Work Updates and what was shown at GamesDev

Heres a video of the content we shown at GamesDev in Cardiff (which was a fantastic night btw!) :

 
The feedback we got from people was great and it was a good experience for getting our game some public exposure. One of the best received features was the Map mechanic for the game.

The camera was changed for the GamesDev event and it definately improved the game experience however it still needs work as enemies to the left of the character create a disorienting feeling whereby you cannot see them too well.

The crash issue we experienced while showcasing our work was unexpected to say the least and has lead to a slight change in the cave. As a result I've had to bring it forward away from the crash location and block off the back area of the cave which was causing the crash when Verne turned to face the exit there while the HUD was enabled.

This crash did not persist when the HUD was toggled off for some reason.
When the logs were investigated they state that there is a Max number of kismet events being reached just prior to and at the time of the crash.

 

The contact shadows were addressed by utilising decals in the level which teleport to the relevant actors when spawned and teleport away upon death. This workaround had to be done due to consistent failing in getting dynamic shadows to work on the character. Steps involved in trying to fix this was adding/editing various parts of code (bCastShadow etc.) for the LightEnvironment and SkeletalMeshComponent none of which had any success.

The shooting animation for the character has finally been implemented into UDK however there is currently some difficulty in getting it to work in-game.

by

    Mike Rowntree