Game Project: A tale of Knowledge

Welcome Unreal community!

My name is daan and i am an artist, more specifically for games.
I would like to share my upcoming project with you, starting from just a
mere idea.

I am going to make ‘A Tale of knowledge’. For this i will be using unreal engine. And to be honest, i will be using blueprints for the first time.
The game is a hack and slash game where you as player will have to
fight enemies through as much levels as possible.
Each level consists of 10 (number might change), randomly generated rooms in a row. making each level completely new.

The game is a fantasy game where you play as a wizard. The wizard controls many powers
and attacks. These attacks are bound to books. In the beginning of the game, you will only
own 1 book, which contains a fireball spell. This is the basic spell the player can use.
The other books and thus powers can be found throughout the levels and rooms with each their location being randomly generated.
The player is also able to level up by killing enemies. When the player reaches an amount of xp, a screen will
pop up at the side of the playfield where he will be able to increase the level of a certain aspect.
Aspects are or will be: attack, defense, speed and luck,… .

What i want to explain is that i want to create a game that is not only fun to play, but
also keeps being fun to play. To create that i want to use the randomness aspect.

I also created a small, yet far from finished backstory:
Once upon a time, when the world and its people had finally reached peace, an academy of young
wizards was raised from the ground by the elder of town. He was by saying the most powerfull
wizard mankind had ever seen. And so he was the wisest. His knowledge was great and powerfull, yet very exhausting.
The elder suffered, day after day until he found a way to stop his mind from overloading itselve. He used books to store his power. The elder was cured from his suffering but realised that now, he was nothing without his books.
At that very moment, while the elder was resting in his chambers, the era of doom striked upon us.
Shadows flew around, destroying and killing everything in their path.
While the elder managed to keep himselve alive his pupils and fellow wizards had disappeared.
Being in total shock of what happened, he realised his books where also gone.
Sitting, hopeless on the ground, the elder could only do one thing. Recollect his knowledge and save the world.

Besides the idea i have made a to-do list to keep everything in perspective:
TODO.txt (1.31 KB)

As for the art i am going to keep it simple. I would like to make a world, and its components out of voxels.
I have made a mockup to represent what kind of art i want to work to, as well as the HUD system i would like to implement.

As you see in the mockup i would like to play with light. Light can represent a power.
The wizard will always hold a book when he uses a spell. the book will emit light according to the type of spell. For example red when using fire spells.


TODO.txt (1.31 KB)

If you came this far in my post you are awesome. That because i know it is a lot to consume.
This post is representing my mind and thoughts on how i want this to work out. Things will certainly change. But hopefully in the good way. And that is why i need
you guys. The more creative minds the better! And i know there is much improvement possible.
Thanks for reading, and see you soon.

[ART] Weekly update: Props

Hi everyone!

Im here with a short weekly update About Tale of Knowledge.
So far i have been concentrating on the art which is based on voxels.
As you could read in the previous TODO list version, there was still a lot to model.

All the props relating to the rooms have been made. There could still be some more variation on certain objects, but the basics are there.
As you can see in the picture, you can already make some nicely decorated rooms. Each being totally different.
^21F38E0DFCCFECBB3D1134CC3FC512877C29C5EC6786B9DF7F^pimgpsh_thumbnail_win_distr.jpg

This is the new version of my TODO list. Notice that there have been some changes relating to objects.
TODO.txt (1.48 KB)

Next on the list is to make the designs of the power books. Each book will have around the same size, but the looks will be completely different. Also, in unreal, i will add lights on top of them, relating to the kind of power.
This should not take to long though. Wheb i am ready with this, enemies will be created. These need some more detail, and other, outstanding color patterns.
In next post i will also upload a better picture of the different props. Once i have more :slight_smile: .

Thank you for reading! If you have any ideas, feel free to share them.

(Post Edit)

As promised: a better picture of the props.

[ART][DEV] Preperations!

