Error whilst packaging

Whilst trying to package my game so I would be able to upload it as a .exe I ran into errors to do with the spawner, I tried looking up for fixes and tried a few of my own, the output log said “The current value (0, 0, 0) of the ' World Position ' pin is invalid: 'World Position' in action 'Get Geo Location at World Position' must have an input wired into it ("by ref" params expect a valid input to operate o n).” I tried using Ctrl + f and searching for Geo locations and locations, went to all possible solutions and either deleted them or came to the realization that it wasnt them causing the problem. I’ll come back to it another time and try to fix the error so that I can package the game as a .exe or even post something on unreal forums asking for help to see if anyone else can help fix the problem.

Final Evaluation

What went well: My game overall works and I’m happy with it, I enjoyed using photoshop and learning my way around it, I did not find it too hard to use or maneuver myself around it, I really enjoyed the coding side although I did not get as much code and mechanics in as what I would have wanted but that's something I can do in my next project. I enjoyed going off by myself researching how to code certain mechanics and features into my game rather then the art side, then seeing the code actually run and work was always satisfying. The game works and is not too easy and not too difficult up until a certain point which is what I was after. Although the tile set was not mine I’m proud of the tile map I made out of it and it works to what the game is, although my game idea changed throughout. What could be improved: Next time around I’m going to use my own tile map for the game to then be more unique and more my own, I’m going to spend more time on artwork whether that be at home or in college so I can make more in depth pieces of art or finish them, as I never got to animate my new character design and therefore it was never added to the game. In the beginning of projects I’m going to do more research more particularly research on games that I want my game that I’m making or planning to make to be like so I have a guidance on what I want and need for my game as I’m making it. To not change my game idea 5 times throughout the project would also be a better idea, have one set idea from the beginning so I can plan my game the whole way through and not have to change anything about it mid project. What am I going to do better: I’m going to spend more time on my artwork and research so I have a better understanding of what I want my game to be and better how the game looks, for example researching into different art styles and artists looking at their work and taking inspiration from them, writing it up as a blog to go back on later. I’m going to begin playtesting a bit earlier so I then have more time to reflect and adapt my game to the playtest, getting other people to playtest my game so if they were to find something I didn't, or give feedback I can then work on that to improve my game rather then my own evaluation. I’m also going to try package my game as a .exe earlier so if I run into any problems I will have enough time to deal with them and fix them.

Looking Forward: I’m looking forward to the next project which is an FPS which means we will be working in 3D having to make 3D models and putting them into unreal which I’m excited for although making 3D models sounds difficult.

Soundtrack

Currently in my game there is no soundtrack, my idea was to add a simple Christmas themed song most likely an instrumental to run in the background whilst playing, not much sfx would be needed as adding smashing sound for when the baubles hit the ground may get a bit headachy and annoying for the player after hearing it so many times, as there are many baubles that spawn and fall. 

Playing and Creating

Using the tile set and tile map in unreal I made my game level design, it’s a Christmas themed map with the falling objects fitted to be baubles to make a Christmas themed game.

To playtest the game I simply played it myself, but when I had someone else playtest my game I came to the realization that it could simply be too easy by standing in one spot and simply moving left or right when needed, to overcome this I plan to add a mechanic where there is constantly baubles spawning above the player so that they are forced to move around, this should hopefully make the game harder to play.

Animation

In my game I use flipbooks for animations for my sprites, flipbooks are essentially multiple sprites displayed one after another to create an animation. Animations that I needed for my character was a Idle, Walk, Jump and Death animation. Death -

Walk -

Ivan Dixon

Ivan Dixon is an Australian Animator whose made pixelated title sequences to things such as Rick and Morty and The Simpsons. 

I especially like his pixelated title sequences because of how much they resemble the original title sequence and the flow of his artwork works so well, it’s like every pixel has it’s own frame, not only is the animation good but the artwork itself the in-depth of the characters and their clothing/equipment like Rick’s portal gun from Ivan’s Rick and Morty piece .

Spawning above the players head

When playing the my game I came to a quick realization that when standing on one place you could simply move left or right to avoid the baubles, which it then made the game quite easy, to overcome this I’m planning to make it so baubles constantly spawn above the players head, forcing the player to move around and not sit in one place. I’ve looked at a view forums posts and documentations but nothing that I have found has seemed to work or was not what I was looking for.

Though now I’m going to try inserting a bauble spawner in the SideScrollerCharacter blueprint and see if I can work around it by just making the spawner drop baubles on the players head that way.

