Ulysses

General => Off-Topic => Topic started by: MrPresident on December 26, 2018, 12:25:06 AM

Title: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on December 26, 2018, 12:25:06 AM
Hey everyone, for some time now I've been learning UE4 as a game engine, and have started working on a project.

The working title is currently Polygon Dungeons or PolyDungeons for short.

If anyone is interested in checking it out, I've been uploading nightly builds to just show off what I've accomplished and get feedback from some friends.

The premise of the game will be a casual/roguelike dungeon crawler. There will be a village that you can do things in. That stuff is still in the idea phase. But, underneath it all, there's a dungeon that you will have to go through floor by floor until you can't take it anymore. Items and experience you gain from each time through the dungeons will save and you can use them on subsequent attempts, but until you level up and get better weapons you'll find it harder to get through.

I've only been working on it for about a week now, but I'm making some good progress.

I'm not an artist, so you might notice that the models were bought from the UE4 marketplace.

I'll post a few images from the design process here as well as a link to the most up to date download.

If you are interested in following or discussing this with me, you may feel free to do so here, or you could join my discord chat where I often post things as I'm working on them.

Cheers!

(https://i.imgur.com/frGPY2v.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/dxFOzkC.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/wxTGKxq.png)

Download: https://g4p.org/downloads/PolyDungeons(0.1.2).7z

Beginning in Version 0.1.2 if you press Shift+Ctrl+Del, it will reset your game save and start you from scratch if that's something you want while testing.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: Timmy on December 27, 2018, 01:46:35 AM
Neat! Curious to see where you take this project. I'd like to take a look if you can get a Linux build out.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on December 27, 2018, 09:53:21 AM
Thanks! I'm not compiling for Linux yet, but so far, nothing I am using or doing precludes me from doing so. When there's something more substantial to show, maybe I'll look into getting the proper tools to make a linux build.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on December 27, 2018, 06:44:19 PM
Seems decent so far for a .01.
(Better than some higher versions I've seen of alpha/beta!)
I downloaded it and it ran.

For some reason, Q would not bring up a parts list, F wouldn't light the flashlight.
The tool gun just wouldn't load either, and I couldn't find hoverballs.

I joke, I joke.
It looks great. Rogue-like isn't my style of gaming, but I'll continue to enjoy the development stages until survival becomes too challenging for me.
I love sandbox exploration. I'll keep checking it out as time goes on.

Great work MrP.

Also, keep an eye out on humblebundle.com - sign up for humblebundle newsletters. I'm pretty sure there was some dev pack in the past year or two.
I know there was RPG maker stuff, but I think at one time there was some UE related project tools.
Heck, I might have even invested in a small portion because one game was included that I liked.
I'll check out my Humble library.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on December 27, 2018, 11:53:31 PM
Hah! No physguns or hoverballs here. Q will use any potions you have in your inventory though.

Here is the newest build. Not a lot of progress today, I worked a lot of a few things though.

https://gfycat.com/ActualInsecureIcterinewarbler
Grass is interactive

I also reworked the overworld map a bit.

Enjoy!

Download: https://g4p.org/downloads/PolyDungeons(0.1.1).7z
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on December 29, 2018, 06:15:28 PM
Thanks for the update.

Also, I was wrong, the HumbleBundle pack I got that had a game I did want, and then some developer tools I'll 98.8% likely never use, was a Unity dev bundle.
If you're interested, let me know through email. We can work out some trade, or something.

3 Unity asset packs
Inventory Pro (https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=qlaDZmX8FeY)
UFPS: Ultimate FPS (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/ufps-ultimate-fps-2943)
FlowCanvas (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/visual-scripting/flowcanvas-33903)
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on December 29, 2018, 09:05:58 PM
This is interesting, and I've no idea how I did it if it's not supposed to work this way.
I ran the latest 0.1.1.
Went through everywhere I could find (unlike when I just tinkered 5-10 minutes on 0.1) - killing all enemies, etc.
Spent a good half hour at least exploring, naming, pillaging. storming the castles.

I quit. Explored the files.
Went back, ran the main executable again - lo and behold, I start out in the dungeon/catacomb again, but, this time I have the sword - and the healing potions are gone from the table with the writing/reading dude.
I exit to the outside - all the enemies are gone.

How does that save? And, is it supposed to?
How would I reset again?
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on December 29, 2018, 10:36:18 PM
It saves, yes. It's normal for you to start out in the dungeon when you start it back up.

The game is supposed to seamlessly save what you've done, but in the future I'll enable a reset option or separate save files or something.

In the meantime, if you'd like to reset manually, you can go into AppData\Local\PolygonDungeons2\Saved and delete the save files.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on December 30, 2018, 08:18:10 PM
Went to your community and poked around because it had been entirely too long since I visited. (Sorry for that)

Noticed you were working on the other UE4 project too.
You've been busy! You single again?? 😜
 (Though joking, sorry for reals if so, if not, glad S.O. is supportive)

Take tips/ideas/bugs here for Polydungeon?

I can hit enemies through house walls.


Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on December 30, 2018, 10:08:36 PM
Ahh.. yeah I should block hits through walls.. haha

And, yes, I'm still married. PC is in the living room so I don't disappear. She's supportive. Also, it's break for both of us, so we're just killing time.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on December 31, 2018, 10:19:07 PM
New build update

Download: https://g4p.org/downloads/PolyDungeons(0.1.2).7z

Framework for a menu is in place. Press Tab to open.
I've also redesigned the initial dungeon to make it more 'story driven'
Some models have had their collision boxes reworked.
Grass Shader reworked
Added chests (Example one in the starting area)
Probably other things I'm not thinking of.


This being a pre-alpha phase of development, there won't be much in the way of content for a while. I'm working on the systems that I will use to build the content later on. If you want to download and try these builds out, that's awesome, but keep in mind that there's 'not much to do' other than run around and try and find bugs for me to fix, or give me ideas for things to add! :)
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on December 31, 2018, 10:31:31 PM
How would I reset again?

In this latest version, I added a way to do this by Pressing Shift+Ctrl+Del while in game.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on January 02, 2019, 07:08:21 PM
Re: Reset - cool. Easier to restart when those mace guys kill me. (Either I've been lucky, or 0.1.2 made them more difficult or plentiful)

While I'm running around maiming, pillaging, storming castles in Alpha, could you add some sort of enemy countdown as I kill them?
Would help me/us/anyone to know if we've found and killed all of them while bug hunting and feature requesting.
Even if it's a simple additional text at the top left - ## enemies left.

Not sure I saw it in tab menu, but you're going to add a gold counter soon too I'd hope.

Also, dead body gold floating sprite is difficult to see far away, and honestly, even close up.
It's beautiful when directly viewing nearby, but, after running around sword strafing a group of baddies, it's challenging to find where I've been to collect gold.
That might be your intention, but if not, perhaps draw distance and or size of sprite or both (or..something) could be modified?

Loving the fun details so far.

EDIT - Backpedaling?
I don't know how many time's I've wanted to walk "backwards", facing "forward", with character 'back' to my view, as I'm fighting so I could swing at enemies coming at me.
I imagine slowing speed a bit, perhaps (.9? x (current speed walk||run))?

EDIT2 - Ok, I keep starting then stopping to write ideas/notices. (No - I do not expect any ideas to be included - they are a single person's ramblings for ideas of what could become thousands against later)
1) Backpedaling - see edit above.
2) Floaty gold - difficult to see after a battle (I realize you might intend this)
3) Small detail - the broken dungeon chandalier - at least have 2-3 candles lit on it, if it can 'swing/move' and be lit too. If not swing and be lit, never mind. :)
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on January 02, 2019, 11:07:30 PM
I added an enemy count for you. Seems like a fun idea for alpha testing.

The candles on the broken chandelier wasn't a bad idea, the only issue is that the texture on the candles isn't "lit".. you'll see.

I increased the sprite size on the pickup particles.

As for walking backwards... while I can see how that would be useful, usually walking backwards in TPS games isn't a thing. I don't even have animations for that, so that'll have to go on the back burner for now.

I'm reworking some HUD things, hopefully I'll have another build up tonight or tomorrow.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on January 03, 2019, 02:52:41 AM
https://www.g4p.org/downloads/PolyDungeons(0.1.3).7z

Reworked the HUD
Added an enemy count for JamminR. :D
Gold Dropped particle size increased.
Doors can be locked now and might require a key.
Leveling system implemented
Quick Use slot shown on HUD. You can right click items in your inventory to assign them to the Quick Use slot. (There's only 1 item currently)
Other things I'm sure I'm forgetting.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on January 04, 2019, 02:13:11 AM
https://g4p.org/downloads/PolyDungeons(0.1.4).7z

More work on the HUD.
Display gold in Tab Menu
Added a main menu
Added a pause menu
Added cool death effects for monsters you kill
Framework in place for additional weapons to be added
Can equip/unequip weapons from Tab Menu
Changed item pickup notifications

I'm starting to get to the point where I'm almost ready to add content instead of systems. That's exciting!
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on January 04, 2019, 07:15:56 PM
MrPresident,
How do you want bugs reported?
(Sorry, I can't use/see discord).
Email? Some other tracker? Here?
Seems I found an AI attack one in 0.1.3
At first, I thought you might have made a 'safe spawn' zone around the castle, but I was able to reproduce this issue much further away with other enemies.
Some enemies stopped chasing as I started making a criss-cross of the map.
Upon moving further away, I determined I could even walk right up to some before they'd start attacking.
Sometimes they'd stop - then start again as I moved around.

Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on January 04, 2019, 07:53:19 PM
I ran through the entire 'game' to see if I saw any other quirks. Other than the AI mentioned in above post, none so far.
I actually like the small detail of the few candles on the broken chandelier. Sure, they don't glow, but, it still works.
Took me a while to find the key. That was fun.
Thanks for increasing the gold - it did help me find.
Any plan to make the "bodies" remain behind instead, once 'looted' using the use key, body disappears?

Other word of note - that green bar below health. What is it?
Is it supposed to be inconsistent between versions, and never change?
In 0.1, I'm pretty sure it was full.
In 0.1.2 - It was all but quarter inch (of my screen res, 1920x1080), almost full.
Now in 0.1.3, as you can see in my attached 'fun' "I Win!" image, it's almost empty, with the same amount full as was missing in 0.1.2
And though I see green numbers on some I've killed, that bar never changes.
(I did see level go up, but the numbers were green, and in previous to .0.1.3 level so I thought they might increase that green bar)

Also - I've no clue if you even know, but, good job on finding sound effects - they are directional. Full rear.
I understand some of that may be UE4 engine, but I can hear the footsteps of enemies coming up from behind, or collapsing if I just killed as I was strafing.
I've got a small surround speaker system on my main game rig.

It's a shame about back pedaling. No fair they can swing at me while chasing, but I can't swing at them while running away.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on January 04, 2019, 10:25:18 PM
Here is fine for bugs, for now since you can't see the discord. Once I get into it more, I may set up something more official.

The AI is rudimentary at best. It still needs a lot of work, but I'm slowly making them "smarter" as I learn more about proper AI programming and logic and have more time to do it. They are supposed to stop following you if you get too far away as, currently, they are driven by their 'sight/perception' of you which has a distance limit.

Glad you were able to find the key. My wife found it almost immediately. Of course, she went straight for the alter... lol

I could have the bodies vanish once looted. That's not a bad idea. They just need to be removed at some point for the saving to work as well as for optimization reasons. But, I do like having the loot be on the bodies rather than in the tiny bags. This could give me the option to include other items as well.

The green bar will eventually be your energy. I'm still toying with colors. The intent is to match floating text colors with their corresponding bars. Currently it does nothing. It changed values between versions simply because I manually changed it. it's there right now just so I can see what it'll look like and to remember to implement it.

And yes, the sounds! UE4 has a default attenuation feature built right in. you just have to spawn the sound in the world using a vector coordinate and give it attenuation settings and it handles the rest. I haven't toyed too much with it, but with different attenuation tweaks, you can do things like make sounds quieter through walls, or occlude certain sounds. It's quite neat.

And yes, I've not completely given up on the backward movement, just not yet. I think I can get the animations, I just need to figure out how it will work. If backwards moves you backwards, how will you turn around? Holding a key (such as right mouse) isn't really an option seeing as I'm trying to design this with controllers in mind.


I really appreciate the feedback you've given. It's awesome to have fresh eyes looking at it and giving suggestions! I'll keep posting updates as I have them
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on January 05, 2019, 06:56:00 PM
So I totally missed that you'd posted .0.1.4.
Got it just now.

OMG I'm still laughing. I couldn't even get past the menu.
Totally awesome menu screen you got there MrP.
Is the Bird song public domain yet? That would be awesome if not.

Now, let's go check out the other features you've added.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on January 05, 2019, 07:57:31 PM
Notes on .0.1.4 (by time you read this, you may have already fixed the AI)

AI still seems to get lost right near me.
They'll give chase, I'll run/zig/zag a few times, and, about 15-20% of the time, I can get them confused and they just stop.
Sometimes staring straight at me in a clearing.
I totally understand the troll/giant-thing enemy getting lost in trees, but the little meanies shouldn't, and, as you can see in 01, it's just standing there, doing nothing, in a clearing.
Later on, one standing staring went back to idle animation.

Menu - love it - letter drop and chicken dance = just awesome.

Levels/bonus sword - nice.
Don't know if it's a bug, but, from equip weapons menu, with the crystal sword equipped, I can hover over the normal sward, right click, and unequip the crystal sword from my hands.


Animation - The 'fade away' white stars animation for dead bodies was nice, but seems slow? Maybe large/thick/too many too?

GFX quality - did settings change in .0.1.4? AA or other sampling? I thought I noticed a difference, but it might just be that I spent more time looking for that one enemy I missed in the walk-through of the rolling hills.

As for backpedaling - I understand challenge of the animation, but... why do you need to see the front of the character? (other than fun shots like I did standing on the castle)
So, I press the back arrow... the  character starts running towards the camera.
That's good for seeing what's behind me, but...no good for fighting, especially if I'm about to run into more enemies, trees.
Don't most games, the back (S) key actually walks backwards, back to the camera? (Honestly, I don't play many 3rd person games, so don't remember)
I play a driving game pretty often, the car backs up without changing the front of the car to the camera unless i hit a camera modifier that views from front of car towards back.
My opinion is that I should only need a view modifier when I want to do exactly what the character does now - face the camera.

EDIT - about AI - I've no idea if you've considered this - why do they all run same speed? Seems to me the female looking creatures would be quicker than goblin rock dudes, goblins quicker than mace dudes. Giant/troll things, well, slow or faster, could go both ways. Right now when I'm zig-zagging, they always bundle up and I can hit 3-4 at a time in a swipe. Though that's nice for the player, it seems they should have different speeds and only bunch if I stop long enough.
female > goblins > mace > giants maybe
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on January 05, 2019, 10:27:35 PM
All of the AI in the game (currently) is development stage stuff.. they're all copy/paste with different meshes. No differences. Once I start adding content and balancing, that will obviously change.

Also.. again, I need to further refine the AI, but it's not as big of a deal inside of confined spaces, which in the end, is where you will fight most of these. There won't be creatures to fight on the overworld in the actual game. They're just there for your amusement and for testing while I don't have a dungeon for them to live in yet.

The unequipping thing isn't really a bug, but I can see how it might be confusing. I'll change that to only unequip if you right click on the one that is actually equipped.

I did in fact change AA, but I'm not sure if that was before or after 0.1.4. Maybe it was before? Not sure.

The particles for the dead NPCs is supposed to be them "ascending" after being killed.. or the whole Thanos effect if you like. Maybe it's a bit too long, maybe not. I'll toy around with it.

I will look into reworking the movement. I suppose you're right, and if you want to see the front, you can stand still and rotate the camera, but when you start moving, it'll move forward or backward. Think God of War. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVKJsVEWdlM)

Glad you liked the menu.. that was a product of me being up at like.. 1am and sleepy me thought it would be funny.. Definitely keeping it, though I might toy with varying the dances. My wife thinks it's funny to have them all dancing in sync though.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on January 05, 2019, 10:36:06 PM
Just checked out Mixamo, and it would seem there are all of the animations I would need to do a movement system like this.. I just need to import them onto my character and work out the animation system. Shouldn't be too hard.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on January 06, 2019, 03:11:28 PM
But but but, I'm afraid of the dark. :P
I understand that's what this originally is aiming for though. A dungeon crawler.
I much prefer bright outdoor worlds.

Re: Backpedal - Has anyone else tried the alpha? Asked anyone if in agreement? I'm attempting to be a developer's devils advocate, not run your decisions. :)
(I'm sure as an online friend and Ulysses teammate you know that, but stating to be clear - just ask Megiddo - I bugged him quite a bit in early stages of ULib/ULX :D )

Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on January 06, 2019, 06:07:23 PM
Don't worry. :) I plan to have some overworld activities.

Planned:

 - Property ownership in various villages
 - Farming on your property
 - Crafting new weapons and consumables to help you on your dungeon crawling adventures


I'm certainly open to more ideas for overworld activites, even if they are casual in nature. I want the game to appeal to a broad audience.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on January 07, 2019, 10:12:35 PM
MrPresident,
How do you want bugs reported?
(Sorry, I can't use/see discord).

https://trello.com/b/RQWpGyEb/polydungeons

I've set up a Trello for tracking features. Feel free to discuss individual things on there if you wish, or report bugs related to the posted features. I will look into establishing a bug tracker at some point as well. Of course, this forum is always fine as well. I check these forums regularly.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on January 08, 2019, 04:09:23 PM
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on January 09, 2019, 07:59:07 PM
HaHa. Watched your menu clip yesterday. Saw it again tonight and just realized trolls are break or 'russian' dancing in the back of the board section dance.
Too funny.
Reminds me of this golden oldie.


Feature suggestions
- sword in right hand, light capability(spell stone/torch/whatever) in left (or vice versa/opposite hands)
Some of the dungeon areas are very dark.
Perhaps time how long light lasts depending on difficulty level.
Bonus for ability to take torches from wall/floor/recesses as you progress in the dungeon.

- caves
you have lots of mountains as your 'border' edges of the upper world.
I'd guess caves might lead further in, perhaps even coming out into one of/the dungeons
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on January 10, 2019, 07:06:34 PM
@JamminR - How is this? Flies around with you and will help to point out things of importance.

Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on January 10, 2019, 07:26:07 PM
Fine. Come up with an idea 5x better than mine. I don't mind. I'll just keep lighting sparks and watching you burn brightly.
:P

Nice. Make sure it's equip-able. I personally wouldn't want it all the time.
(Though, I guess it could help focus points when exploring above ground too.)

Plan on adding day/night above ground? I imagine the sprite being more helpful there at night too.

I tinkered a bit in Quaint - wish I had a light for it. :)
It had a nice day cycle.

EDIT - OH! Re: Sprite - if not overly difficult, as you develop enemy AI, perhaps allow the sprite to be 'thrown' into areas and distract the enemies from you a bit.

Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on January 10, 2019, 09:16:50 PM
Yes, there will be a Day/Night cycle.

Re: Quaint. Try pressing Num-+ or Num-Enter.. it'll equip a simple torch. I can't remember off the top of my head what key does that, but one of those numpad keys does.

I plan on tying the sprite into the story, as some form of sentient life or something along those lines, so you probably won't be able to "equip" it.. but I'll try and make it as unobtrusive as possible, perhaps hiding itself in times when its not necessary.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on January 11, 2019, 08:45:42 PM
More 'fairy' stuff.

Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on January 12, 2019, 12:16:28 PM
Great!
I look forward to the next alpha.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on February 02, 2019, 08:07:24 PM
Ok, since I can no longer access discussion thread at that other location you've posted various versions to, I'm going to be making posts here until it comes back, or until you set up that other site you mentioned in private discussion.
(Yes, I'm purposely being vague with above, as I don't quite know how much you wish to share publicly) :D

Some of this will be familiar, as it's somewhat of a copy/paste.

My spec for any issues (unless otherwise stated)
Win10 Pro + AMD1100T cpu + Nvidia 960 GTX OC GPU

I _DO_ understand any/all of these may not be of concern this early in the process. They're only a diary of things I notice when I notice them

All versions listed in front or end of comment.

-- (0.1.7) - Path lights - not lit at night. Only the one in front of shop/inn. I could have sworn they were lit in 1.6 on a nightwalk I took.

-- 0.1.8 - FIXED - (0.1.7) After loading saved game, you can get the butt-protector even though you already grabbed it earlier. Selling it back to the shopkeeper nets a nice profit and still allows the player to keep one.
(EDIT - I've now determined save game doesn't cause this - entering dungeon/exiting back to outdoors seems to respawn the item)

-- (Most versions up to .0.1.7) It's pretty easy to get over/stuck behind the map edges.

-- +10 FPS each version going from .1.5, to .6 to .7 to .8
("Epic" settings get me ~55-60 in dungeon, ~65-70 outside as of 1.8)

-- (as of 0.1.8) Small annoyance that may never affect true beta or prod, but, enemy counter doesn't go down until after the blue soul sprites melt away - that could be +10 seconds after I'm in a big fight and it's difficult to tell if I should still be worried I've not killed any one of the group I'm currently engaged with

-- (0.1.8) - Setting EFFECTS quality to 1 or less causes dungeon candles flicker to just look horrible. Could they just be set not to flicker, but instead, be "constant" non-moving. Even at 60-70FPS they 'flash' on and off noticeably

-- (0.1.8) - Can't sell starter sword to Willie Dinklesmith or other shopkeeper

-- (0.1.8) - Can sell crystal sword or but protector to shopkeepers, but they never show up in shopkeeper inventory to buy back if I so chose.

-- (0.1.8) - Annoyance - can't use keyboard to select/control menus. I presume this would also make the game 'mouse/gamepad only'
------------------------
RE: PATH LIGHTS - I've been unable to reproduce the no path lamps issue. Originally, it happened this way:
Sometime one night, I left the game. I don't remember where I was when I left, but likely in the dungeon with the stones/booby traps. I quit to desktop. next day, I came back, loaded the game, walked outside, gazed in wonder at the pretty stars, bright moon, walked towards shop and realized only that one light in front was lit.
Tried walking pathway. Even with full moon, path seems to stop reflecting any light as you move farther from city.
I've been attempting to reproduce ever since. No luck so far. I'll post here if I'm able.
EDIT - Ok - Now I'm really confused. I just loaded up the game, walked the entire path at night. The path/land around it was well lit by the moon overall. Even on sections of the path where there are no lamps, I could follow it.
Are there nights with "no moonlight" replicated in the day/night cycle? I could see one as it was rising when I tried walking and it was too dark originally.
Even so, there were no lamps at that time I tried, so maybe a lighting environment issue.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on February 02, 2019, 08:24:40 PM
Was able to reproduce path light "bug"  - "It's always darkest before dawn?"
It seems near dawn, only one light is lit (in front of shopkeeper, and inside), and, the path reflects no light whatsoever.
Image attached - stone path is outlined by blue lines. arrow points to lamp. Dot/circle below shows no light from lamp.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on February 03, 2019, 12:24:12 PM
RE: Path Lights - That's interesting. I'll have to see if I can reproduce this. They are on a timer and should come on after a certain time and turn off before a certain time. If you load a game in the middle of the 'on' time they should start 'on' and 'off' if you load in the day. Maybe you caught it right as they were turning off? No clue.

RE: Darkness Levels - There are two things that dynamically control the moon light level at night. Moon cycle is simulated. Some nights will have waxing and waning moons, or full moons or new moons. This (of course) will affect the light level. As well as moon cycles, I believe the cloud density is simulated as well. A random overcast percentage each day. This also affects the light levels. Therefore it is entirely possible to have bright or very dark nights.

Re: Starter Sword - You are not allowed to sell the starter sword yet, as this would break some gameplay things, but perhaps I'll change this once there are other ways to acquire weapons.

Re: No buyback - There is no buyback implemented yet. This is on my list of things. If the shop keeper already has stock of an item you are selling him, he will add to it, but otherwise, there is no way to rebuy items yet.

Re: Enemy counter - Enemies don't despawn until the particles go away, and them despawning is what causes the counter to go down. This counter won't even be in later version of the game, so it's not really something I care to change.

Re: Menu navigation - For now, some menu choices are only accessible via mouse. I hope to have time in the future to make it more keyboard/controller friendly, but that's a beta not alpha thing.

Re: Candle Flickering - I'll check in on this. I thought I removed flickering lights from all sources already.. maybe I missed candles? Either way, no lights should be flickering anymore. It was causing too much of a frame drop for people on mid-tier machines.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on February 04, 2019, 06:57:21 PM
Re: Re: Flickering candles - I see what you mean now. It's not the light so much as the flame sprite. Lowering effects makes particle spawners spawn fewer particles which is what causes this. I should try and get it to look better though.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on February 04, 2019, 07:32:48 PM
I imagine if effects level < 2, replace dynamic with static single 'always on' sprite?
I've no clue if that would actually make it harder on system though. I figure if it's the same sprite everywhere, it wouldn't make it any strain than now, and it wouldn't flash on/off.
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: JamminR on March 07, 2019, 08:02:39 PM
I've not noticed any updates in a while... real life getting in the way?
(even if so, hope the real's is good stuffs and not bad)
Title: Re: UE4 Project
Post by: MrPresident on March 07, 2019, 09:10:47 PM
Yes, and no.

I've been working a lot more lately (Substitute Teaching) which is why I haven't been making as regular of updates, but the main reason is that the things I'm doing aren't really ready to be shown off yet.

Here are some examples:

Working on some new building tiles for overwork houses (learning blender along the way)
(https://i.imgur.com/3yHGerw.jpg)

Working on more advanced AI for NPCs.
http://g4p.org/uploads/knTh2pv1ot.webm

Been working on getting some animals added:
(https://i.imgur.com/oZzcQkn.jpg)

Toying around with bows and bow animations:
http://g4p.org/uploads/6ye0wU4mCF.webm

NPC Dialogue:
(https://i.imgur.com/rJriyE1.jpg)

Farming.. which is nearly complete (or at least the shell of it is)
(https://i.imgur.com/en7uj3f.jpg)

Lots of other small things that I can't remember.
Maybe this weekend I'll push an update that you guys can look at, it's just there really isn't any more content yet.. just working on some systems.