NOTE: The videos from this blog were not recorded in week 9 and so Decals, Some assets and the HUD etc.. have been added by the time of recording. Apologies for this.
At the end of my last blog I said that by the end of next week I was hoping to finish all of the event scripting for the zombies and get most of the level scripting for the whole game completed. I did get most of this done, however I could not complete the implementation of all the Boss' as they were not yet 100% completed by the programming team yet. I did nonetheless complete my goal for my art implementation and I completed the first 4 rooms and two offices next to data centre, the rest of this will be completed next week. Along with the art work I also hope to complete most of the art implementation as well as some optimisation work that needs to be done with the artwork.
The Zombie event scripting was completed using the TES system that was created by our Technical Designer, I also used Blueprints and Level Sequences when scripting this level.
This screenshot shows the TES system in use. Each of the "Spawn Actors" drop downs is a different Enemy Actor being spawned at a set location, as shown in the image above.
After zombies have been spawned, I usually will spawn them in a locked room, then allow the zombies to leave by using Level Sequences once they are triggered by the player. An example of this is when the player reaches the trigger box that you can see in the background of the image above.
This is how a door is opened in my game. This occurs all over my level and is an important area of how the gameplay is started, something simple like this will create a cool effect like this. This is just one example of more set pieces like this in my game.
The same method used when demoing above is also used 12 time in total in the game, each of these differing from each other. These will differ from using destructible meshes to using level sequences, to just spawning enemies in a closet where the player cannot see, or even all of these at the same time. I believe that the variation in how enemies can spawn in this game will add to the worry of the player and will hopefully leave them unsettled.
The Art Implementation and Optimisation area of this weeks work was the easiest area of the work so far, all I had to do was replace block outs/what I had planned with the new and completed assets given to me by the level artists. With this I had to import each asset along with their own corresponding textures and apply them to their assets, this did not take much time.
Shown below is the final versions of the rooms that will appear in the games. The player will not be able to enter all of the rooms, however they will be able to enter most of them, especially the areas where the enemies spawn.
I also made these rooms much better optimised by combining them into one mesh each so that the draw to the user's PC will not be as demanding.
This week I also started the Implementation of the bosses into my level, this takes me closer to my goal of completing all the events in my game.
Here is a demo of part of Path 1 where the boss mainly comes into play.
This was created using the TES system, blueprints and a level sequence. This video also displays the spawning of more enemies however they are not the focus of this video.
Lastly I created a bug reporting document that everyone can use to report bugs from, this table includes information that will help the bug fixer and finder to both see what bugs need fixing, need to be tested and have been fixed and tested. I think that this is a good way to display this information without using an extra piece of software.
That is that for this week, by the end of next week I will be hoping to have fully completed everything in Engine. I will have Full Art Implementation completed, Implemented the final stationary boss that I will be needing, getting the final level sequence completed as well as more bug reporting and optimisation.