Hi, I'm Santiago Salvador
Captains Blog
Execute your command, whatever that may be.
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042525
External Update:
Immersed in level design. I've made many for the 2-d space, and have played thousands of 3d levels. Now I'm combining that with you tube university to figure out best practices in creation, and design. some videos I'm following: Out of the many videos I've reviewed, I would say the blocking out videos had the least impact on what my goal is. It turned out that I'm shooting for something called "Collision first blocking out" which is a no brainer to me, so I'm going with it, and there is not a lot of info on that.
The Videos
Spatial communication is a great video to learn why things work when they do. I would intuitively implement these methods, but intention is key when you are a designer, and learning the queues that you are giving your player is essential in creating a level that is conducive to gameplay pacing. This video is actually great because he walks you through a level and points out all elements as he goes. My favorite part of how he does this is that he shows how the level shows tension and releases tention. that is a high point of my overall game design in making my game.
The radically non-linear single player level video is a wealth of experience in 30 minutes. It introduced me to MDA Framework which is Mechanics (rules, data), Dynamics(runtime behavior), and Aesthetics(emotional connection).
Common issues and solutions:
1. Too liner = Open up space
2. One solution to beat level is a problem = Trust the gameplay, give it room
3. No structure = Use layout, theme.
4. Not reactive = Balance around player
5. Feels Random or empty = Communicate better
6. Not enough gameplay = Game design evaluation
7. Not the right style = Trash it and start over
What works:
1. Dynamics
2. pacing
2. Space for gameplay.
041625
MAJOR UPDATE:
Most of my updates are on my company Discord channel. Essentially, starting April 01, 2025, I started the official Pre-Alpha. Following a possibly generous 2-year plan, I have an excellent method of divining timing on complex projects by applying what I know about Hofstadter's Law, which also applies to traffic. Consider how long it should take you, like a 30-minute drive in traffic. Then, when there's traffic, you multiply it by 3, and your drive is always an hour and a half. In this case, I drew up an ambitious plan to get it done by October, but the prototype wasn't done until April, so I started my plan then and multiplied by 3, ending up with roughly 2 years. Still ambitious, but I am certain it can be accomplished at this pace. "Aim for the stars, land on the mountains," they say.
022325
Yesterday I completed the tutorials below.
Resolved Blocker. took about 15 minutes. Traced the issue down to the "Blueprint Task" AIMoveTo node not being assigned a pawn. Screenshot below showing the Controller Pawn pin on Event ReceiveExecuteAI node to the "Pawn" pin on the AI MoveTo node.
Completed the following tutorials.
Also looked into the future of this tutorial and it looks like it ends, but I have a plan to shift over to the other tutorial that covers additional aspects of this and also look into yet even more tutorials that will help me get closer to the mechanics that I desire.
Today I will pivot and look over into the latest animation systems with the grtav tutorial on the same code that I'm on. Last time there was a bug that caused a crash related to skeletons which was given an emergency patch after I already picoted to the gta6 tutorials.
Blocker: Now I'm having trouble getting the police officer to aim. Not sure what to do. Pretty much stuck.
Also feeling like rubber necking back to the GTA5 tut that's newer. The thing that brought me back to this one was that it was called gta6, but after going through it, I'm feeling that the other one may be more put together. Archiving the current build of this one, and getting back to the newer one using the latest locomotion systenm wich overall looks better. Now I can also take what I've learned and get the head to look where I want it to. Will see what else I can transfer to the new one.
022225
Yesterday I completed the tutorials below.
Continuing tutorials.
Blockers include something gone wrong in police ai tutorials, though I'm considering simply scrapping it and redoing it, it didn't take long and it was working when I started before the last tutorial.
022125
Yesterday I completed the tutorials below.
Also did some visionary work. Partook in a soundbath where I had the opportunity to get into the game in my head and play out the mechanics and camera angles. Not much for the AI at the moment but I know what it's suppose to feel like more than look like so far. The visuals still looking gritty like Silent Hill but also has the grittiness and darkness of a wasted city.
Today continuing more tutorials. No blockers.
022025
Yesterday I completed the tutorials below.
Side-note, watched my kids play through Punisher arcade game all the way to the end. It was awesome watching them handle mobs of enemies with Punisher and Nick Fury. Also experiencing them fighting the Bonebreaker, Bushwaker, and the King Pin, was very cool because this game really did a good job at making you feel the punches. I narrated of course, and that was fun, doing my best Dolph Lundgren Punisher, and Vincent D'OnofrioKing Pin was entertaining. Also a little Samual L. Jackson voiceover on the traditional Nick Fuy had me smiling. My kids know him as "Frozone" from The Incredibles. They know the King Pin from the Daredevil series. They like watching the lawyerly parts, and the parts the social interactions with Karen and Foggy. Anyways, this was an epic moment in father-hood.
Today continuing more tutorials. No blockers.
021925
Yesterday I completed the tutorials below. It was a highly productive day.
Also found a solid pivot on one aspect of the preproduction, the theme is now recorded as "Game Idea #46" This is in response to thoughts I've carried for a while now about how much the BB concept storyline and gameplay fit in with the gameplay that I actually am aiming for, and they don't entirely. I am looking at more of a Ninja Gaiden with better projectile weapon mechanics. Ultimately the game idea ia a marriage
Today continuing more tutorials. No blockers.
021725
Completing the equip uneguip rifle animation. Got aiming and the zoom that goes in with it along with all the nuances in the animations. Also got the Gun audio and camera shake along with muzzle flash effect (using the legacy effects) so that was pretty much like when I made the beacon of light on abcduck.
021625
So I went back and am again rebuilding the locomotion for my character. I may have done this about 8 times by now and it seems that it can be pretty different every time. This timw however I'm doing it the way I did the first few times, because it seems like "the right waay", and not only that I've got head motion like in the Silent Hil games that I love.. I'm going to compartmentalize progress in case anything happens that would compromise the legacy of the build.
Also added an equip animation and a rifle.
021525
The High Council has decided that from here on out, more screenshots of blueprints and video caps of gameplay of my work shall be uploaded here for the record. On that note, I borked my last souls project officially during the time I was working on the repo and ended up with a broken game on the repo. A list of people I admire or respec ton youtube for what they have taught me. Jonas is a developer of epic proportions, Gorka is a deity of Unreal knowledge. and Thomas Brush simplifies things like chatgpt, but things like marketing and roadmapping success.
Another thing I did today was quantify my work by going back in the log and updating my notes with videos and a blueprint I actually got a screenshot of and kept.
Also in order to keep the project on track Daily Standups are back in order as well as Sprints and all ceremonious activities therein .
Going to hit the GTA6 project tomorrow. with intentions of learning . It's possible that a 2 week sprint should be enough to get through the entire thing.
Action Items:
10 day/2 week sprints. End of 1st sprint is at eom.
Deliverables: Complete the open world game infrastructure in UE5.
This is a total of 37 steps and as a result may take longer. unless I complete about 3.5 steps per day.
021425
Got to the point where I used a different character model and after some work i figured out the New UE5 Retargeting animation system and have even further cone down the blueprint component rabbit hole for creating characters children classes of parents. Fixed bone issues and am more confident in being able to import other models into unreal with success. Naturally technology has simply caught up with me and has graced me with the priveledge of automating the rigging process so I am greatful. Beyond that I learned to constrain objects to the skeleton, so essentially how to place various weapons in a characters hand and have it move along, or even two weapons. It's all understood now. Very simple, just attaching it to a socket and calling it out in the player blueprint. Now going into a new level of advanced locomotion and bouncing off some gta6 tutorials i found.
021325
So I usually copy the build over to a git folder and then use that as the local source for the repo, but for some reason it was not working anymore. LFS and all. So I don't know what happened, but after I just went to backup builds locally and it was all good, but when I went back in the ai boss blueprint didn't work anymore. It kept crashing UE every time I tried to work with that blueprint. I tried making a copy and duplicating my work with that exception, and then that one started crashing too. Not sure why, but at least I can run the build. In any case, with that said, I decided to take what I've learned and pivot towards replicating on the latest UE 5.5.3 and going with the CC game theme on this one since it's more applicable to what the tutorial will be setting me up to do. Later apply what I've learned to the work to the new work I'm endeavoring. So far today I exported the new unreal Advanced Locomotion System from the sample project and imported it into my open world canvas, set game mode and pawn. Going to do my best to r021425
Got to the point where I used a different character model and after some work i figured out the New UE5 Retargeting animation system and have even further cone down the blueprint component rabbit hole for creating characters children classes of parents. Fixed bone issues and am more confident in being able to import other models into unreal with success. Naturally technology has simply caught up with me and has graced me with the priveledge of automating the rigging process so I am greatful. Beyond that I learned to constrain objects to the skeleton, so essentially how to place various weapons in a characters hand and have it move along, or even two weapons. It's all understood now. Very simple, just attaching it to a socket and calling it out in the player blueprint. Now going into a new level of advanced locomotion and bouncing off some gta6 tutorials i found. Using the tutorial below.
021425
Got to the point where I used a different character model and after some work i figured out the New UE5 Retargeting animation system and have even further cone down the blueprint component rabbit hole for creating characters children classes of parents. Fixed bone issues and am more confident in being able to import other models into unreal with success. Naturally technology has simply caught up with me and has graced me with the priveledge of automating the rigging process so I am greatful. Beyond that I learned to constrain objects to the skeleton, so essentially how to place various weapons in a characters hand and have it move along, or even two weapons. It's all understood now. Very simple, just attaching it to a socket and calling it out in the player blueprint. Now going into a new level of advanced locomotion and bouncing off some gta6 tutorials i found.
021325
So I usually copy the build over to a git folder and then use that as the local source for the repo, but for some reason it was not working anymore. LFS and all. So I don't know what happened, but after I just went to backup builds locally and it was all good, but when I went back in the ai boss blueprint didn't work anymore. It kept crashing UE every time I tried to work with that blueprint. I tried making a copy and duplicating my work with that exception, and then that one started crashing too. Not sure why, but at least I can run the build. In any case, with that said, I decided to take what I've learned and pivot towards replicating on the latest UE 5.5.3 and going with the CC game theme on this one since it's more applicable to what the tutorial will be setting me up to do. Later apply what I've learned to the work to the new work I'm endeavoring. So far today I exported the new unreal Advanced Locomotion System from the sample project and imported it into my open world canvas, set game mode and pawn. Going to do my best to replicate everything without variance so I can learn, and then go in and make changes after I have that base code done and archived as a base prototype reference point.
020925
Got through duplicating everything in the tutorial without variance so I can learn, and then got in and made changes . Archived as a base prototype reference point.
020825
Created Boss AI and animations. Went through retargeting and also swapping animations for one attack and then another. Spread out test area. Boss AI, Character model and animation swapping and retargeting, and AI Health Stats. Large enemy is now a Lava Monster and player is a Valkarie, both animated idle, motion, and attacks. Needs death. Boss now has AI chase player and 2 attacks. Also Boss health bar is a special health bar, that displays at the bottom center of screen with boss name.
020825
Over the last month or so (sleepless nights del), I've picked up my third-person project and made significant progress. The animations are now more fluid, and I've implemented a new attack system with a light attack and a three-hit axe combo.
I've also added a new locking system that locks the player's orientation and camera onto the target, along with a target lock icon. The camera has been fine-tuned, and I'm currently replacing the placeholder art with something that better fits the desired aesthetic.
One of the major areas where I've grown is in my understanding of skeletal systems. I've also updated the enemy AI with state machines and blackboards. Additionally, I've focused on improving game organization through inheritance and object-oriented programming (OOP) principles.
The final goal is to create a solid foundation for this project and other similar games in pre-production, such as SE, BB, and MK. Once this foundation is complete, I can easily transition to asset generation for those projects.
.
120524
The sorrow of a pure heart
A heart, vast and unguarded,
Swells with love for all who wander near.
Affection lingers, gentle and kind,
Yet devotion, steadfast, belongs to one alone.
A silken cord tightens at the throat,
Each breath a struggle, each thought a yearning.
The quiet of solitude beckons,
Yet greater still is the longing for understanding,
For the weight of the soul to be lifted by grace.
The camaraderie of friends, once cherished,
Now seeks a blessing—to drift apart in peace.
Within, a child stirs, forgotten but not lost,
Begging to be seen, to be fed, to be free.
120424
Catch-22: The Passion of Art
I’ve reached a point where belief flickers alive again: this time, creating from passion might truly work. Art, raw and personal like an entry in a journal, could finally regain the reverence it once held in the days of unguarded dreams.
But I’ve seen how the show goes. Symbols that once felt sacred get stripped down and fused with pop culture, reshaped for an audience eager to consume but slow to understand. That’s the work of performers—artists who perform to survive.
At its core, though, art is a language. It doesn’t aim to entertain; it exists to connect. It’s the soul speaking in its own tongue, one that few will ever learn. Something deep within longs to be heard, but its words are not of this world.
To create for the show isn’t just about selling out—it’s about losing something vital. It’s not the betrayal of pandering that wounds; it’s the hollowness that comes from creating without soul. What joy could there be in such a mechanical act? It would leave nothing behind but a faint echo of what was once alive.
120424
Tongue
Art speaks its own tongue,
Not to please but to connect—
Few will ever learn.
7/9/24
Current efforts are in Blender and modeling at the moment. Also working on 2d pixel art for a project with NSG.
6/6/24
Granular updates have been logged in Github as progress on tickets. Currently ABCDuck is getting brought off the shelf for further development. TDSSS is being shelved on the coding side as assets are being created. Looking good so far since scrapping the previous enemy wave spawner in favor of a new (unfinished) sin wave spawner. So to be clear I will be working on tightening up ABCDuck per tickets in the github ticket system. No blockers.
4/19/24
My videogame company has a new name. "FunGoWin Games"!
For the past month and a half, all original goals for "A-B-C Duck!" have been met. Iteration planning is underway.
Macho Killers Top-Down has begun in GODOT. Using the 2D-Shoot-em-up framework I've been able to tone down that wacky camera, and tune mechanics to allow for a more cinematic experience.
Designing Math Game for new project.
3/28/24
Skipped standup yesterday but in these last two days I have been refactoring some of my Text3DActors used in the main menu because I was implementing the success menu and am streamlining the menu system. Scrapped and reecreated the now spawnPlatform_bp to have greater control of the shape used to have the duck stand on when spawning. For spawnPlatform currently multiplying the Z axis by 10 to yeet it out of view and divide later to return it to view. I've also stripped down the level outside of view from the camera, and touched up lighting. Also now I have the success menu populating in part. I realized that blueprints is pretty much the way to go with everything. It really improves flow or I have improved my flow using blueprints.
Today I will continue working towards completing the success screen, as it is highest priority followed by the streak counter. Also I should do a sprint video to show progress.
No blockers.
3/26/24
Yesterday I figured a more elegant solution to the rotation problem by regressing controls. that way input remains highly interactive and gameifide.. Still need to implement. and it does involve redoing controls but not in the way i was thinking before. Game Engine will help. Fixed a bug where the Z keeps dropping in an invisible state after you win the game causing you to hear the water splash,. Also now that I disabled character movement upon objective completion, you hear him catch it everytime, so I decided to go ahead and get in there and fix it by moving location of box to the same location I yeet the letter to. I figured they would be constrained since they are within the same actor, and i was dealing with them similarly, but I guess it does not in this scenario. I noticed some things work differently when using "3D . In addition I added the confetti pop effect and the pop sound when grabbing the letters.
Today I fixed a bug with a hitch on first load. I will be working on the finish screen and finalize the loop. I started on the menus, specifically after game completion, to close the loop. with a stats menu. I am resetting actors to their initial state and presenting play and quit options. I'm also going to be working with the spotlight "bp_SpotLightMarker" wich I made to be the beacon the signals where the next drop is landing. Completed my first Niagara effect without a tutorial because I needed something that wasn't covered. Shower water. Added water sound in the background and tightened a few other screws I came across that needed some tightening. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired about the heads up spotlight, so I decided to find a solution. I found a cool looking spawn point within the Infinity Blade effect pack by epic. Putting them to work on this one for me too, they are really worth the deal they offer. UE5 pulls weight like someone on the team. UE5 is someone on the team that works for free and doesn't get paid until you actually make some real money.
