Week 4 Devlog: Assets / Emotion (1.3)

For this weeks devlog, I was tasked with creating a specific "emotion" for my player to feel as they traverse through the level. Initially, I was going to go with "Intrigue," but instead settled on "Danger." For this, I used assets from Unreal Marketplace to create a more "danger-filled" atmosphere / experience. I replaced the basic rectangle lava mesh with an actual lava mesh and flowing material, and added a few new assets here and there, such as parts from a skeleton, a vase, money bags, a chest, and a pile of coins/loot. I felt like making the lava actually realistic and adding parts of the human skeleton everywhere would convey the feeling that you might be in danger.

I also began working on the second level, though not much progress has been made.

I wanted to do a little more for this assignment, but some really badly timed issues arose in my personal life that prevented me from working on this much.

All the assets I added in this devlog are from one of these two Unreal Marketplace packs:

• Infinity Blades: Fire Lands
• Infinity Blades: Hideout

[Edit after class]: The playtesting went well and I consider it a success. I did notice a few things while watching others play it back, as well as stuff I was already aware of but couldn't get to in time. This is a list of what I plan to add/fix (or at least try):

• I want to find a way to deform/edit the platforms and walls to make the temple feel much more organic and less blocky.
• Possibly add a camera movement at the first checkpoint to show the 2 keys you need to get.
• Find and add in a few more assets to fill in the space / make it feel less empty.
• Fix a few areas where the floor lava stuck through into other rooms.
• If I'm going to continue adding more levels, I might entertain the thought of adding level names in the corner of the screen somewhere.
• Maybe add a pause menu, just for the sake of having it. Could list the current objective in there.
• Finish the main menu (it was already kind of finished but I want to reimport the background hallway to include the newer assets, maybe make something unique only for the main menu background? I want to edit the buttons too, make them feel more in place rather than feeling like "default Unreal Engine" buttons.
• The player shoots downward on falling platforms sometimes. Initially I thought it was because of the rotating platforms somehow (still could be) but it happens rarely and I can't quite figure out what's happening. I'd really like to find a fix for that.

As for the main itch page, eventually I want to swap out the video to show something more updated as it still shows the very first thing I threw together + update the images that show up on the main page.