Embedded Files
Key Features
Dialogue system
Story
Progression
Unique quests
Level changes
Player can alter the environment
Landscaping
The Valley is an open-world story-based game created in Unreal Engine 5.2 using Blueprints. This was a very ambitious project which pushed all of my prior knowledge and understanding of Unreal Engine to its limits
Story:
The player finds themselves in an abandoned snowy world. Upon speaking to a local fox, they learn that the world has been cursed, and can only be restored to its former beauty by someone completing an Expedition. The player agrees to go on the expedition, but before they can do so, they need to build up energy by completing tasks for the people in the world.
Gameplay:
The player has to interact with the NPCs around the level in order to recieve their task, which will then be displayed in a box in the UI. The tasks include shooting projectiles at objects, spawning a watering can in order to water areas on the ground to make them turn into plants, pushing a wheelbarrow into objects to collect them, and herding pigs into a pen.
Energy is gained by completing tasks and by collecting food pickups in the level. Once the energy level has reached its max, the sign that is found in the level can be interacted with, and can change the level to the expedition
On the expedition, the player moves automatically through the mountains towards the target. Their energy will run down on a timer, and will end the game if it fully depletes. In order to prevent this, the player can open their inventory and consume any food pickups they collected before going on the expedition. Consuming food will increase the energy level, and will also remove that item from the inventory.
Once the target has been reached, the player gets taken to a new level. This level looks like the first, except it is now summer instead of winter. They will find more characters with more tasks to complete.
Upon completing the final task, a giant wizard will appear, which chases and shoots projectiles at the player, and spawns rings of fire around itself. The player must destroy the wizard to complete the game.
Skills developed from this project:
- Dialogue system: Using text arrays in parent actors, I created functionality for a dialogue system, which activates on a collision overlap, and displays custom text to a UI component. Each text item displays for three seconds before disappearing. This skill will be something that I utilise a lot in the future.
- Inventory system: The player's inventory was created using various arrays, as well as communication between different actors, and use of a game instance. I had never created an inventory before, and, although I initially faced challenges with the implementation, it became a very effective feature.
- Landscaping: This project was my first time using UE5's Landscaping mode. I used it to create the mountains for the expedition and the background to the other levels, and I experimented with painting.
- Story progression: The Valley has more of a storyline than any of my previous projects - the context of which is explained to the player through NPC dialogue. The game also prevents certain actions from being done until previous requirements have been completed, further including a sense of progression.
- Interfaces: Use of interfaces was completely new to me in this project, but understanding them has been a great help in terms of actor communication, and therefore creating more complex mechanics.
- Game instances: I had to make use of a game instance in order to keep the player's inventory and energy levels consistent when switching between levels. This was new to me, but is helpful for understanding how to create multi-level games.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse