Developing Falling Actor Script for Helios
Another mechanic that was going to be featured in out game was that of debris falling from the sky hurting the player if they we hit. This meant that I needed to create a custom script for this mechanic which had the follow results:
garbageactor.uc | |
File Size: | 1 kb |
File Type: | uc |
Here is the relevant script file for anyone interested in playing around with it. What the actor is doing is spawning into the would with the properties of a Kactor. It has a low life span so too many don't populate the level and when the player touches any of them they will receive the specified damage. Very simple but effective script to have on deck so please use it to you hearts delight.
Developing the Blue Light Mechanic featured in my game Helios
During the prototyping phase of the development of Helios one of my task was to develop the functionality of one of the games main mechanics we labeled as the Blue light. It properties were the following:
Over time these properties would be developed and tweak as the game design became more cohesive but it is always a good idea to see how concepts develop and change over each iteration. Here is a very early prototype of how the Blue Light mechanic would function in Helios.
- It would toggle on a Blue Light with a button press (Pretty obvious from the title)
- It would drain the players health over specific intervals of time
- Lastly it would power up objects in the environment (Usually triggering a Matinee for assigned actors)
Over time these properties would be developed and tweak as the game design became more cohesive but it is always a good idea to see how concepts develop and change over each iteration. Here is a very early prototype of how the Blue Light mechanic would function in Helios.
Light Puzzle Game
Here is a sample of one my earlier works for a school assignment. The idea or concept behind this level prototype was to explore and expand my use and knowledge of how to utilize effective lighting techniques in a level.
As you have seen in the video above the level design isn't too complex since I wanted to just explore how lights can effect the overall atmosphere of a level. So I decided early in the design that I would make the level very straight forward so much more time could be spent on developing some cool level lighting effects. So during the first part of the level, players will have the objective of shooting out some light fixtures that will darken the level until it is pitch black.
In kismet I made the light fixtures take damage, toggle off their point light actors and also as the number of light fixtures turned off it increased a counter that toggled between two skylights I placed in the level that added the effect of the level getting darker.This also lead to the door leading further into the level to open revealing a new path for the player
Glowing Light Ball
On the next section of the my level: The Hallway I wanted players to focus on a specific point so as they proceeded forward they would be somewhat entice by one particular object. So I used a simple particle effect to act as a light source in the now pitch black environment.
Light Puzzle
If you look at my kismet sequence you find that the particle effect is actually teleporting across the hallway while the greenish light emitted from it is just a series of toggle-able point lights set up to react when the player is in proximity of a trigger. Now at this stage of the level development I did mull over the idea of just creating a custom script that basically added the particle effect and the point light as one place-able actor in the level but decided to go with a more simpler route because I wanted more time to finish the main feature of my level the puzzle design.
Here is where I really wanted to focus a large amount of my time and work for the level; designing a simple puzzle game using light combinations.From the video you might recall that as you proceed into the room the NPC you met earlier in the level tells you about the lock door behind him and the puzzle to unlock it. So the door has three switches that are unlocked by creating the correct combination of light colors in the room.
Each switch is unlock by finding the two correct light combination. A hint system is in place to inform the player of the correct combinations by associating each light color with an emotion. So for example in the game green is associated with envy and certain tidbits in the hint system would mention how envy and other emotion color relate to each other.
Each switch is unlock by finding the two correct light combination. A hint system is in place to inform the player of the correct combinations by associating each light color with an emotion. So for example in the game green is associated with envy and certain tidbits in the hint system would mention how envy and other emotion color relate to each other.
So the player has four light switches that toggle on which are a red, green, yellow, and blue point light.
Next I needed to make some boolean values to set up the logic for the puzzle later in the kismet sequence.
Next came setting up the switches that would toggle on the lights and the accompanying static mesh to signify that the switch was activated.
Now here is where the puzzle's logic kicks in. When the player turns on a light switch a signal is sent to a kismet node that turns a previous false boolean value to true. In this case the boolean value called red light is now true and then sends a message to a remote event that will further check the puzzle's logic. When the player hits the switch again the boolean will go back to its original setting of false.
So in previous part we saw a message be set to a remote event called "compare". In this picture we see that the remote event then sends a signal to a compare boolean kismet node that is checking to see if two of the boolean values we set up previously are true. When both those values are set to true than one of the door switches is toggled on and sends a signal to a counter kismet node that will verify each door switch has been activated.
Also you might have noticed that before a signal is sent to the counter which is off screen in this image we toggle off another light and set it to false. This is where the puzzle aspect and hint system comes in game. To avoid players from just turning on all the light switches at once I needed to make sure that certain combinations would turn off certain switches so that players had to rely on hints provide to proceed further. The result was what you saw in the video before.
Also you might have noticed that before a signal is sent to the counter which is off screen in this image we toggle off another light and set it to false. This is where the puzzle aspect and hint system comes in game. To avoid players from just turning on all the light switches at once I needed to make sure that certain combinations would turn off certain switches so that players had to rely on hints provide to proceed further. The result was what you saw in the video before.