Looking at the recent updates I made to the player weapon systems, things are starting to feel pretty good for an MVP. At this point, there's still improvements I want to make for the AI and player, but I need to move on (for now) #ue5 #screenshotsaturday #gamedev #indiegame

Big shoutout to blockout tools plugin - Really cool tool I discovered for greyboxing things out quickly, was able to create a whole practice area for testing out player weapon mechanics #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Added in directional HUD damage indicators. This ended up being a bit more tricky expected! All indicators light up red when the damage is originating on your screen. Directional yellow indicators will light up if damage comes from offscreen #ue5 #screenshotsaturday #indiedev

During testing, I was not a big fan of chip damage accumulation. To help the player out, I added in a temporary barrier. Dealing damage will fill up this shield, which is indicated by the yellow bar over the player's health (top) #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

More little things ~ Updated NPC pursuit behavior: before, they detected targets based on distance. Now, they will only activate if their target is in line of sight. If they lose LOS, they will continue to the last seen location of their target #ue5 #ai #indiegame #gamedev

Little things ~ When it came to switching weapons, I noticed I was being locked into the animations for too long. So, I updated the weapon swap animations and made them quicker/snappier #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

I think that's a wrap on player weapons for now (QA pending)! I reached an MVP state in each part: Motion matching, aim offset, sprint, inventory, weapon swapping, character auto rotate, inaccuracy buildup, and blocked LOS warning #ue5 #indiegame #screenshotsaturday

Kept running into an issue where my crosshair would be on a target, but because of the camera offset/perspective, the LOS was actually blocked. Fortnite solves this issue with a warning at the collision point. So, implemented a similar solution! #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Added in a basic inaccuracy buildup mechanic. Configurable for each weapon as needed. When firing rapidly past a threshold, the spray pattern will increase in size. Spraying less will gradually restore the accuracy of the weapon #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

It's the little things, right? Added in auto adjust on aim when using ADS if a nearby object cuts off LOS from the crosshair due to the camera's offset. This avoids situations where the character incorrectly aims past something directly in their crosshairs #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Added in hipfire ~ When the player starts to fire this way, I have the camera automatically move to the right to give better visibility. I think in the future, I may just have the camera always have this offset if the player has a weapon drawn #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Prototyped out two more weapons: an assault rifle and pistol. Both with a focus for long-range. Luckily the asset packs they are from had blendspaces and aimoffsets. Think I might change out the crosshairs at some point #ue5 #indiegame #screenshotsaturday

With the recent equipment swap implementation, I had to rework and expand my weapon system. I blended inspiration from Fortnite's camera offsets, FOV, and ADS feel. The first weapons I prototyped were a close range assault rifle and machine pistol #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Finished up equipment swapping things ~ Got pistol-to-rifle weapon swapping working pretty smoothly. Had to make sure the animations blended into each other well. I might increase their swap speeds in the future #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

In my last post, I showed pistol-to-pistol weapon swapping. Similarly, I got the animations in for rifle-to-rifle weapon swapping. Next up, will be pistol-to-rifle swapping. So far so good! #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

More weapons stuffs ~ The player will be allowed to have two weapons equipped at a time. To support this I implemented a swap system to let the player switch weapons. The first case I handled is if the player has two pistols equipped #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Created a very basic item pickup system. When far enough away from a dropped item, a vfx indicates it can be picked up. Next up will probably be some mvp inventory ui ux stuff #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Added in a player sprint. Pretty basic so far, just increases player speed, does some smoothing on the camera as it adjusts FOV, and consumes player stamina. In the future I want to get more bespoke animations and add a lean forward #ue5 #screenshotsaturday #indiedev

aaaaand similar to my last post... I created the rifle pose search database for the player character. The anim set is from UE's Lyra Sample Project. Lovin how smooth of an integration these systems were into my existing setup. Still needs some tweaks though, more to come! #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Similar to my last post, I created and implemented a new pose search database for when the player has a pistol equipped. The anim sets are from UE's Lyra Sample Game project. #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Got the motion matching system functioning in game for the player character. The first animation pose search database I implemented is the unarmed set. It might not look like much, but it's a definite improvement from what I had before! #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Starting work on the next feature: player weapons! First I need to create an animation system that supports weapons. UE's motion matching seems like a good choice, so I migrated the sets used in the Lyra Sample Game. Next, I'll hook them up for character use #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Redid the tutorial a bit to support the new syncing mechanic and assembly hangar environment. In the beginning the player meets their instructor, gets some lore dump, then performs a sync with their Mech to start the training exercise. #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

In my last post I showed the sync system, and now on the other end of that mechanic, is the desync system! If there is room in the hangar, the player can desync their Mech to the closest available slot. #ue5 #mech #screenshotsaturday #indiedev

Here's a bit of an overview of the Mech hangar from the player's initial perspective. After climbing the scaffolding, the player can use the assembly computer to manage their Mech and perform a sync #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Continued work on putting some assets together ~ Finally designed the Mech assembly hangar! This will be the spot where the player syncs, desyncs, and manages their Mechs. Still some touchups to be made. #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Found a nice factory asset pack on Fab. Used it to practice reusable environment design and clutter placement. Also trying to be mindful of the space needed for NPCs and combat #ue5 #indiedev #gamedev