No Blockers
3/25/24
yesterday fixed start timing issue. Also per Sprint 2 goals, I knocked out the bubble transition. As we only have 1 transition, from the splash to the main menu, it's not so bad. Also worked on lighting. Got back to that brilliant shine that Unreal is known for. I also did a little tweaking on the game object, and set it to not account for mass in it's physics. I think it creates a smoother drop. With the exception of turning the character and making him face the player when turning, all of sprint 2 is done including the bonus music thing. I already started planning for sprint 3. Redoing the control system is not something I look forward to, but it won't be too much if it's going to give me complete control over how the player looks when moving. Because I will be having various assets, I want to make sure i learn how to control them all properly.
Today I will be working on particle effects for the end loop/stats.
No Blockers
3/24/24
Yesterday worked on market research. I found that there are some games that make good money out there and A-B-C-Duck is not necessarily marketable in terms of making millions, but with some magic anything is. Never-the-less, the goal is unchanged and it will be executed to spec. Concluded on the blocker for changing duck direction of rotation when turning from one extreme to the other so that he faces the camera as he rotates. Solution will be to recreate the player controls which should not be too hard at this point but I have till the end of the sprint, and the scope of that request is greater than the time allotted. Never-the-less, since I've been tracking ahead on weekends, I expect to be on time.
Today I'm going to get the bubble transition screen.
No Blocker
3/23/24
Yesterday I accomplished the splash effect on the duck jump and when a letter dunks into the water.
Today I'm doing some market research. Created the blueprint for the light beacon again. added a light component. Will have to work on lighting again before getting too far into it since I scrapped the last lighting setup when i needed to start fresh. Per sprint 2 goals I definitely will also be getting to the bubbles transition screen. I also already was trying to get the duck to face the player when turning, but I am finding that it's a bit more complex than I understand at this moment. I tried messing with the controllers, inverting things, and connecting things in different places. I clean up node code, like got rid of unused y axis movement, and left the stuff that actually does something. Since I was able to make the duck face the camera at game start, I am ok with not fixing this for now, maybe ever.
Blockers. Going to "pivot" on the Spint 2 goal "rotate duck in oposite direction so he faces the camera when turning. It's not so bad now since I was able to turn the duck to face the player at games start, and then after stating gameplay, the duck turn facing away from the player. I looke din the player code and controller code and I have no idea where it decides on the direction of rotation. I even tried messing with the origin and that did not work. If it comes to me, I'll give it a shot but as of now I'm unable to figure this one out.
3/22/24
Yesterday I learned more deeply about inheritance and how not all actors are made the same when it comes to calling them in blueprints of other actors. I'm still not entirely sure why this is the case yet. Maybe just auto-get the parent so we dont have to call it every time. Also instance actors would be cool to have some way to organize them in content browser, even if just for the visual aspect of controlling them. Probably good reasons not to do that but everything else is all over the place so, why not? A game engine is all about making those kinds of things more fluid. In any case, not going to stop me. I found a way to avoid the crash when trying to give a static mesh actor blueprint capabilities, if done in the details panel it will crash, If done by selecting asset actions from the context menu when right clicking the actor in the Content Browser, it works! Also another way to do it, for example when I have a level only instance, I was able to drag it into the Level Blueprint to create a reference. Unfortunately that did not work on my other static mesh when dragging into an actor blueprint, but not needed after figuring out the workaround the crash. I also was able to tighten up the splash screen better, essentially having to redo it. I created the main menu, and now it goes away when the game begins. You begin the game by pressing enter.
I was able to make floating bubbles by combining these tutorials.
Make a beautiful looking bubble material and...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne6vaUlpQNw
Making balloons floating up. You can see where this is going.
Tweak the physics and plop on the material. done.
Per sprint 2 goals, there is a bit of bubble effects needed. PM wants bubbles all over the level, in transitions, and as a start button.
Using the bubble tutorial, I was able to create the bubble button for Play. Another Sprint 2 goal down. it goes away when the gameObject spawns.
Today I will work on sprint goals. Specifically splash effect and tightening up other implementations (testing/iteration).
No Blockers.
3/21/24
Yesterday I finally was able to implement the splash into the game. I composed the video using clipchamp and it worked out great. Using interum dev name, maybe final not sure.
Today I'm just gonna crack it open and take it as it comes. Identifying something other than an actor has become a thing in referencing stuff for events, so I'm also going to take a minor pivot and learn more about object inheritance and classes other than actors or Pawns in Unreal Engine.
*I don't see this affecting the deadline since I worked through the weekend after sprint planning. which accounts for a normal work week. With what I learn I should be able to speed up and make up for the pivot.
No Blockers
3/20/24
Yesterday I pivoted from water splash effect because downloading the asset to do that was sapping my time. I ended up creating the Main Menu first in another room and also in the main room where I plan to have it finalized. The separate room was for learning purposes since I haven not done a main menu before.
Today I will continue work on the menu and hopefully get to the splash effect as it has fully downloaded now and is ready to implement. If I have some extra time I'll continue my work on getting the drop beacon to animate and move around the way I want it to. Putting the dev logo on the backburner since there is so much more important things that need to get done.
