Started work on sound effects. Built the audio system and determined what an audio pipeline might look like. Notable first Mech sounds: idle layers, booster ignition, booster idles, steps, booster acceleration, takeoff, flight, and land. #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Prototyping out a player dodge ability. It uses energy, bursts in the direction of their choice, and can be repeatedly used. Available both on ground and in air. Definitely needs a bit of cleanup, but right now I'm focused on the functionality #ue5 #screenshotsaturday #indiedev

Another day another new system - created the concept of Guide Bots. In exchange for a Forgotten Token (new item), these fellas will point you in the direction of a valuable resource. They will be part of robot communities, which can be discovered while exploring #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Added in a system that the player can engage with while they are exploring: Data Replicators. These points of interest serve as opportunities to lore dump and provide the player with xp #ue5 #mech #screenshotsaturday #gamedev

Did a variety of fixes and updates to the player's swim ability: camera fixes, a new breath meter, improved splash vfx, better buoyancy feel and slowdown on entry, underwater sprint, and booster ability usage #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Added in a melee ability for the player. I gave the hitbox a pretty large radius since melee is a bit riskier to use. In the future I plan on adding in suck-to-target logic and dashing behavior #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

cont from last post - of course you can fish off the Mech! Although it's really simple, I've been enjoying the whole aesthetic of the partially finished scenery and features - knowing what it can be one day #ue5 #mech #screenshotsaturday #indiedev

Added in some verrrry basic fishing. It's activated by using a new item: the Fishing Kit. On use, a basic casting animation is played, before looping into an idle. While actively fishing, every couple of seconds a skill check is rolled to see if you catch a fish #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

final touches for wildlife - I implemented the death state with some basic behavior. If the NPC receives damage, they try to flee. If they are killed, then a VFX plays alongside their death animation. There's also a chance they drop an item! #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Field of Flowers - Gustav Klimt

In my last post, I showed how wildlife NPCs flee from the player as a threat. I've expanded this concept so that if the player is in their Mech, then the NPCs threat range detection will be larger, causing them to flee sooner #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

cont from last post - besides the simple idle and wander states, I wanted the wildlife to have one more basic behavior: fleeing from nearby threats. If the player gets too close, then the NPC will do its best to run away #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

I've had an animal wildlife asset pack for quite sometime now, so I decided to build the systems for supporting the concept of basic animal NPCs. First up was crafting their behavior as very simple state machines that go through idle and wander states #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

more Brushify assets benchmarking - I setup a level with some game systems and about 80,000 trees. This is about double what I expect to use in the final product. On the highest settings, with my 3080, I get between 50-60 fps, which is great! #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

cont. from last post - been doing more Brushify asset benchmarking for environments. This time I've been specifically focusing on trees. Leveraging Nanite proved very optimized and gets rid of billboard popping #ue5 #mech #screenshotsaturday #indiedev

Working with new assets now from the Brushify library - I'm really enjoying what's available. Had to make some modifications for my use cases and optimizations. To start out, I've been benchmarking the landscape material and grass. So far so good! #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Finally got around to adding in the Mech afterburner (aka sprint). It functions by holding the Evasive Boost button, which will engage the afterburner and consume energy at an increased rate for a consistent speed boost #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

cont. from last post: if you run over crystal resource nodes in your Mech, it will instantly convert into a stackable item (Ethereal Dust) that can be traded for currency with merchants #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Added in a resource area system which allows hand authoring parts of a level with resources that replenish offscreen. The first resource type I implemented is a simple crystal node that the player can refine into different items #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

More Extraction Tech development: while adventuring, the player may stumble upon buried Mech weapons. These buried objects can be extracted. Once completed, the weapon will be available in their home base to use for their Mech #ue5 #mech #screenshotsaturday #gamedev

Little lunch time doodle. Love a stubby sci fi ish revolver

(Cont. last post) Extraction Tech is also what the player will use to claim important objects in the game. For example, if they destroy an Enemy Mech and want to obtain parts from it, then they will perform an Extraction on the Mech's corpse #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Boss Key for Hyper Typer 2000! What flavor do u think it is?? #blender #pixelart #gamedev

Added in the Extraction System! This is what the player will use to safely return from adventuring to their home base. When an extraction is complete, the summary of its total cost (repairs, crime, etc) is provided to the player #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

I added a new vfx (the smokey swirls) to the evasive boost for Mechs. Besides giving good feedback to the player, the effect also helps telegraph when an enemy Mech is performing an evasive boost! #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

I want to make death less punishing when the player is outside their Mech. So, I'm testing out a new idea: when the player is defeated, it triggers the Failsafe Breaker. This new system evacuates the player to the nearest safe Landing Site. #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Added in repair systems: when a Mech reaches zero health, it does not get destroyed. It can be brought back to a Mech Hangar to get restored. Repairing a damaged Mech requires three Ethereal Cells, which can be slotted from the Assembly Computer #ue5 #mech #gamedev #indiegame

