog post, so this time, I will be going down the mechanics design route.
The first week was simple, to create a plan. The plan is simple, create a game, but not to focus on the looks but rather the features available to a player. The idea I was aiming was a resident evil-style game, this means cameras, zombie like AI, I also wanted to implement a first person view as well, to shake things up a bit. I needed to start with a character, this turned out to be just a cube with a cone to show where you are facing, I also made it so that the character can go in and out of the first person mode.
Not much else was used at first but this would get improved later on as I find better, more interesting ways to make it work. I had also implemented a camera system that follows you as you move between locations, it utilises a 2d Scene Capture component, that are used in replacement of cameras, they are attached to a texture that is put into a material. In the level blueprint, I use box collisions that track the Player Character only, It updates when entering, with enough room so it doesn't trigger twice. They show different routes of entry and different perspectives, not otherwise seen by the player in most circumstances.
For a first week, this is a good start, this will steadily be improved upon and maybe even expanded further into other things that are useful and difficult to create, mostly because learning doesn't come from the easiness, but rather the challenge.
Week 2
This week is a continuation of my development into my video game. I will be focusing on two things this week, making a new mechanic, a Tracking Mechanic, and making sure the AI doesn't hump you into a corner. The last part is easy, it just needs to be a set distance away, the other part is a but trickier.
The first thing I did before any of that, however, is I need to change the Player character, so you can tell if you're looking up and down.
The Square on top is a simple cube that follows the camera on top, this is to show where the face will be and how it can move up and down. The cube at the front is a 'gun', which is used to shoot at AI and cause them damage. This was a problem to implement which I will get into now. The main issue I found is that the normal way I make it shoot at the AI, doesn't work, so I had to figure out another way that will work. So what I did was fairly simple but took some doing as it was brand new
What it does is continuously get the rotation of the cube, with an event tick, whilst also making sure the box collision is still connected
The rest is standard stuff, just using a couple branches to make sure all prerequisites are reached
The start tracking is done by a right click that forces the character to slow down until it can shoot again.
Week 3
This week was all about refinement of the tracking system, I wasn't happy how the gun would be the only one aiming at the enemy AI, so I went through the code and seeing if I can make some changes.
I did see some fruit of my labour as now the tracking has changed from it only affecting the cube to the player itself, this changes things however, the old way of doing things, via the mouse, can't be used as an axis mapping doesn't really care about whether it is tracking or not, and will do what it is told, even if you want it to track something, so I had to do some remapping, this included using the keyboard for looking left and right, which is unintuitive but will look for a better way of implementing it without having to resolve it in that fashion.
Taking what I have learned, I am going through the blueprint, to reduce any potential bugs that may occur, like double firing and allowing firing without being a tracking stance. Other than that, not a lot has happened to the project as such, what I have mainly been doing is finding a good solution for the inventory/crafting system that I mean to implement. I am getting all the major objects done first and foremost and will create a level showcasing it, but the main issue comes with properly including what I have, and allowing for more changes, I already have an idea on how maps work which is a strong contender, but I am still researching for a more reliable way to store items.
Regardless, this week has been very productive, in regards to progress with what I am doing, experimentation is key and I am hopeful I can find a proficient system that better serves what I need, regardless, this is the end of this weeks entry, so I will see you next week
Week 4
This week has been quite informative and productive, after some quite painful and arduous attempts at the inventory system, I have finally found the appropriate inventory system that can also double as a crafting system, which is perfect for what I am trying to create.
I have used it, so far, to create the bullets for the weapon I am also developing, one of the things that is on the list of what I need to create is at least two different types of weapons, a pistol and a rifle. The Rifle will be more powerful, but the bullets are more expensive to create, whilst the pistol is weaker, but appear more often and take less resources to create, I will also be creating different stats for the guns as well, and include a weapon switching component as well, this will be quite a lot to implement, but I feel I can do it in a timely manner. I didn't do much else, as I have also got another project that I am doing as a team, called Journeyman, that has taken some of my time as I am a lead designer for it
Next week will be a bit more interesting as I will be doing some further refinement of my camera system and upgrading the crafting system to affect the player character, other than that, the future looks fortunate for its improvement, with a level displaying everything I have created, until next week, I will see you soon.
Week 5
After some tinkering with the inventory system, I have managed to make it consume items and add them to the player, this is currently been used by the bullets for the gun, it adds the bullets to the player, after of which, it deletes it from the inventory. It is simple, but it took a while as I am still unfamiliar with the usage of MAPs, it is getting faster, however, and I think with the knowledge I have now, can properly implement the weapon system.
The Camera System is going to be changed with the old system absolutely crushing the frames till they are nothing. This new system is much better with the camera and frames as it moves the camera around with little cubes, with its rotation based on the rotation of the cube, with an arrow indicating where it is pointing. This massively improves frames and gets rid of a potential major issue which can cause production later on to slow down
Overall, this week has also been uneventful, with next week having some major additions like: Animations, Weapon System and models for the Zombie and the Human, Until then I'll see you next week.