No Blockers
3/19/24
Yesterday I ran into a known issues (bug) getting animations to start playing again after a respawn. The issue is with the child not inheriting certain properties from the parent. I checked auto activate and several options but could not get it to play on respawn. Going to take a day after this to be in repose. Updated Githb, created project, sprint 2 milestone, and started creating tickets in the tracking system.
Today I will be working on the splash effect. I've also been inclined to continue work on the splash screen/devlogo. Videogame Chakra
Blocker: Need to take a break from the beacon entirely and come back with fresh eyes. Working with objects other than the player and the ones directly interacting with it comes with another set of problems. I tried using parent class
3/18/24
Yesterday I fixed the collision bug for reals. i can only hypothesize at what the problem was, but I definitely got a fix by adding a .1 delay after giving point. I was able to create a beacon of light to appear below the letters. Still have to script it into the gameplay. I researched menu and also worked on designing the game on paper to help visualize this sprint.
Today I will work on the light spawning.
3/17/24
Yesterday I worked on lighting. This is one of the objectives on the design doc, and I already did it before, but I scrapped that version when I started with the latest code on sprint 1. Also I finally figured out how to control physics much better. This helped me time the L,M,N,O,P part of the game. I also uploaded my project to github for posterity. This will mark the first time I uploaded my own project to a repo.
Today I am working on the light beacon that is going to be placed directly below the location of the next letter. Need to work on design and also on the collision issue that is plaguing the game.
No Blockers
3/16/24
Yesterday I had retro and sprint planning. Zoe is my acting "Product owner" and she delivered. I am at capacity for sprint 2, and already fixed the collision issue where you would catch 2 letters instead of one. I fixed it by creating/setting a flag "getgot" which is a boolean that says that the item is in a catchable state. It defaults to 1 and when you collide it goes to 0 in order to gate keep additional collision.
3/15/24
Yesterday on ABCDuck I added the water sound. Also fixed a bunch of items in the backlog. Today I am closing out the issues on my tracker, doing Retro and Sprint Planning. Will have more updates tomorrow.
Yesterday on NSG, checked in. No progress made. Will touch base with team again. No blockers
Note: Going to drop the Manual and label updates from the formal standup format. I'll keep them in my notes. Besides that, I'm still on a silent hill 2 enhanced edition playthrough. My daughter was upset that Pyramidhead was much smaller than he appeared in Downpour. She still digs it and was inspired for another project that we are working on called Shady Echoes.
3/14/24
Yesterday ABCDuck: Got all the letters making the alphabet song if you catch each one. I'm using 1 asset for the entire song, using "Pitch Multiplier" and placing triggers where needed.. I also composed it in a string together so it plays when you launcht the game. I need to add the bloop water sound that happend if oyu don't catch it. Improved camera, and timing of drops. Still needs some fine tuning. Tomorrow is the end of my letter drop sprint. Going to make sure it looks good and get ready for next strpint. Also didn't get the UI done/redone yet, but gonna focus onthat later as it's not part of this sprint.
Today will add the water sound when letters drop in there. Continue adjusting timing of letter drops.
Yesterday on NSG: Made some more assets per specs. and updated background image. Revewed game in godot.
Today will work on gettin gassets into a sprite atlas.
Yesterday on NeoGeo Manual - Got another page done.
Today will do another page.
Yesterday on Video Game Labes: Got al labels Printer. Will laminate cut and send today.
No blockers.
3/13/24
Yesterday I was 10Xing.
ABCDuck
I implemented the 2d camera position again and improved it yet again. I found I can add it to the event begin and it was not necessary to add to the tick. I was originally adding it to the tick because it seems that UE force takes control of the camera to first person view. Lots of people online seem to have issues with this, but I figured it out by doing the static camera tutorial from the docs, but the first few times I did it, i didn't have a strong understanding of what I was doing, and it asks you to do several things that aren't technically related. For example the trigger volume is only used to trigger the camera, but it won't work if you spawn a character in it, to make the camera be in that position, so i have to actually put it in begin play, and not only that but also include a .2 second delay (2 cycles) I suppose for a couple of things to initialize. Otherwise it won't work properly.
Tested and found an issue with some of the drops on retry, they are dropping in the previous letter position, simple assignment problem, need to give it the right variable. Also, noticed that with camera angle, the spacing in timing causes letters to spawn within the camera view. Considering solution to implement delay and have all letter drop from same height.
Also considering after review, to fix velocity instead of using gravity acceleration and all is a bit much.
Posting a progress video below.
NSG Project
Got onto Jira for a new project and tackled my first ticket and created another.
Got familiarized with the reference material and also familiarized with the Design Document.
Created a test image for the bg.
Working on the NeoGeo repro manual for Shocktroopers.
Yesterday I continued lining up the pages so I can then remaster each one.
Today
ABC DUCK I will be looking into the Audio aspect of the game, and also begin setup with the UI once again. Going to refine and bug fix some of yesterdays findings.
NSG Making that larger background.
Neo Geo Shocktroopers Manual. Progress on the pages.
Videogame Labels. Gotta finish those MVS labels, they're going out tomorrow along with the others.
No blockers.
Also: I forgot to mention but last week my daughters and I beat Silent Hill on the PSX. This was my second time and their first. They loved it and we have moved onto Silent Hill 2 Enhanced Edition (PC). We also recently beat Kings Quest together for the third time, and my daughter started playing Kings Quest 2: Quest for the Crown (VGA Edition) on her own. For our Silent Hill 2 play through they want to take it slower since we missed the Rifle in the last game. Our playthrough was over 10 hours!
Also also: with all these bullet points I'm going to start aligning left.
3/12/24
Yesterday I added color to each letter which I forgot to do before multiplying them. Also had to set what happens when it hits the ground. I ended up only doing when you catch it and had it so it just sits there when it hots the ground. Now I have it cycle back up to the original position and fall again. Another thing I have done is turn the coordinates into variables, because I had to make adjustments to the drop positions, and this will help with any future adjustments that become more evident as the game gets finalized.
Today I will work on camera and test some of what I have already.
No Blockers
3/11/24
Yesterday I reworked a ton of the logic and finally got it working perfectly. The text is a 3D Component bound to a box collision in a blueprint. It is setup to drop down a certain spot depending on the note that the letter coincides with in the alphabet song. I also got to accomplish getting them to spawn where they belong at specific heights to account for quarter, half and whole notes. Reimported the level and swapped out the character mesh for the ducky once more. Also started setting up the came camera again.
Today I will finish setting up the main game camera again so I can start working on balancing things out in the expected viewport the player will be seeing.
No Blockers.
3/10/24
Reworking some of what I had to undue to make the letter block. not done.
Today I will be constraining text from a widget to an actor cube. I'm going to be looking at doing this using 3d text but otherwise can stick with the widget.
No Blockers.
Note:
3/9/24
Yesterday I made the letter display which ticks up the alphabet and stops when reaching 26th letter. It requires I compartmentalize the spawn logic into another object. Also created a nice event where it generates affirmation text randomly from a bank of 50 strings. for use when you do something good in a game. I use to do this for games on Unity and Gamemaker so that it doesn't get boring with the same "Great!" or whatever text they use.
Today I will be gutting the main game object and moving the spawn logic into the new object.
No Blockers
3/8/24
Was on a family vacation since last entry. Progress made, blocker removed. I have the game object spawning as desired and interacting with the player as desired.
Today will work on other unfinished aspects of the game objects behavior within itself as per the design. Notably, the appearance of the object in each increment of the game progression.
No blockers.
Notes: Will need String Integer variables. ---> ++ ---> VALUES/Variable/ ---
3/3/24
Yesterday worked on Udemy classes. Completed another one that covers some unreal basics and learned a thing, but I am glad to say I understood it clearly. Moved on to another blueprint tutorial which takes a more advanced approach at explaining blueprints.
Sprint / Tangent: Today I will be working on learning and designing the mechanics to achieve the desired game functionality in regards to the falling letters. I have 2 weeks to achieve this, so the details of my exploration are as follows. I am learning to encompass the knowledge to design, compose, test, and iterate on my work using Unreal Engine. Finally I will have a working system reflecting the game design document
Blocker: Need to figure how to get the desired game mechanics programmatically. Needs design. As a result on a learning tangent where I will come out designing the programmatic side of said mechanics. This can be a sprint and I give myself 2 weeks. 15th
3/2/24
Yesterday worked on blueprints. Completed 1 beginner course and started another on Udemy.
Game progress blocker. Found a development bug where the falling object increases in speed if it keeps falling up to the point where it is unreasonable, and it also moves out of alignment and doesn't land on the course sometimes, so something is out of control.
3/1/24
Yesterday I borked another build trying to move assets around. I got all the warning signs but I just ignored them and was confident that Unreal was gonna handle it. It did not work out the way I planned. So another lesson learned. Here is a screenshot of what it once was. Also learned I cant just pull these files out of the old file structure into my new project, but no worries. i thought I could do that, but could be that this build is broken for a reason.
Have to fix buoyancy issue again, but not sure I'll actually use it as I have decided to use an animation with the bobbing effect I'm looking for.
2/29/24
Yesterday most of the time was spent visiting my folks with my kin and didn't get around to the float thing but...Read up on Unreals poor documentation for cpp stuff and found some Udemy courses that I can tackle on the side. Rebuilt the level again only this time it took a fraction of the time and the results are greatly better. Got the credits in the game with attributions to the models and fonts. Credited my daughter for the concept and design and my pen name Wolfgang Hendrix for Dev. This current project I'm working on will most likely be the one so I'm going to stick to this one and try not to bork it.
https://www.udemy.com/share/109rJC3@nqgtkuow3atZpb79Du-yJYfWbSD86AyG5RHC4LHwjkRNjQ8bGxN0JQrMeiIpkoA7sQ==/
https://www.udemy.com/share/1064kS3@JAafxqw1-dH5RNtoqyFW9qqb_0YDuxOG7kf8rwCCnnPOtn4S24q9EWHtZ7V2ZooNnA==/
2/28/24
Yesterday (Last night/Early this morning) I Figured out that camera thing using a trigger and then was able to replicate the view without having the trigger, all while retaining the controls to the third person player. That's pretty much all I need as far as removing the camera blocker. Also figured out that Buoyancy blocker that working because Unreal after 5.1 has a bug where collision profiles aren't updated so a fix was to place it manually in the defaultEngine.ini file .
In regards to buoyancy , if you are afflicted with this issue, it's a bug. After creating the buoyant object and trying to drop it on water, and having it not work after hours., I restarted and saw an error message about collision profile. Below is the code you need to drop into the unreal configuration file in the engine directory.
