Sackrifice

This game is still in very early stages of development. Matt and I started making this game late June, but we're proud of what we've accomplished so far, considering we have jobs and other projects.

We plan on making a stealth game about playing as an animated sack that sacrifices townspeople to a lake god. The game will have a humorous tone, and as such the player sack will be clumsy, the models will be goofy looking, and the lake god will be annoyed with your attempts at sacrifices.

This is still very early in development as of 4/2/2021, and it's just here for me to test out some features.

Techy Features included:
-A* pathfinding (weird mob chasing you)
-Instantiating actors (press 'X' to shoot out ice birds)
-Dialog system (press 'X' on the stone structure at the end of the path)

Other Features:
-Landscape and foliage editing
-Basic lighting
-Importing models and materials from external programs (Blender and Substance Painter)

This project is very rough as I've been the only person working on it. I've learned Unreal Engine 4, Blender, and Substance Painter all on my own through the use of YouTube tutorials, so it's taking me longer than I hoped, but I'm really happy at how it's progressing, and I really love working on this.

Here are the things that immediately need improvement:
-The pathfinding is shaky, need better view detection, also perhaps smooth out turns using Bezier curves
-The last input before using dialogue is repeated
-Better models

The only code in Blueprints is for materials and the dialogue system, everything else is in C++.

Features/things I've learned:

- Picking up actors by attaching to actor or by using a physics handle

- Implementing A* algorithm as an actor component

- Have actors pursue a target actor using A* algorithm

- Using Blueprints (materials and dialogue system)

Credits (I implemented everything, but I definitely did not create everything):

Pathfinding: I adapted some of the pathfinding code from Sebastian Lague's Unity A* tutorial

Ice Material: Dean Ashford

Glow Material: UnrealCG

Mesh Particle Material: Dean Ashford

Water Material: Dean Ashford

Dialogue System: Reid's Channel

Art/Models: Unreal starter content, Matt's models are on his computer

Postprocessing: WorldofLevelDesign on YouTube