This is my latest personal project which was inspired by the sorts of games I am interested in developing professionally as the next step in my career. This project is a first person shooter featuring platforming puzzles with inspiration from games series I have enjoyed and find inspiration in such as the Titanfall, Half-Life and BioShock.

 

This project currently exists as 3 block out level sections that focus on some gameplay mechanics I have developed using Blueprints. The main mechanics consist of:

 

• Wall Running - Represented in the block outs by the blue panels/walls allowing the player to cross gaps/obstacles as part of the platforming mechanics

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• Grapple - Represented in the block outs as the yellow rectangles that the player can use to pull themselves towards to aid platforming

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• Interaction Spots - these trigger things such as animating objects, turning off force fields etc

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• Enemies - Melee enemies that charge the player dealing damage if they get too close, these can be shot with the players firearm which use a health system before being killed

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• Destructible environment - Some aspects of the environment are destructible by using the players firearm to remove blocking objects, move dynamic objects etc

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• Moving Platforms - Animated platforms with adjustable variables to control timing for platforming and obstacles to avoid

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• Jump Pads - Shoot the player (and AI) into the air (vertically and horizontally) to aid in platforming

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•  Additional movement - adjustments to the default movement and completely new movement aspects such as double jumping, sprinting and crouching

 

In addition to the mechanics being scripted in Blueprints I also orchestrate the games interactive events in Blueprints. This is one of the elements I most enjoy in game development due to my background in software development, so I am comfortable using functions and implementing complex flow in visual node based scripting. This is in addition to also animating and modeling in game assets in order to create gameplay, which is part of my current industry role.

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The initial section requires the player enters the base, has to deactivate a force field and the cargo line transports seen outside of the viewpoint (these are currently static). This then allows the player to progress using one of the projects main mechanics, Wall Running. This is also the players first time at seeing the environment so I wanted to portray the mining aspect incorporated into why the base exists, but not answering what is being mined/what is being excavated as a part of environmental storytelling.