Occupied Outback
In Progress
About the Project
This is a game I have been working on to expand my portfolio as well as learn more about the Unreal Engine and better workflows.
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The premise of the game is semi-serious with the player having to kill enemies with boomerangs. Starting off with just one they find more and more throughout the level to throw simultaneously.
I wanted something more than just a first person shooter which is why I decided on such a weird but fun idea of having to work around a thrown projectile that you have to catch or pick back up after being thrown.
Mechanics
Realistic Boomerang Flight-path
The only weapon of the character is the boomerang. It was a bit tricky to get working perfectly, but the boomerang follows a realistic flight path and returns to the player's original location. To the right is a video displaying the flight path of the boomerang.
The player will have to work around this, as the boomerangs are a limited resource, since you have to catch or retrieve them in order to use them again. For this reason, the aim of the game is stealth, or at least fighting small groups of enemies at one time.
Dynamic AI Tasks
Each AI has their own task that they need to fulfil. Guard, Patrol and Rest are the tasks the AI carry out which are fully editable in the editor. In the editor it is as easy as placing an enemy down, using the dropdown menu to give them a task.
For example if the AI is set to guard and has a specified location they will move to it, then point themselves in the correct direction upon arrival. If no location is set, they will find one in range automatically. In this way an AI can be dropped into the level and even if you have not specified what they should do, as soon as you play they will always find something to do.
On top of this, at random intervals the AI will switch their task to either be something different, or simply move to a new location with the same task. This adds a bit of unpredictability to the game, and particularly one that focuses on stealth, keeps the player on their toes.
AI Tracking
The AI accurately and reliable tracks the player, making them very accurate shooters, difficult to escape or get behind. Below is a video demonstrating how well they track the player when moving side to side as well as when the player is at a different elevation.
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This is still a work in progress, and the AI will be further improved to work around obstructions between them and the player.
Dynamic Wind
The wind in the game at random intervals smoothly transitions into a large gust of wind with a random wind strength before settling back down again. This is tied to a single variable which effects both foliage and cloth sims.
In the future I will add dust getting kicked up by the wind during these events.
Using Procedural Mesh for Liquid
The Problem
The procedural mesh for liquid inside the bottles and glasses is the end result of a few days of trying to find a solution to a problem.
My bottles and other glass objects needed to look dusty and old, and unfortunately due to the limitations of translucent objects in UE4, getting them to look correct on the glass proved to be quite tricky. This issue was compounded by the liquid inside the glass. A translucent object inside a
translucent object created several rendering issues. I noticed that every time I launched UE4, or changed any material the liquid would render in front of glass making all my work making the glass capture the normal map and dusty details redundant. I figured this had something to do with the render sort priority specific to the material. Even if I did know how to change the glass to be a higher priority to the liquid to make the glass render first it would not be a good solution as there may be instances if bottles were to align that all of their glass would render before the liquid even if they were physically behind other bottles.
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The Solution
I found that all these issues with the glass and liquid could be avoided if the liquid was not translucent. Initially I thought of masking, but this caused the impression of a cut in my mesh with a hole in it. This is what led me onto the idea of using a procedural mesh, in which I would cut my liquid mesh and the engine will cap the hole. I also fiddled around with the material with a heavy use of the Fresnel to at least make this solid object appear more like a liquid. Since this solution required blueprints, I took the time to implement a liquid height that can be adjusted in-editor as well as being able to change which bottle is being used in the scene at any time.
Object Inspection
Dotted around the level are collectable objects that the player can take.
Since the game is set in an abandoned part of the Outback, there are many historical objects that the player can take a closer look at, and keep in their inventory if they wish.
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Some of these objects can be used later, others have writing on them and provide some written lore, others are purely collectable.