Working on a new arena level. Discovered some good abandoned building assets on Fab to use for environment decor. Planning on designing some random weather system into it as well #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Made some improvements to the dialog system. I added in support for fading in blocks of text individually separated by returns. I also made some overall UI UX improvements with widget positioning, size, and transitions. #ue5 #screenshotsaturday #indiegame #gamedev

Testing out spectator movement while the game is paused for a possible photo mode in the future. Had some fun pausing and resuming this combat scenario at various moments to get some cinematic passes #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

I decided to remove the rotation turnaround delay on Mechs after spending some time testing it in action. It made movements feel disconnected from player input. Without the delay, evasion and turning feel much more immediate! #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Similar to my last post, I plan on using AI Mechs in areas that will not have full navmesh coverage. I created a similar solution, that allows for the AI to leverage pathfinding (purple) if it's available. #ue5 #mech #ai #gamedev #indiedev

Redid the SimpleNPC AI pathfinding system ~ I plan on using NPCs in areas that will not have full navmesh coverage. I created a system where AI will leverage navmesh (green) if it's available and switch to free (no-nav) movement when necessary #ue5 #ai #indiegame #gamedev

Gave the AI Mechs a wandering state. They have the ability to search within a configurable radius for valid walkable/flyable places. The Mechs will stay grounded (walking) unless they have to fly to a part of their new location. #ue5 #mech #ai #screenshotsaturday

Was running into issues with NPC vehicles when they would overlap. The RVO (Reciprocal Velocity Obstacles) was working, but looked awkward. Instead, I came up with a custom solution: on overlap, the NPC will search for an unoccupied nearby position #ue5 #ai #indiegame #gamedev

Testing things out after all the movement enhancements, visual feedback upgrades, modified booster speeds, and improved enemy AI evasion - the current combat pace feels pretty good! #ue5 #mech #ai #indiegame #gamedev

Redid AI evasive behavior. Previously, projectiles would always trigger an evasion (exploitable) New system: projectiles have threat value. If projectiles threat values aggregate exceed a threshold, then it will trigger an evasive response #ue5 #mech #ai #indiegame #gamedev

Expanded the evasive boost capabilities: now, the boost propels the Mech in the direction the player is viewing. This should raise the skill ceiling a bit. Also, when firing weapons and requesting vertical boost, additional vertical lift is included #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

More new rotational system integration things ~ For all weapons: if your Mech is not facing the desired target, then upon activating your weapon, an auto-rotate will occur first before continuing through with the firing process #ue5 #mech #indiegame #indiedev

Given the new rotation animations and vfx, integrating those into the existing evasive boost system was a little tricky. In the end, I decided to execute the evasive boost first (for responsiveness), then follow up with any necessary rotations #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Added in a turn animation to help give the player feedback on the Mech's movement. If the turn is sharp enough, it will also trigger a vfx #ue5 #mech #screenshotsaturday #indiedev

Finally got around to some Mech movement polishing. Added in a variety of animation feedback. Most importantly: directional animations for evasive boosts. This feedback helps the player track their own dodges and telegraphs enemy dodges (oh yea also happy nye!) #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Got rid of the Mech's movement dust visual effect I was using before since it was an inefficient placeholder. To replace it, I found a nice emitter from a pack of Fab assets. After some modifications, I like how it turned out #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

While testing, I was having issues recognizing when my health was low. So, I added in a visual effect on Mechs when their health drops below 20%. This should help the player understand when their own Mech or an enemy Mech is low on health #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Added a fade when getting in/out of your Mech. This allows for two things: less jarring transition for player between modes and I get to load soft references without it being obvious (frame drops) #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

It's always the little things that end up being the trickiest. Luckily some YT vids helped out. I implemented a system so objective markers stay to the edge of the player's hud when they are no longer being directly looked at #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev #screenshotsaturday

More Ultra Dynamic Sky things ~ UDS has special nodes available that you can hook into your landscape material which allows for snow coverage. Additionally, it supports snow trails! I think that's a wrap on the UDS integration... for now #ue5 #mech #indiedev #gamedev

More fun with the Ultra Dynamic Sky plugin! I really liked the stormy weather at night (because of the lightning vfx), so I threw that weather in my usual test scenario - the results felt very dark and chaotic #ue5 #mech #ai #gamedev #indiedev

More testing with the Ultra Dynamic Sky (UDS) plugin ~ At night, by default, it applies a nice auto-exposure filter. Weather also generates light effects. I'm sure I'll be tweaking lots of these things, but it's great that it's functional right away #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Months ago, I updated engine versions and it broke my sky. I finally decided to address the issue by adding in the Utlra Dynamic Sky and Weather (UDS) plugin. Out of the box, it's incredible! I'm really impressed with what it can do #ue5 #gamedev #indiedev