Variables

Variables are properties that hold a value or reference an Object or Actor in the world. These properties can be accessible internally to the Blueprint containing them, or they can be made accessible externally so that their values can be modified by designers working with instances of the Blueprint placed in a level. I’ve use variables to reference the spawn rate of the baubles that drop down, decreasing the value of the variable to decrease the delay of a bauble spawning, I’ve also used it to make a true/false statement for the players dash, it sets the CanDash? Variable to false meaning the player cannot dash then after a delay sets it back to true.

I have also used variables for things such as Health and the players score, so for certain events such as the player being hit/taking damage or picking up a health item I can reference the players HP in any blueprint by casting, so then I can edit it.

There are many variable types, that have different values such as whole numbers, decimals, true/false and so on: Boolean - True or false Byte - Whole number between 0 and 255 Integer -  Whole number value between −2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647

Float -  Number value with a decimal such as 0.0553, 101.2887, and -78.322 Vector -  Set of three numbers (X, Y, and Z). This type is useful for 3D coordinates and RGB color data. There are others the whole list is on Unreal’s UserGuide (https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/ProgrammingAndScripting/Blueprints/UserGuide/Variables/)

Max Fleischer

Max Fleischer was an American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. More famously known for his invention/creation of Betty and Superman. Max immigrated to the US and served as the head of Fiescher Studios where he created Superman and Betty. 

Fleischer began his career at The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Beginning as an errand boy, he advanced to photographer, photoengraver, and eventually, staff cartoonist. He started out by drawing single panel editorial cartoons,  but then graduated to the full strips "Little Algie" and "S.K. Sposher, the Camera Fiend".

Cuphead

Cuphead's gameplay is centered around continual boss fights, interspersed with run-and-gun levels. Each of these boss fights and run-and-gun levels is housed in one of four different worlds, with the fourth world containing the final fight against the Devil himself.  After completing a level, the player is ranked with a grade based on their performance, based on factors such as the time taken to complete the level, damage avoided, and number of parried attacks. The levels are accessible through a top-down perspective overworld with its own secret areas. The game also has a two-player local cooperative mode, in which either player character can return to the game after being killed if the other one parries his soul before it rises off the screen.

Super Meat Boy

Super Meat Boy is a 2D platformer where the player plays as a small dark-red cube shape called Meat-Boy who must save his cube-shaped, heavily bandaged girlfriend Bandage Girl from the evil scientist Dr. Fetus. The game is divided into chapters, which together contain over 300 levels. Players attempt to reach the end of each level, represented by Bandage Girl, while avoiding crumbling blocks, saw blades, and various other fatal obstacles. The player can jump and run on platforms, and can jump off or slide down walls. The core gameplay requires fine control and split-second timing, and was compared to, regarding both gameplay and level of difficulty. 

Paul Robertson

Paul Robertson, is an Australian animator known for his skill and talent in pixel art and animation. Working in games such as Fez and Iron Man even films such as pixels and the new Rick and Morty film. 

Paul has had his work in popular tv shows such as The Simpsons, Gravity Falls and adventure time from 2015 - 2018 working in the animation department and even directed a few shorts himself. 

Sprites

We are using sprites to create characters and enemies inside of our 2D games, to make these we use photoshop and use pixel measurements with the pencil brush to create pixel art sprites.

After making the sprites we can either throw them straight into unreal and use them as a texture of extract it into a sprite and have a still sprite, or animate them inside photoshop, throw each frame on a sprite sheet and then put it into unreal as a flipbook to make an animated sprite.

Fonts

In my game I have used widgets for things such as the menu and the HUD, so instead of having the HUD and main menu in one, boring font I went to https://www.dafont.com/ and searched for Christmas fonts to use in my game. I found around 5 fonts that I wanted to try out, I started by using a bell font that put the letters or numbers in bells which I used for my score but then changed to a much nicer, cleaner one that I now use for almost everything as it looks nice, is easy to read and is Christmas themed.

Variables

Variables are properties that hold a value or reference in the world. These properties can be accessible to the Blueprint containing them, or they can be made accessible externally for example by using casts so that their values can be modified by designers working with instances of the Blueprint placed in a level.

Double Jump

For default, the character can jump once, to change it to however many times you desire, you would open the character blueprint, select the character movement component in the components panel, in details search jump and the slider will appear, you can then enter however many times you want the character to be able to jump at once.

Casts

Casting in unreal, is a communication method where you use/take a reference to an actor and try to convert it to a different class, think of it like fishing, you cast out using your fishing rod looking for a fish, if you get a fish the out come is true.