Forest is a personal project of mine with the purpose of learning Unreal Engine 5. Coming into the software with no previous experience in Unreal or coding, I had to start from nothing. I spent a week researching through tutorials and showcases in the basics and advanced capabilities of this engine, with its blueprint coding system. Once I was up to speed, I set myself the task of creating a fully functioning game with an objective, featuring win and loss conditions, in a map made from scratch, and featuring audio designed and implemented by myself.
The game design was the first step. The aim of the game is to traverse a map through a set path, shooting targets as the player progresses. The game will have a soft time limit and the challenge will be how quickly the player can hit all the targets and end the match, striving for a lower run time through repetition. Unreal's blueprint system was used to implement this game modes features, adding a counter for targets hit, tracking the time of the run and providing a win/loss screen at the end of the match.
The next step was map design. This was a chance to put my creativity to good use and design an interesting map with changes in terrain and scenery that adds to the experience for the player. I sculpted a rough design before refining it around the games mechanics and adding foliage and structures to bring the map to life.
With the purpose of the game being to shoot targets, I wanted different FX to occur when objects were shot. By using a tagging system, I was able to define objects and assign Niagara FX systems to the projectile, triggering effects.
With a completed map and game logic, the next step was audio. After researching what was possible within UE5 I was confident I wouldn't require an external middleware for this project. I set up a physical material system for defining what type of ground the player was standing on. This was linked with the animation of the character to trigger footstep sounds.
TBC