Hi again,

Past week i’ve been working on multiple parts of the game.
As for the Art, finish creating all the basic props was a must, and so i did. I though realised that if i want to make a good list of refreshing and new rooms, i will have to make more variations. But that will be for later.
First i wanted to make some enemies. Though i am using kind of a stylised artstyle i needed to think about the complexity of enemies. Since i created the two most common, easyest to defeat enemies, i kept their complexity
to a minimum while their silhouette is highly recognisable.

  • The bat will be the smallest creature. It is also the only flying creature in the game. The bats simply fly around in chaos in rooms, dealing damage to the player on collision.
  • The possessed One is the basic enemy in the game. It is kind of slow, but deals a moderate amount of damage. His attacks are melee.

Here is an image to clarify the ideas.
e0a49118b38e3226a1f482fad1b65de54767c828.jpeg

In the time i had left, i was also thinking about new ideas to increase the amount of enemies, spells, etc. in the game. You can follow all of this is my TODO.txt (2.73 KB) list.

I have also been testing around with the world generation. I think i am going to step away from the whole ‘translucent wall’ idea. I might just go for no walls but just an hedge on the side of the rooms. By doing this i can create
more interesting paths.

As for blueprinting, i have been playing around with the controls. As you might have been wondering, i want to make the game playable with a controller (as priority), but i also want to make the game playable on keyboard.
The camera is places top-down, so i created a top down controller and a top down game mode, based on the unreal template. I have been adding some stuff though.
I created an easy version of the raycasting principle to convert mouse position in world position, ignoring obstacles. By this my player can not only walk in the direction of the mouse when clicked, but i can use certain spells on the ground away from
the player.

So far i have only been concentrating on the player, i just wanted to get the core value right, and i think i got it now.
Next up, i will be created the other enemies and a decent and final main character for the game. I will also create blueprints for enemies and projectiles.

Thank you for reading, have a nice day!
I you have any questions or comments, i would be glad to hear them!

I’m really digging the art style you’re going with, and I’ve always been into the Wizard class and using spellbooks - dats ma jam! :slight_smile:

I didn’t notice you mentioning this, but are you working on your own for this project?

Hi Grogger,
Thank you for your interest. I am indeed working on this project on my own. It is actually a rather small project of mine to learn some things about Blueprinting.
If you have some tips or recommendations i would be very glad to hear it!

Well then, good luck to you!

I can’t say I have any tips off the top of my head other than keep the scope small, but it sounds like you’ve already done that better than I have :rolleyes:
The procedural avenue you’re taking is exactly what I would think you should do!

I’m subscribing to this thread btw, I’d like to see where this game goes.
Best of luck!

[ART][DEV] Characters and behaviours

Hi everyone!
Back again with an update on Tale of Knowledge!

This week i focused on the models of the enemies, as well as rigging, animations and basic behaviours.

As for the art, i created models for all my required enemies. This includes: Full turned, Conjurer, demonic minion and warlock (See posessed one and bat in previous post)
I also created (or actually textured) the main character, though i am not yet very happy about that one. But i’ll have to manage that later.
Here is a picture of the characters in the game!

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I also managed to make a basic rig for one of my enemies: the warlock.
Though the skinning has some small errors i am quiet happy about the animations. So far i’ve created: Walking, Idle, attack, hit and die animations
I will upload a small video of the animations soon. :smiley:

Notice that the main character has a blue tint in its texture. I was thinking, maybe i could make a vs gamemode later? for that bit of a pvp action? Just thoughts though :slight_smile:

As for the developement, i created some small behaviours.
The main character is now able to shoot fireballs properly (they don’t react on enemies yet)
I also created the main behaviour of the first enemy, the bat.
The bat stands still in a room until you enter its range. When you enter his range he starts flying around in the room chaoticly, damaging the player on collision.
I programmed it so that the bat flies to a random direction. When the bat hits a wall or it is flying in the same direction for more than 2 seconds, it turns around in a random angle and starts flying that other way.
Each time it turns around, its speed is random.