Added in the trade system. Trying out an idea where it's integrated with the dialog system. I like the idea of having a conversation while trading. Also, if close enough to your Mech, you can buy/sell items to/from your Mech's inventory. #ue5 #mech #screenshotsaturday #gamedev

splish splash here's some improved water effects ~ I never really liked my original implementation, so I ripped it out and added in newer lightweight visuals/system to convey water splashes - using placeholders as usual, still better than before! #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Cont. from last post: been benchmarking how levels perform when getting filled up with sparse tree coverage. Each clump of trees is one actor, overall totaling to tens of thousands of them. So far so good! Time to move on to other thangs #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Been having fun refining the process for getting landscapes in game. Even at the early stages, when only the landmass is in the level, I've been enjoying just flying around looking at things #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Added a scan range to the Mech's sight system. Objects marked with this scan are indicated by blue diamonds on the HUD. The purpose of this is to inform the pilot of potential targets outside their target lock range #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Alongside the change to a non-partitioned level setup, I've optimized ground cover by staggering individual meshes draw distances. Also, I've created variants of destructible actors that use clumps of static meshes to reduce total actor count #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

World partition system was a bit difficult to work with and HLOD generation wasn't working out as expected. Sooo I decided to switch over to non-partitioned levels that use scaled up landscapes. 32km x 32km size (at 8x res) is working surprisingly well #ue5 #indiedev #gamedev

Added in a mechanic that allows you to skip the jump delay - if you initiate an Evasive Boost while jumping at the same time, the Mech will also get an immediate vertical impulse. I think this will help reward more skilled players #ue5 #mech #screenshotsaturday #indiedev

After going over some AC6 footage, I decided to adjust the Mech's aerial idle pose: bent the knees more, and tilted the hips forward. Also refactored the jump: created a new jump animation and added more initial upward impulse #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Added in crosshair bloom to give better feedback to the player for their weapon inaccuracy buildup. Nothing too complex right now, just scaling up the size of the icon. In the final product, will probably have pieces of the crosshair react individually #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Enough with the spacecraft stuff for now - back to Mech things! I noticed players getting confused about the Travel Boost system startup because of lack of feedback. So, I threw some text in their face to get rid of any confusion #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

More spacecraft thangs: added in a simple boost ability. Similar to how the Player's sprint works, using the boost consumes energy and provides increased speed #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

More spacecraft stuff ~ got basic movement functioning with tilt on turning. Ended up being a bit more difficult than expected, but I like how it turned out. Still plenty of things to tweak. #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

I swear this is within scope... I decided last minute that it might be fun to be able to pilot spacecrafts (found a good Fab asset pack) - idk how far I'll take this idea, but for now I'm just gonna send it. Part 1: player can enter/exit the ship, with some vfx #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Really exciting stuff here (mostly UI UX)... I added in the storage system. This feature is what manages how inventories exist on different containers, such as a Player, their Mech, or the garage, and how items can be transferred between all of them #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Feedback I often receive is the Mech movement is responsive, but did not appear responsive. Although this sortof thing is typically later-on polish, I decided to improve it now: I added a lean to the Mech's strafing and Evasive Boosts #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Improved the tutorial's final assessment. Previously the player had to get Regina below half health to pass. Instead, I changed Regina's behavior so she doesn't use her shield until she is below half health. It creates a phase 2 sortof vibe instead #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Finished up the Battle Walkers and integrated them into the existing Mech tutorial. They serve as a good medium-difficulty step before the final part where you engage in Mech versus Mech combat #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Battle Walker implementation continued ~ When destroyed, the Battle Walker plays a destruction VFX and animation. Similar to other Simple NPC vehicles in the game, the destroyed husk remains. p.s. it was fun putting a group of Battle Walkers against a duo of Mechs #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Love how these Battle Walkers function in a group. Still working on the right amount of DPS from them, but so far they have a good consistency when there's like 4-6 of them in a pack #ue5 #screenshotsaturday #indiedev

Finishing up the implementation of what I call the "Battle Walker" Separating legs and top into two movable mechanisms ended up taking longer than expected. Overall worth it though. Two weapons available for use: missiles and burst machine guns #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev

Going to be adding a medium-sized enemy soon. Had a nice Fab asset from a while ago that I got on sale or through some sort of deal. Should begin implementation tomorrow! #ue5 #mech #indiegame #gamedev

Made improvements to the pilot weapons tutorial. Removed some of the hand-holding that was there before and most importantly made sure Regina (your instructor) yells at you if you talk to her with your weapon drawn #ue5 #indiegame #gamedev