Friday, 6 February 2015

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.



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.

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