Die to Survive - Railshooter

Here are also a few pictures from 2 levels out of an prototype i just decided to include into this game.



It is out of a third person based game, this is why you see the hero char.

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Looks Interesting. Whats that Prototype about? I see Demons. Me Like Demons in games.

Demons are in both of the games, it is all based around a storyline.
The third person is based of this levels i use now and the other way around ā€¦ as an extension i would say. Here are a few of them. In this game the are more special enemies, cause they are easier to identify in a crowd of zombies (not prepared for the gore system).

It is kinda funny but also stupid what i have done for a single person.
In short words ā€¦ i have 4 game types tested. Railshooter (kill all), Third Person (Hack and Slash action adventure), Top Down (Space theme) and a Shmup.
2 in Prototype status and 2 close to or in alpha. And beside the Top Down they are conected to each other.
I did not want to make simply a game, i wanted also to tell a crazy story.
Try to explain how i would see why there is something like a zombie.

In the end i needet to decide wich one i like the most myself and want to go first to finish and how to tell the story.
So here you go ā€¦ ā€œDie to Surviveā€ railshooter won. It is simply not possible to do games in parallel if you do this alone.

If you want to have a look, here is also link to a video from the prototype of the shmup , i didnĀ“t recordet the third person one.
Link to Shmup video

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Thatā€™s looking Sweet! You have skills, so it is not really hard to believe you accomplished 4 game prototypes solo. UnrealEngine makes this possible.

A 4-in-1 Game is possible. RPGs do it all the time with Mini-games. You can also see this in Hybrid Games using a variety of game mechanics from different genres. Its all about designing modular subsystems to be used in multiple game styles. This notion is what a All-Perspectives-In-One Camera System like V8 Supercam was developed to solve.

Because Iā€™m a solo dev, to reduce my workload, I actively seek out the common features between Game Mechanics in different game styles and design ā€˜genericā€™ subsystems to be shared amongst them. I consolidate features and repurpose subsystems for uses they may have not initially designed for.

For example, a Projectile weapon functions nearly the same in all perspectives and styles. Casting a Fireball, Shooting a Bullet/Arrow, Launching a Missile, Power Punching, Sword Swinging can all Spawn a Projectile to inflict Damage/Physics Force upon Collision. So, I designing a single Projectile System (TRAJECTILES) to be used amongst them.

Thus, the Railshooter (kill all), Third Person (Hack and Slash action adventure), Top Down (Space theme) and a Shmup can all use the same Projectile System so you only need to develop one Weapon System.

Aliens & Zombies go hand in hand.

Thank you @TechLord for the compliment.
Sure it is possible to mix and match geners, i was more talking about time this would need.
And i do not like it myself very much. I remember at games like contra or axely from super nintendo. I hated the moment they switched the viewport.

I think if you play a railshooter then you want to play it as such, the same for the others.
RpgĀ“s are kinda special i think.

About multiuse of projectiles

I guess using projectiles the way you told would not really possible for me.
I use linetrace & projectiles.
For example in the shump i worked something out so you dont move the background as the most do (not sure if not all) instead i move the player and clamp the movement to a definet part.
In fact if an enemy shoots a projectile i trace the player position and adjust the speed of the projectile and also lock one axis, if i would not do this this movement i worked out wouldnĀ“t really work.
But i would more then happy to hear and learn something new. I am allways wide open for any suggestions. :smiley:

Another short video. It is about debugging the new movement and event system in place now.
All of the events are set to finish_automatic for debugging. It is more about to see if all systems work and how the movement and rotation event look and feel.

i would love to hear your opinions about this. specaly about the speed and more detailed the speed of the movement and rotation.

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Iā€™m certain 97% of my coding time is Debugging. LOL. I find myself often using 1) TextRenderObjects & DrawDebugString BP Nodes for Positioning Debug Text in the 3D World; 2) PrintString/PrintText BP Nodes to Print to Screen/Log; 3) Small in-game UMG UIs for Debug Text logs and other features; 4) BP Breakpoints, 5) this Discord Plugin.

My 101th subproject, is to consolidate the code for these hiding in different projects, and develop a comprehensive in-game Debug subsystem to include Voice Synthesis. codename: XTerminator.

