The project started officially on 10th of May, I only worked on it for a few days on the weekends.
Camera System
Developed a 3rd person camera system, that makes object in front of the camera transparent and has multiple zoom levels. I wrote an article about it and I even shared the source-code for the see through mechanism.
Grid Base Building System without the Mouse
Implemented a grid and tile based building mechanism. You can place buildings of different sizes in the grid. It all works with moving the character, without using the mouse, similarly to Harvest Moon.
It detects overlaps, needed amount of tiles for a building and also supports separate grids (i.e. the game does not have to be grid based, I can have a landscape with grids spread over the level).
C++, Blueprints, Crashes and Corruptions
Everything that is related to architecture, game core, business logic is being made with C++. Anything that involves assets or custom properties are being made with Blueprint.
I was having a lot of trouble with Unreal Engine 5 C++ Live Coding. The Editor would crash constantly and my Blueprints would get corrupted, where I had to redo the work multiple times. See details and how I solved on my topic on the Unreal Engine forums.
I’m using JetBrains Rider and it’s a lot of fun to write C++ with it.
Next Steps
- Building behaviors:
- Factory Buildings (i.e. produce resources for the SPA)
- Occupancy Buildings
- Level and currency system
- Dogs coming in and triggering their requirements over time
I am going to start making art and other assets only after I finish the gameplay systems – I have to validate whether the gameplay loop will be fun or not.
Tools Used in this Log
- Blueprint
- C++
- Unreal Engine
Styles Related to this Log
- Gamedev
- Software Development
Current Project Status
- Inactive
- Personal / Hobby
All Logs from the Project
- Devlog 02: Lack of Progress and Feature Creep (June 19, 2022 19:48)
- Devlog 01: Camera System and Grid Based Building (May 22, 2022 16:43)