Keep up with my ToDo list here: TODO.txt (2.83 KB)

This week was kind of a testing phase. I tested multiple ways of rigging and skinning on my characters, i tested some behaviours of enemies,… But now my vision is very bright, and i know which way i want to go.
Thank you very much for reading, and see you soon!

[DEV] More and better enemy behaviours!

Hi everyone!

Once again i have been working on the programming side of the game. This because most of the art side has already been finished.
This week i concentrated on the behaviour of the bat and the possessed one (enemies)

Their behaviour is kind of different according to each other.
The bat flies around when the player comes nearby. When the bat hits the player, it deals damage to him.
The possessed one slowly comes close to the player when disturbed from his sleep. When it gets close to the player, it deals heavy damage (melee).

Both enemies kind of react the same way besides those features.
I also manages to make a new spell: The growing cold.
When the player casts the spell, a rotating circle is spawned on the ground. After a few seconds, the circle becomes pure ice, freezing all enemies inside.
Enemies are frozen for as long as the circle is up.

b8a722967b9b81a3dece496d56c93f668c634bfc.jpeg

I also created a quick healing spell (Book of light). This is now the 3th spell.
Now i will be focussing on the rigging and animation side. I’ve already created the most important behaviours after all.

Follow my Todo list here! TODO.txt (2.87 KB)

Note: i’ve been trying to upload gif’s to this forum, but it always fails. I will be trying to get gifs up of my animations and spells as soon as possible.

Thank you for reading! see you soon!

[DEV] Prototype!

Welcome back everyone!

Next week i have kind of a deadline for myself. On the deadline i want to make a prototype of the game that is playable and represents what has to be in the game.
This week i have done a lot already meaning that i wont have that much work to do next week.

This week i made the animation for the bat and the main character. They also respond on the actions. (Walking, flying, Hit, etc.)
So, 2 enemies are ready for the game! The behaviour of the other enemies will be about the same as these 2.

I also added some particle effects for the background and spells!
I also managed to put some gifs online of the animations/ gameplay. Check them out here: Sign in - Google Accounts

Next week i will work on a HUD and the rooms. They wont be random generated yet, but there will be a decent amount of differences between the rooms.

Thank you for staying up to date! see you next week!
If you have any feedback, please share :slight_smile:

[DEV] Prototype ready!

Welcome back everyone!

As you might have noticed in the previous post, there was not much left to do for my prototype. The art is ready, the basic enemies are ready and the mechanics in general are ready.
This week i created a basic, small map. This map contains every element that have been scripted yet.
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Besides that i fixed quiet some bugs :slight_smile:
Next up i will be creating and developping more enemies and spells for the player!
Thank you for reading! hope you enjoyed it :slight_smile:

Unsolved bug: My players main power is shooting a fireball. Everything workd fine, but when i play the packaged game or in an extern window, the actor of the fireball does not spawn anymore. Has this bug occured to someone else?

Edit: The bug has been fixed! for some reason, the packed game and windowed version have problems with spawning actors according to inherited arrow components. By letting the actor spawn from the basic mesh with an offset, the actor spawns once again, even in the packed version.

[ART][DEV] More enemies and fixed targets

Welcome back everyone!

At first i want to apologize for bringing this post a little late. I had kind of a busy week.
But i have been working on some interesting things.

First, i changed the way of the animations. Instead of using a bone structure with according animations, i am now using multiple meshes, who are switching each so many seconds.
This way i create an 8bit feel in a 3D world. Instead of working on bones, i have some more work scripting, what i actually like!
So far i’ve made animations for 3 enemies: The possessed one, the conjurer and the demonic minion.
I also created the behaviours of the conjurer and the demonic minions.
These demonic creatures react in the same way as the possessed ones do. They track down the player and attack when close.
The conjurer spawns demonic minions overtime.

Want to watch these behaviours and animations? Click on the link right here!

