I was really busy lately closing The Collider 2 that’s why I haven’t posted anything.
The Collider 2 is really fast game. Here you can see how I’m playing it.
It is supporting HTC Vive and Oculus Rift as well.
Final Book should cover only Blueprints?
I have tough decision to make and I would like to ask you guys for help. As you may already know after finishing ShooterTutorial blog tutorials I will start working on full featured Unreal Engine 4 e-book which could be named “Learning UE4 by example: First Person Endless Shooter”. This will be big thing as I would like to learn every piece of UE4 tools that is needed to create such game…but let’s get back to decision.
As I’m doing more stuff in C++ lately I would like to ask you guys to answer simple question. Implementation in the Book should cover only Blueprints or proper usage of C++ and Blueprints?
From my point of view it should cover both C++ and Blueprints as it is proper way of using Unreal Engine 4 but the final decision will be based on your answers.
I have added poll at side bar. You can find it there!
Variables Debug Component
If you want to iterate quickly you need to have good debug tools. In this Tutorial I will use knowledge from Set/Get Variables to draw widget with list of variables. Basically if you want to show an variable you need to print it out, or create custom widget for specific Actor. Thanks to Debug Component:
- You will be able to debug any variable in any actor that you want,
- You don’t need to create any custom print / widgets,
This can be achieved using C++ only but as always it will be super easy! (learn UE4 C++!)
RTS Camera and unit movement
This time I will focus on another requested tutorial about RTS camera movement and unit movement. In this tutorial I will create:
- RTS camera supporting: zooming, scrolling and moving,
- Selecting units,
- Moving units,
Remember – you can always request tutorial!
Get / Set variables by Name
Before I will move forward with perks I would like to show you guys how to get, set and increase variables (floats and ints) by name. You don’t need to have reference to variable to make operations on it.
In this tutorial I will create global functions that can:
- Get/Set float by name,
- Get/Set int by name,
- Increase float/int by name,
Again I will use C++ for this and as always it will be super easy!
Online Game Balancing tool #1 – Base Class
After first playable demo I have encountered lot of problems with ShooterTutorial gameplay. I would like to fix them all but first I need to have a way to quickly iterate balance of the game. In this tutorial you will learn:
- how to change base weapon and player variables over internet,
- how to have backup offline values,
I will do this using C++ but it will be very easy!
TKGame Jam 2016 – Grand Theft Taxi
I’m after TKGameJam 2016 and I have another proof that you can do a lot in Unreal Engine 4 in small amount of time. Game was created by me, @smallshake and @ogniok with special thanks to @politko! We haven’t had any graphics artist in the team.
Dive into madness in this fast paced taxi simulator. You have ten seconds to get your clients to the destination or else they won’t pay you!
Game can be downloaded at GameJolt.
I would like to show you guys couple of pipeline decisions we did. Maybe it will be helpful for you.
First Playable Milestone
I’m finally at point where I can show the game and get some feedback. I can call this as First Playable Milestone. The great thing about ShooterTutorial is that I’m doing it totally live, freestyle without any preparation. You will be able to see and analyze whole development process.
Basically in normal environment you should be able to get to this milestone by 2-3 days work playing only with placeholders. It took me 9 months (!!!) to get to this point as I’m doing lot more stuff than usually and 90% of my time consumes tutorials.
Dissolve Dying Effect
Currently my enemies are just disappearing. ShooterTutorial will be ported to Mobile some day and I want to be sure that my ragdols can be turned off as soon as possible. That’s why I will add nice dissolve effect. Which should be:
- Component based – can be attached to any Skel/Static mesh actor,
- Using Material Layers – this way I will get original material,
Featured Backer – Epic Games
I have awesome news for you guys! Epic Games backed Shooter Tutorial for 14,000$ in their Epic Games Educational Dev Grants!
This is good time to share some details about the future.
First Milestone: Finish ShooterTutorial.
First goal is to finish ShooterTutorial in current form. Freestyle live development blog explaining step by step what I’m doing.
I’m aware that some of the tutorials can be hard for beginners…that’s why I decided to create a e-book for people that are starting their game development trip.
Second Milestone: Book for Beginners.
When ShooterTutorial will be finished I will start working on “Learning UE4 Blueprint by Example” e-book. Which will focus more on game development overall and how to use Blueprints to create shooter game. Book will use only free assets and will be friendly for beginners. It will feature exactly the same game as I’m doing here but it will be written from scratch taking knowledge that I have learned.
ShooterTutorial milestones:
There is still lot of stuff do to in ShooterTutorial before it can be finished:
- Closed demo (this will happen really soon and will be iterated couple of times)
- Endless mode,
- Weapon / Character upgrades,
- Steam Support,
- VR Support,
- Hi-End mobile Support,
Hope I shared some light here and you guys will like the e-book idea!
Patreon