About multiuse of projectiles

TRAJECTILES combines Linetraces & Projectiles :slight_smile: The System is Spline-based using Custom Projectile Movement Code along a Spline ( Not UE Native Projectile System). Its uses LineTraces as a form of high precision collision detection at specified length and specified distance along the Spline per Tick. I call these SplineTocks ( a play on words: Tick-Tock. hehe). I can use the system for Instant Hit simply by using a single extra long length SplineTock.

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Here is a video of the jail level i use to get a feeling how long it needs to be and where to place events. Most of the models i use are more like an placeholder (a few are from the free low poly pack).
I guess it is maybe a good idea to finish first things like Niagara effects and gameplay next. So if i decide to move to UE5 at some point i do not need to build all models as good looking with high poly again and not as till now more for low poly.

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Hi @Thorsten09. I see Pickups, how does the player Interact with them?

Hi @TechLord , this is the prototype level where i test things.
The pickups are for something like cards to activate computer, or open a door for example.

I tested to switch to third person and use this in some sort of mini game.
But just feelt not right. Guess will use it as most things just shoot to pickup to have a reason to go at such places.
Just testing ways to explain why you are go there without text.

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Awesome! Shoot to Pickup/Activate is an excellent approach as a Railshooterā€™s primary interaction is Shooting.

Shoot-to-do-stuff

Thatā€™s exactly how Iā€™m going to approach all Player Interactivity my game (Exorion). Shoot-to-do-stuff. Iā€™m supporting Dual Wielding (Left/Right Weapons/Shooting) to Shoot in Patterns/Combinations to activate Power Ups and much more.

Shoot . . .

  • Power Meters to Charge Up/Deplete Power
  • Triggers to Select/Pickup/Activate
  • 3D GUI Buttons for Menu Selection
  • Switches to change Player Routes
  • Jumppads to Super Jump
  • Locks to open Doors or Combination Keypads to enter combos.
  • Virtual Keyboards to Enter Text.
  • Spawn/Build Stuff
  • To-do-whatever else.
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A few assets i testet to build the last few days. At the moment they are still very high poly.

Size compere to human.

Maybe i put them also in the marketplace as UE5 Nanite versions.

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Those are very nice. Iā€™m always on lookout for unique pieces/materials to kitbash characters and monsters with.

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Thank you @TechLord .
This where meant to be more like a test for Nanite and UE5, at the moment i have a deeper look how much afford it will be to move the project over to UE5.
And as i dont see where to use this models really and allways wanted to know how the marketplace work, i made them ready for it and placed it in there.
Maybe someone really have a place to use it. I put alomost all in there i used as i build them.

Edit:
Off-topic link to marketplace

Very cool!
I havenā€™t read the whole thread, but my two cents of feedback is that maybe you should make the heads hold a little tighter to the bodies. Itā€™s extremely fun to shoot off a head, but gets less fun if the head pops off of 9/10 enemies I kill.
(Enemies also seem very light, like they go flying very easily, but my preference for heavier enemies might not be shared by everyone)
I know itā€™s still in development though, pretty impressive dismemberment!

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Hi @sonictimm, thank you for your opinion. I appreciate every suggestion that help me make this better, and i am allways happy to hear how i can do better or in a different way.

Beside testing to move to UE5 i also testet a few options like you mentiont for dismembering.
For the head, i am testing at the moment some sort of random events.
Some events are: head explodes, cut half of the head away, simple dismember(as it is right now).
Also just testing impact strenght based of the used weapon. So some have an heavy impact and others have less impact. Still testing a lot of things.

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Very cool, I look forward to seeing updates!

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Marketplace Link Please.

Now UE5 ā€¦
After a lot of testing and rewriting some of c++ code over the last weeks, finally i moved my project now also to UE5.
This is a big milestone for the project.
It is just insane what you can do with UE5, so i am more than happy to delay the game for this.

A big thank you to all of the EPIC team for making such a great update for the engine, and make it possible for everyone to use this masterpice of software.

A little Picture with a kinda blockout for a level i hade in mind a long time. Will see if this work active with Nanite.


I am curios myself how far i can go for such a large scale setup.

I think i need better refs ā€¦ this looks just stange.

So new try with new refs, this did really help ā€¦ sphinx making progress.


Slowly begins to look like it should be.
Maybe tomorrow i am able to finish her.

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Cool man! This game really captures the House of the Dead vibes! Congratulations! I am an old UDK Developer, who recently released my game on Steam, and now I moved to UE4, so I am your new mate on the Unreal Engine Community :smile:

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