Help with character movement for 1st person dungeon crawler

anonymous_user_aced34d51 · June 24, 2016, 8:55pm

What would be the best way to go about making 1st person tile movement in Eye of the Beholder/Legend of Grimrock style? I can find tutorials on almost all other aspects of “making an rpg” such as creating an inventory system, classes, combat mechanics etc… but always with modern free movement in mind. I can’t find anything on restricted grid based movement in 1st person mode so you can move left, right, forward backward only with left and right rotation.

Update, added a pic of the blueprint I have so far. I am sure that this is a terrible solution and it doesn’t work really at all except move the character forward and backward and diagonally and the rotate goes into the floor and then stops the player from moving.

TechLord · June 25, 2016, 3:59am

I would recommend using Waypoints and the Navigation system for AI Bots. I believe this would provide the greatest flexibility without reinventing the entire wheel. I intend to use this method for a semi-automatic Rail System in my own game. Check out Peter Newton’s Tutorials for insight on the Waypoints and AI Navigation.

There are many ways you could go about setting up the waypoints in the level by either placing them manually in the level or spawning dynamic using an algorithm to calculation adjacent location spacing.

OptimisticMonkey · June 25, 2016, 4:12am

I really like TechLord’s idea using ai…

but if you wanted to roll your own:

Store the four possible camera orientations for N,S,E,W
Use a grid to store the maze and determine cell accessibility
e,g When moving forward, look up cell in forward direction and see if you can access it
if yes then interpolate position to cell location
if you rotate left or right, change orientation appropriately

anonymous_user_aced34d51 · June 25, 2016, 5:18am

Thanks guys, I’ll check out these tutorials you recommended. Waypoints and Navmesh sounds like what I need.

TechLord · June 25, 2016, 7:07am

I like OptimisticMonkey’s roll-your own system. I considered rolling my own using A Depth-First Search Algorithm to calculate adjacent distance and direction to interpolate between cell locations on demand when movement is required. However, after factoring Dynamic Obstacles, I realized the UE4 AI Nav System would support adding logic to avoid and respond to obstacles Monster/Trap/Doors, negotiate moving platforms, and other conditions. UE4’s AI Nav System automatic handles traversing complex goal points within single Move To BP Node.

TechLord · June 25, 2016, 5:10pm

Things can be made simple using the SimpleMoveToActor or SimpleMoveToLocation BP Nodes:

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anonymous_user_aced34d51 · June 26, 2016, 7:29pm

Thanks for the help guys. Sounds like there are many ways to go about this and I just have to decide which one is optimal for what I’m trying to do. The example is very helpful Techlord, I’m a visual learner so seeing how it works is the best way for me to get it.