Hi @Thorsten09 I think your autonomous Camera and pacing looks great. But if you need something a little more dynamic and easy to implement consider speed variable for enemy movement/attacks. Another easy method could be artificially slowing the pace with Time Dilation (<1) , normalizing Time Dilation (1.0) in which the normal pace feels faster.
More Pacing Tricks
You can achieve fast/slow pacing with a variety of visual/audio tricks, such as using Warm Lighting for Fast Pace | Cool Lighting for Slower Pace Area in specified areas. Music also influences pacing and mood. Fast Tempo (ie: Action) for Fast Pacing | Slower Tempo (ie: Ambience) for Slow Pacing. Oscillate between Fast/Slow pacing for a balance.
Timelines rely on curves, thus, not sure if you can avoid using a lot of the them. But, I would more detail on what they are being used for. I personally avoid using Timelines or curves for interpolation. I use simple statemachines (switch-on-name BP node) and interpolation functions for latent interpolation with more control. You could splines for use as 3D curve data. Iâm conducting experiments with this here.
OPTIONAL READING
The more moving parts, the more complex it will be to organize and manage. Consolidation can help. The Camera has a nifty âSet View Target with Blendâ node that handle smooth transitions between viewtargets automatically. Itâs solid functionality outperforms camera interpolation with functions/timelines in my test, which is why The Hyper-Cinematic V8 SuperCam Subsystem is designed around using it. Check out these results: 1, 2. 3.
A Viewtarget can be any type of Actor, thus, you could effectively create routes of Waypoint âActorsâ and blend from one to another for Camera Movement. Add blending properties to the Waypoint Actor and now the Waypoint Actor could handle camera interpolation blending and pacing all-in-one. Add a Collision Shape to the Waypoint Actor and they can used as Collision-based Event Triggers, Camera Path/Movement/Pacing all in one. Put these properties and functions in a modular actor component and any Actor can be used a Waypoint Actor - haha.
VERY OPTIONAL READING
As mentioned earlier, Railshooters influence my FPS game designs, so Iâve pondered several ways approach developing a traditional Rail Shooter. There were two approaches I considered: Procedural Controls and Record/Playback.
The Procedural Controls Approach is very similar to what you are doing with combination of Splines & Timelines, MoveTo, Triggers, and Messages. Except, they are not 100% autonomous. They are hybrid of manual/semi-automatic/autonomous to allow for independent on-demand switching of human/AI control of the Camera (View), Player Character (Body), Player Targeting (Aim), and Player Weapon Firing.
The Record/Playback Approach is prerecording all the Camera Animation, Enemy Attacks, Triggered Events, etc and playing them back. With the Player only control of the Weapons/Reticles. The playback is only interrupted when Player fails. Its more like creating continuous movie, thus Sequencer could be employed to implement a Record/Playback System.
With this concept Camera Animation, Enemy Attacks, Triggered Events, etc are prerecorded and played back during Game Play. The Players only controls Weapons in real-time. Enemies are damaged/defeated in real-time. The Player can be damaged in real-time, but playback is only interrupted when Player is defeated to switch to cutscreens or other.