Week 6
This week has been major for my project as I have added multiple new and interesting things to my project, these include the animations, the weapons system and even fixing the tracking bug.
The Animations that have been added come in two varieties, Zombie and Human, they have two individual animation blueprints, as they both use the same humanoid skeleton. The Human animation blueprint will be a soldier carrying a gun and the zombie will be, well, a zombie. The Human will be switching from one stance to another, specifically aiming and idling. You can switch between them with the right mouse button and will slowly change.
The weapon system is very simple, as I have no need to include more than a couple of weapons, and maybe a melee weapon, will be simple. It will have both weapons already on the player, but you cannot access the secondary weapon until it is picked up. This activates a custom event in the inventory slot, when it detects the weapon, and turns it on. When removed from the inventory system, it simply turns it back off. It is incredibly simple, and works with for what I need, giving each weapon a unique characteristic will be my next goal.
After some pain-staking hours and some searching on google, I have found the fix for my tracking bug. Initially, the players rotation wouldn't be affected by the setworldrotation, this has caused me some notable issues and even though I have kept it, |I have also used a control rotation of the controller and now it works exactly as I want it. Now it is fixed, I can make a level to represent the mechanics I have made
This is the end of the blog for now, I will make an update for any upgrades to the weapon system and/or the an animation blueprint, until next time
Week 7
Week 7 was mainly about setting up my website for the portfolio, it is a basic website, but it will be good for now. It mainly just has my name, my portfolio of work and an about me page. It only has my artefact from my second year, first semester at the moment, with it being my mission design module, it contains images of the progress, as well as a walkthrough of the 'final product'. It has a disclaimer as well, saying that all major mechanics and core mechanics, like the player character, AI and anything to do with weapons, I couldn't touch, but everything else was mine to implement. I also put my CV in it as well, alongside some other titbits that I have created.
I also made a CV and a cover letter. The CV was majority made by me, with some help in structure and keywords, I also had some help with the cover letter as well, but it was mainly just a guide, if anything.
This week has been uneventful, but the next week absolutely will be, as we do an exhibition for people in the industry and other people that can come through and have a look at what we can create, this can be very informative, with some people being either year 1's to masters students. They come from all backgrounds, who can give intuitive information and even more feedback for what you can create. Next week will be different, and hopefully I can make some changes to the systems I have created.
Week 8
This week was very eventful, I went to an exhibition called ExpoTalent. ExpoTalent is were you present the work you have been making for the last 2 years, showing the best of what you have created in those 2 years. I displayed my AraknaZ Project, which I created in my Mission Design module, and this project I have been showing through this blog post. The general feedback I have gained from this exhibition has been very good, the people that went through have been on multiple different courses. Some from the project management course, some first year games designers, some masters games designers.
The masters games designer, generally, liked my thought process going into it, they had some criticisms, not knowing what you need for items is one of them, and better tracking would also be a good thing to have as well. I am happy to say that those suggestions have been noted, with one of them being corrected in two ways.
I have created a recipe book with the feedback given, it is fairly simple, I would like to update it with something that is more automated, other than that, It is a good fit for what I need, but it could be better.
I have also created a box that goes alongside the inventory system, a display of when you mouse over the items themselves. At the moment, it shows the item name, quantity and a description, what I would like to do is integrate this with the crafting book, and have it appear below the description, until then, I will be keeping the crafting book and box for now.
This week has been pretty good for progress, with some more on the way hopefully, until then I will be back next week.
Week 9
As I have said last week. I have made changes to the project, put simply, I have added a tracking system that works pretty well, only issue I have with it, at the moment, would be that it jumps to the next zombie when it begins tracking, but it doesn't drop the zombies, so it may just be an ordering issue.
This is the code for my Character. It is a bit sloppy and unfinished, but generally is good for what I need. It has comments on the more important parts, with some other parts, not really needing it. It also covers the tracking as well.
Other than that, I have been mainly focusing on the Journeyman Module, so this has been set on a back burner for a little bit, but I will be creating something else for next week, so stay tuned in.
Week 10
This week is an update, not for the mechanics, but for the level itself, to commemorate the fact I have created the majority of mechanics that resident evil has, I am creating the baker house from resident evil 7. It will not be fully done, but will have some models, like tables. It will be the main room, the under passage that takes you to the safe room, and the hallway, leading to the entrance to the house.
It will have items to craft and an enemy to shoot at. It starts with a sequencer that goes through the main room, in the under passage, and into the main hallway.
It will be upgraded from this, but for now, it works for what I need.
I will be slowly, but steadily updated from the coming weeks, until then, I will see you soon.
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