As you might have seen during this video, i have also been working on an enemy focus.
When the player presses the right trigger on the controller, the player focusses on the nearest target, making it more easy to attack an enemy. At this time, the player can use this infinitely, but maybe i will put it in a stat one day.

I hope you like the progress so far! If you have any feedback to share, please do! I would like to read your thoughts.
Thank you for reading!

I’m really loving your 3d pixel art style and the character design!

Got a little bit of crit from your behaviour and animation video, something feels a little bit odd with the main characters arm movement when he walks. The camera in the video is a little far away so it’s not entirely clear, but it may because his arms are translating forward and back, rather than rotating around the ‘shoulders’, or that he’s doing same arm and leg moving forward, rather than opposite arm and leg (this is just a guess because I can’t see it clearly in the video). Just something small, that might be worth having a look at :slight_smile:

Hi .Hider,

Thank you very much for your feedback!
You are completely right about the animation of the main character. Since i am updating the animations of the enemies, i will also have to update that of my character. I will certainly keep your feedback in mind!

I will soon post an other update of the game. I have been working hard on shaders and other art-y stuff.
Hope you are enjoying the work in progress!

[ART][DEV] Better focus on target, Experience system and MORE animations

Welcome back everyone!

This week i have been working on several things.
The main thing i worked on were the new animations for the main character and the Fully-turned enemy.
While the animations of the main character are not quiet finished yet, i have posted a video of it on youtube. Feel free to watch it!

I also made a node based shader this week.
Since it was the first time i made a shader i had some research to do. The thing i wanted t create was an outline. And in that, i succeeded.
I can also adjust the thickness and color of the outline at any time, but i mainly want to use the same one over and over again for the focus on enemies.

In the spare time i had i’ve been making the basics for my experience system.
The main goal i want to work to is a small branch system with skillpoints.

Take this as a small example:

c5b23ac16d2bd544ff2115848d4c57a1a375e6a6.jpeg

Keep in mind that i am working towards a simplified version of this.
The player can now invest skillpoints to achieve better and more powers.
These skillpoints are achieved by leveling up, which the player can do by collecting experience.

We are getting close to a somewhat playable game. But everything has yet to be combined perfectly and some major features still need to be perfected.
I hope you once again like the progress so far. I thank you very much for your time.
If you have any feedback according to my project, please don’t hesitate to reply.

[ART][DEV] Traps and spells

Welcome back everyone.

Once again it has been a busy week full op projects and work. But i made sure to spend some good time on The Tale of knowledge.
This week i made 2 traps, 1 spell and debugged a hell lot of nodes.

One of the two traps is a rather simple spike trap. The spikes come out of the floor when you step over the platform and you receive damage. After a moment, the trap restores itself.
The second trap is a shard that rests on a lantern. When the player comes in range of the shard, it starts spinning. While it is doing this, it shoots a spell at the player. (at the moment there is only one spell. But i will make different shards with different spells)

At last i have been making the Twisting anger spell.
When the player uses this spell, 3 arcane bolts starts twisting around each other, moving to forward direction. After some time, the bolts are seperately starting to move to the nearest target, dealing damage on hit.

I apologize for the rather small post and the lack of footage. I will post some Gif’s and pictures of there traps and spells soon :slight_smile:
Thank you for reading!

Finished game and near end of project

Welcome everyone once again!

I have been gone for a while now, but i have returned with great news!
I have been working quiet hard lately on the project, and now it is a finished game!

I have been making:
Random room generation,
Navigational menu with controller
Talent tree system and spell selection

I really want to thank all of you who commented and helped/ motivated me through this project. I have certainly learned a whole lot about blueprinting and now i am ready to help others too.
Here are some final screenshots!
Hope you enjoyed the project as much as i did.



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Fun art style - almost mine-craft like

Thank you :slight_smile:
As you might have noticed the project has been done for a while now…
But, i am showing off the Art on sketchfab now. I have started by showing the main enemy of the game and its base animation.
Have a look :slight_smile: