Post Production

Project Evaluation 

1. Introduction to the Project – 

1. What is the project and what is it about? 

The project is the Rev'nShoot (First person Shooter) game. The project is to create a fps game, using UE5 programming (blueprints), where each person is assigned or assigns themselves objectives and logic to program.

2. What have I been asked to do (aims and objectives)? 

I assigned myself the role of creating the AI (enemies), and later on the level selection system and the damage system as well as general quality of life programming such as some basic Hud elements.

2. Strengths and Skills. 

1. What were my key strengths when I came into the project (technical & non-technical)?

I was very good at building foundation code, to be able to built upon, such as with the damage system, it can be applied to any character AI and player, and so the AI can "deal damage" which will the take health from the player etc. The AI is all built from the base AI class, so tasks and behaviours can be added onto any enemy type, which enabled me to make the boss enemy and other differentiating enemies quickly. 

2. What was I hoping to develop from this project? (technical & non-technical).

I hoped to learn blueprints to a level where I can make my own code (mostly AI related) without any form of tutorial learning needed which by the end I was able to make my own blueprint code to achieve some tasks I wished to complete, such as the boss, whilst using the base code I learnt outside the project It also implemented my own Ideas, such as the gatling gun, and having the boss spawn other minion enemies.

3. What strengths and skills have I developed throughout the project (technical & non-technical)?

I developed the ability to understand and see how blueprint code works, whilst I may not remember one for one the exact layout of each blueprint, I understand and can explain how it works at a base level and what is happening.

3. Technical and non-technical skills that did not work. 

1. During the project what issues did I come across?  

1. What technical issues did I have (lack of software / skills / knowledge / time / teamwork /etc.) 

My skills in the beginning were lacking as I'd just started working in Unreal Engine, However as time went on the lack of skills became less of the problem and the problem shifted towards knowledge (and a little bit of skills as well). In my original learning project I made the AI, without too many issues (bugs etc.) and most issues I could solve, however, once I moved the code into the main file things started to break. The implementation of the level system using level streaming certain AI would behave differently, eventually I fixed most the issues. Except for the boss, as I made the boss using what I had learnt from tutorials and not following step by step processes, It was much harder to see what was going to work and what was wrong, a major error was that if the boss lost sight of the player whilst spawning minions, it would reset the number of minions to spawn, (in other words spawning indefinitely). An obvious issue was time, naturally If I had more time I could have fixed more issues and the game would be made more polished and maybe add even more features etc. There was also a fairly big lack in teamwork, in terms of miscommunication, in not  getting all the content within one unreal engine project by the end date. I think the lack of teamwork started as we didn't formally select a leader and not everyone was doing work outside college times.

4. Software. 

1. What software did I use? 

For me I used Unreal Engine 5 and Blender (for a few basic models)

2. Did I learn any new skills? 

I learnt how to understand blueprints and solve some errors, and develop my own blueprints                  from what I had learnt.

3. What would you have liked to explore further? 

Whilst I wasn't initially looking for the ability to code in programming languages and I initially thought I would only be interested in blueprints (as they are an easier way to get into programming), after  the project I now realize that as good as blueprints are, they can be frustrating and so I want to learn C++ in order to enable me to have further control over the programming of any future games I may want to make.

5. If you did this project again, what would you do differently? 

1. What areas would I improve? (Research / design / development / software etc.) 

In terms of software I think I did great, I learnt fairly quickly how blueprints work and how Unreal Engine itself works. Research was minimal, I helped develop and expand upon some ideas, which we didn't have time to put in and I mad two of the floor plans for the game, but other than that not much else. I was the main developer it seemed when it came to the Unreal Engine project, I made the enemies, added a base blackout of the levels, designed the boss battle, added the level select system, a damage and attack system etc. Whilst the the basic AI stuff was learnt from tutorials I solved most the errors and the level select system myself, so I'd like to improve by making the AI work cleaner (less or no bugs and just generally feel better as enemies) and also by having a relatively polished game even if its small, with an ending (I tried to make a goal by adding the boss but due to lack of time it became just that, a boss).

6. Conclusion. 

In conclusion, Individually I feel I did great, I learn a lot about the software and blueprints, I can understand how they work and what the blueprint is doing, and I can make some basic "Original"  blueprint that isn't from following tutorials. As team there are many areas of improvement as mentioned earlier, most issues could have been solved with more time and maybe someone (probably me) stepping up a bit more to make sure everyone's stuff is in the main project. But for the most part I enjoyed working on the project and will probably continue to use unreal engine in the future.