+Profiles=(Name="WaterBodyCollision",CollisionEnabled=QueryOnly,bCanModify=False,ObjectTypeName="",CustomResponses=((Channel="WorldDynamic",Response=ECR_Overlap),(Channel="Pawn",Response=ECR_Overlap),(Channel="Visibility",Response=ECR_Ignore),(Channel="Camera",Response=ECR_Ignore),(Channel="PhysicsBody",Response=ECR_Overlap),(Channel="Vehicle",Response=ECR_Overlap),(Channel="Destructible",Response=ECR_Overlap)),HelpMessage="Default Water Collision Profile (Created by Water Plugin)")
Also proud to say I borked another project, but I learned so much. Never force delete an asset wit ha shared name of the Pawn. Caused an engine crash with error...and the project crashes out on load. I sent error reports a few times and gave up on it. Just learned to to take things out and put them in an other project. Getting more agile with a few things. Today I'm going to make things float "nicely" in a tub setting, most especially looking into how I will be doing this and have it affect the player who is supposed to be 100% buoyant pretty much most of the time. Time permits I'm moving on to creating the catch and spawn system.
Currently no blockers.
2/27/24
Spent many hours trying to get buoyancy to work, but no success. Overcame the obstacle of setting up a fixed camera for a 2D game like ABC Duck, a significant milestone. It was challenging due to default controls in UE being attached to the camera, but I managed to fix it. Now need to integrate this with other components.
Buoyancy tutorials I'm using below.
2/26/24
Built the room for ABC Duck today. Also worked on Unreal Lighting courses, enhancing my understanding of the Lumen lighting system in UE. Applied it to the level I built for ABC Duck. Managed to create appealing water for the bathtub, but encountered issues with the built-in buoyancy system, possibly due to a bug in UE 5.3.2. Despite various attempts, nobody seems to get it to work. Made progress by adjusting gravity settings to slow down letter drops for easier catching. Also constrained a letter to an invisible block for player interaction. However, 3D text behaves uniquely and cannot interact in the same manner.
Below is a great lighting tutorial i followed that helped me learn by providing a ground up approach at lighting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSbBsXbjxPo
2/25/24
"For the Blender model, I found that the topology is incorrect, causing deformation in the apple. The issue lies at the top where I pushed vertices without aligning them at 0 on their axis. This led to distortion during Unreals vertex conversion process. Additionally, there's an incompatibility between procedural textures in Blender and UE. I revisited UE briefly, imported the pirate model successfully, and began experimenting with textures on models. Got some focus on what to make in Unreal. My daughter entered a video game design contest, and her idea didn't advance to phase 2. She cried when I broke the news to her, though I tried to soften it. I offered to make the game for her, so here we are. It's an educational game, and I already started making the 3D-Text Title, and object you need to catch with physics. It's going to need some more work because it will have to update every time you catch it to the next one, so I'll get to that tomorrow, but I'm super glad. I worked a bunch on textures and made things look metallic. Tweaked the level a bit more and generally kept things moving."
2/24/24
So I've been in the trenches learning Unreal Engine and also Blender at the moment. Also working on requests to remaster and localize some Japanese Neo Geo Manuals for TWS and Shocktroopers. Will be getting into Godot working on art for a game with some industry buddies.
Evening, worked on an apple in blender and textured it using procedural texturing. Tried to import it into unreal and it came in all deformed and couldn't follow the tut on importing. Most likely because of the procedural thing, so maybe I have to texture it the traditional way. Also made more progress on the Shock Troopers and TSS manuals. Also onboarded with the discord for the project I'm working on with NSG.
2/20/24
Completed a BodyCam effect tutorial. Very cool stuff but would be better if I had a real game to put it in, and not just that last "Make your first game" project I did. It did in a way make it look better, but that's not the way I want to go. Going to take what I learned and move forward.
2/16/24
Still at the unreal engine stuff. Making great progress finally. Feeling like I can start putting some of my knowledge together. Assembly project to took seat in the back.
Below is a link of the tutorial that has helped me push along. It may move by fast and gloss over a few things, but if you take the time to really dig deep and not miss anything there is a wealth of direction here. You get to make something and in the end have something to work with if not the great knowledge gained from doing it. I scrapped this project at least 3 times before settling on where I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt13VcimeyI
12/14/23
Had a great conversation with an ex-coworker of mine. It's good to know there are people in the industry whom are fearlessly bringing innovation and passion to the craft. I hope to work again along side this person in the virtual work-space.
12/11/23
So far another day like the last two. Lots of work to do and little time. Am going to aim to the stars and update when I'm done.. brb...
12/10/23
Another haze of a day. Pass.
12/9/2023
Last night had a great experience going to see AFFKT perform. Along with Maximus and Nocturn. Easily one of the best events I've attended in terms of vibe. Today plans went sideways so not much to add besides the usual. Raising kids as close to how I was raised with some adjustments for further success.
12/7/2023
Recently I've been minimalizing my life by removing things that really are unnecessary. I'd done a lot of that in my 30's. Admittedly I've fallen from grace in terms of 0 waste after getting married and having kids but I am tempering the lifestyle again and pushing the minimalism. For as long as i remember, i have a hard time thinking straight when there is a mess to be cleaned. I get get by a bit, but after a while I hit a wall and I just need to have a clean space to be able to do things like breath easy, and in turn be able to do things like art.
Anyways, I've been making strides in the minimalist lifestyle and it's been paying off. Everything is so much easier to keep clean and organized when it's not even there lol.
