Good Day,
I have a game in mind that requires you to be able to plant seeds and grow them over a period of time. I have searched this topic and have found little as far as confirmation that this is even possible using this engine. Has anyone tried this or could point me in a direction I should start? Any help would me much appreciated.
Sure its possible. Simply spawn seed-actors that have a timeline. Over time the actor increases its size(for simplicity in z direction without any animation), thats it.
Check the Timeline node out: Timelines | Unreal Engine Documentation
Timelines are cool, but they get called every frame. Try to use timers, as you can set them to run at a slower pace, with minimal effect on performance.
https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Gameplay/HowTo/UseTimers/Blueprints/
Aren’t timers also called every frame?
No, check the last picture in the link (Set Timers By Event). That’s the most descriptive one. Sure, in their back-end, they have some sort of code which has to decide if X seconds have passed, but the code you add on them doesn’t get called every frame, only every X seconds. With timelines, as far as I know, even though their back-end is probably similar to that of timers, the code you’re adding is actively being called every frame, as far as I know. I guess I might be wrong about timelines, but I know I’m right about timers.