Primary Game Testing

For each of the testing periods a timeframe of two days was given, this allowing a day of full testing for each level. By having such as quick turnaround the levels can be quickly amended if any problems occur.

Whilst testing the level Sanctuary no major problems occurred in either the way the game played or throughout the level design. The testing conducted used the bots the game has as a playable opponent and no faults could be seen in the way that the bots interacted with the environment. As this was the case the level was handed back to Joe with a result of no problems.

Whilst testing the level Highrise I noticed one major problem that occurred in the way the game played but none throughout the level design process. Again the testing included the use of bots to monitor how the bots interact with the environment, this being that they interacted with no problems. The one major problem that was located was due to an issue with frame rate. This was reported for Joe to fix before the next testing period.

Gameplay Elements

Over the weekend both of the levels had the following gameplay elements implemented; Health Pick-up, AmmoGun Pick-up, AmmoLauncher Pick-up and spawn points. Each of the pick-ups were sourced from within the game engine and provided the necessary elements in order to create a good gameplay experience.

Within the level Sanctuary the health pick-ups were placed within the base, as well as on the bridges and throughout the floor of the level. These were strategically placed close by to cover points, but not in a section where by a player could constantly heal their character and stay alive. They have also been set up through the use of blueprints to fully replenish the health of a player’s character. The ammo pick-ups for the gun have been located sufficiently throughout the map with the player never being far from AmmoGun pick-up. This allows for a constant flow of gameplay and the player never seeking out ammunition for minutes on end. The AmmoLauncher pick-ups have been sparsely placed in the level with them either being located on the sides of the level or within the centre. This choice poses more danger when trying to obtain the ammunition emphasising the class of the Launcher being a power weapon.

The spawn points for both levels are only located within the base of each team. This decision was taken as problems occurred when attempting to setup a respawn system which would locate spawns around the whole level. As the turnaround for the level was quite short, the decision was made just to keep the spawns in the bases. The spawns in each of the bases are also set up with either a value of 0 or 1, these being the values that represent the different teams. This can be seen below in the details section of the image.

In order to stop players from gaining access to unwanted areas, blocking volumes have been included in certain areas of the levels. These include areas that can be reached by the player using the double jump feature. A blocking volume has also been placed over the top of the level Sanctuary to ensure that players can't jump out of the map.

During the meeting I handed over the completed levels to Joe and a discussion was held on when the testing process would take place. As a deadline extension had just been given, we decided that there would be two periods of testing. The first will be to conduct if there are any major faults with the game. The second will be to look for any small imperfections that may have occurred during the building processes and development processes of the levels.

Sanctuary Textured and Changes to Highrise

The level Sanctuary has now been fully textured using textures sourced from the shooter game template, which the game is based off. The design created with the textures is a very fluid texture design where by the walls and ground can be truly defined from each other. This has been created intentionally so that certain areas around the level can be defined from others, such as that within the spawn as seen below.

The lights from the whitebox have also been kept in place within the bases as they correctly light those areas of the map to the correct intensity. The image below also shows that the design originally created has been transformed into a game level with good precision.

The level Highrise was also received from Lee in the end of week meeting as promised. Some changes have been made to the layout of certain areas within the level, such as areas around the spawn, but these changes have brought new methods of exiting the base to the game, meaning that there is now more diversity around the base areas.

Sanctuary Whitebox

The whitebox for the level Sanctuary has been completed and presented in front of the group on the Monday meeting. Joe and Lee both like how the level takes the key points from both of the previous designs and they like the gameplay flow of the level as well.

The aim for the end of the week is to have the level fully textured and ready for the implementation of the gameplay elements. By achieving this, the weekend can be dedicated to the implementation of the gameplay elements for both levels.

New Level Design

After a discussion in the meeting on Monday, related to the second level for the game, the group has come to the conclusion that the ‘Arena’ level and the level which Joe created for testing purposes will be fused together to create a whole new level. This new level, will draw some of the main features from both of the levels previously created and will then be expanded upon to create a new level, with a good fast gameplay style to it. After receiving Joe’s level I identified the main features and started to create a new design for the most recent level. The level that has been created is shown below and showcases the bridges that were seen inside of the ‘Arena’ level as well as a similar spawn set up. I have also taken inspiration from the outside structure of the base from Joe’s level and implemented that as I saw this as a strong feature for quick gameplay.

I also gave Lee the 3d level design for the Highrise map during the meeting so that he could begin the 3d art process. In the end of week meeting I put forward the new level design for Sanctuary and the response from Lee and Joe was that of a positive one.

The targets for the past two weeks have also been met in that the jump pad blueprint had been created and that the second level for the game had been discussed and created. The next two weeks will consist of Sanctuary being created in a whitebox form, and the gameplay elements for both levels being implemented, this allowing for Joe to complete the next step to each level which is preparing them for being built into the game.

Jump Pad Creation

As part of the level design for the map Highrise, I have decided to implement a jump pad element in order to add towards the gameplay layout which is already present in the design. There will be three jump pads located within the map with two of the jump pads, these being the ones located on the sides of the map, using two separate jump pad blueprints in order to propel the player upwards and in a certain direction.

As I am still new to the Unreal Engine 4 I have had to source a tutorial which will allow me to accomplish my aim. The tutorial used allowed me to create a jump pad using an asset of my choice, which is essential in order to create a distinct jump pad. The tutorial used has been provided below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32HpwHJBZP8

The blueprint that has been created has used a capsule alongside the asset, as shown above, in order to allow for a volume to propel the character. Within the blueprint graph an OnComponentBeginOverlap for the capsule has been used, this allowing for a character propulsion system to occur when the character steps within the boundaries of the capsule. This OnComponentBeginOverlap is then connected to a casting utility assigned to the character which is then further connected to a Launch Character node, this meaning that once the character steps within the boundaries of the capsule a launch character operation will occur creating the propulsion of the character in the desired direction.

In order for the character to be propelled in a certain direction a value has to be set within the vector properties of the Launch Character Node. Alongside this there are Booleans which can be triggered in order to control the velocity of the propulsion, for example if a character with a velocity value of 200 jumps into a jump pad, a Z override can be put in place so that the character can be propelled at the desired velocity instead of propelling the character with the desired velocity added to the current velocity. This can be seen in the image below.

To create the desired effect with the jump pads located on the side of the map the velocity was changed on the Launch Character node from the Z axis to the X axis, this being the desired direction in which the character will be propelled.

The meeting this week allowed me to showcase a finished version of the jump pad blueprint which can use any asset. Both Joe and Lee thought the jump pad was good and it allowed for ideas relating to the design of the jump pad asset to be discussed.