So yesterday I made a label for an Elf Bowling 1 & 2 game on the GBA. The person that requested it changed their mind, so oh well, it was at least very fun to recreate. Also I had an interview with a qa game job I'm looking forward to joining. They seem like a team of nice people working on a Video Game. If I can get paid to work on a video game, then I'm doing something right in life. When I was a little kid, I remember playing Mario Bros. thinking that I was going to make a living with video games. Although it's not exactly as I imagined it, working in the game industry is the closest I can get to not working a day in my life since it's always such a blast being part of something so exciting and intimate to the end-user.
12/5/2023
This captains log will take a bit of a twist from here on out. I've always imagined it to be a bit of a journal and so here it is.
I have come to the realization that I was born with a sadness in my heart that woke up when my dog died as a kid. I always had these thoughts that to me seem very deep for a child. Like opinions on things like God, those "Just say no" drug commercials, Mainstream News media portrayal of men, nuanced racism in the school system. Eventually it manifested outward and was received by darkness. The world in general does not like to dwell on these topics. Thoughts that once cast a shadow on my formative years are, as an adult, an observed reality even more personal than before.
So my realization, yes; I was born sad. God willing, I will live a long long life filled with a love as deep as that sadness. I am grateful for that. Love is the most beautiful thing we ca perceive as humans. The love of my daughters, how they lay by my side and hold me and trust me to keep them safe. No better reason to live. My purpose, my joy, and when I glimpse into the future, my deepest bitter sweet emotions as I watch them grow and turn into adults God willing I will feel that bitter sweet pain of seeing her off to college, or handing her away at a wedding. All God willing, or to Gods' will.
I think about the things we have to let go of. The role money does and doesn't have in the entire process. I found once, when i use to spend money in search of something that will bring me happiness, that after the purchase, I don't even care anymore. If I do, I may enjoy it, but ultimately, whatever it is, never brought me happiness. With the exception of the evil king getting poisoned at his wedding ceremony, there aren't many things that can bring me to cheers. The usual angels that lift me up, Lucy, Frasier and the gang at Pattie's Pub, they will always be here for me in this Earthly realm. I have them burnt into my memories so much that I could laugh on command by recalling any golden comedy moment.
One thing I do find to bring a powerful rejuvenating happiness is dancing to music. Usually dancing for as long as i can. It brings about this high that I never felt anywhere else. I've had surreal experiences that made me feel like I've seen it all. Dancing in the desert with what is probably best described as a non-main-stream "burning man" setup. Professional party people. Good times. I think after dancing for so long, endorphins serotonin or both must be released because I've experienced profound realizations about life on the dance floor. I'm so glad I have had the time to develop myself when i did. I have to thank my family for that too. It's funny to look back to a younger version of yourself and know what a mess you where, though in that time you seemed to have absolutely everything put together.
Well, that's all I've got for now. I have to get some sleep in order to be fresh tomorrow for an interview I've got. Getting back into gaming industry.
11/27/23
Still going learning assembly. It's the usuals learning by fire at this point. I'm trying things out and when they don't work I trouble shoot until I learn it inside out and fix it. Also making updates to the website and putting in job apps. Finally able to bench those numbers in terms of getting the good juju coming my way. Besides that, another great thing I would like to announce is that yesterday I beat Silent Hill Homecoming after casually playing it over a few years I decided to get it done. My daughters and I had a great time.
11/02/23
Changed the name of this from development log to "Captains Log" as it will be a bit higher level life stuff. Making a videogame is about more than just programming on unreal, design docs, etc. It's about life experience and the way holding development concepts reflects on that. For example, who hasn't thought about making a game that starts as nothing and builds up to a menu and then turns into a full fledged "whatever". We all go through similar thought processes as we as we are learning in similar constructs. So the only variable to the spark of creativity has to be the outside influences. Like anything, even a child is so heavily influenced by outside factors, it would make since that our game idea babies are influenced as such.
Updated website, and also learned some more assembly today through the Pikuma site. After cleaning dishes living room and my room, I made homemade potato chips, mashed potatoes, and steamed sweet peppers. Then did a flyer for a client.
10/26/23
Assembly day.
10/25/23
Assembly day.
10/24/23
Went back to learning assembly for writing games on NES. I think my mind needs to wrap it's head around some lower level stuff to feel comfortable with doing things in Unreal. I don't feel like their blueprints make sense, or I need something harder to do before going to this.
10/8/23
Worked on some design docs for a boxing game.
10/2/23
Worked on some design docs for a top down game.
9/16/23
Did a "Create your first level" tutorial and it went well. Lots of great tips on creating original content, or designing with imported content.
9/15/23
Did Unreal Engine tutorial "First Hour" and it answered all the questions that a noob would have when you just want to tread water with this program. Got to do some things that before seemed monumental likes building a level, and all that goes into it like importing assets. Getting the lighting to exist and then getting it right in its interaction with the level. Lots of other details, too too many.
9/14/23
Introduction
So I decided to use ChatGPT to help organize and push along my ideas in the Game Development area. I have been using AI as a way to help me progress past creative blocks on songs by learning musical theory and song structures from around the world, help me refine stories by learning all the elements that go into good stories (as defined by me), quick 1 of a kind stock art for graphic design projects (usually placed in the background and modified to almost non existence).
(time-lapse goes here/ a.k.a. Being a Dad)
So I started an Unreal Project to make a game I've been wanting to make for a long time. A top down survival game called "Macho Killers". I'll post more details as I move things along.
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