Hi.
ive started Ue4 and am working on making a small dungeon crawler. Its more of a personal project to get my started with the principles of game design. I was hoping to post here and get some feedback on a few aspects of my designs.
Traps, Puzzles and level designs
The Traps
After looking through Dungeon Crawlers such as Diablo 3, Torchlight, Victor Vran and Van Helsing. I looked at what traps they had in their levels and most had at least some environmental trap and some form of trapped chest. So I decided to make one of each.
Water Trap
The basic theme of this trap would be that when the player stands on it they are pushed to one side like they are sliding across the floor. This fit with my Temple trapped in time level as there is rushing water everywhere.
The blueprint side of things is rather easy. It’s simply a large Collison box that when a player walks into it, It figures out what side they entered on and pushes them in the appropriate direction. For example if the player walks into the left hand side the character is pushed to the left and vice versa.
The Trapped Chest
The basic principle is that when the player goes to open a chest there is a chance that it is trapped. If the chest isn’t trapped they get loot. If it’s trapped something triggers that kills the player.
Now just straight up killing those on a dice roll would be rather unfair. So currently the player gets a warning in the form a Print string that says “It’s a trap” this is the player’s que to get out of there because after a 2 second delay if they are still within the collision volume of the chest they are killed. This is shown by playing the “Fire Blast” particle effect from the Infinity Blade asset packs.
From a blueprint stand point it’s not all that complicated to make
This section shows that when the player overlaps the trigger volume of the chest that it plays the chest opening animation. Additionally it sets a “Trap Touch” Bool to be true. Additionally when they leave the area the “Trap Touch” is set to false.
Now in this section I generate a random Integer within 1 and 100 and then compare this to the trap chance (Currently 25%) if the random number is greater than the trap chance then the chest is not trapped coins fly out and sounds play. Loot would also spawn for the player to pick up. However if the random integer is lower or equal to the trap chance then the trap triggers.
When triggered a print string informs the player that they should run. This would be done with Voice acting or with a small dialog box in a real game. After a 2 second delay it players the Fire Blast animation after which is casts to the player and checks if Trap Touch is true. If it is the player is destroy if its not a small message pops up informing the player that they are safe.
Level Design
Temple Trapped in Time
Theme and story
The main story quest line of this level would be that the players need to enter an underground fortress of a rare race of elves however due to the nature of these elves the direct approach is in possible. But with a strange wizard knows another way through the mountain using magic he rebuilds an old temple under the mountain that the player can navigate through to enter the Elven fortress.
However the wizard cannot maintain the spell for long so as the player goes through multiple levels of the dungeon is becomes more and more unstable.
The main hazards the players will encounter will be the reanimated bodies of fallen elves aswell as the environment itself. Rushing water will push the character off ledges if they arent careful.
Fortress of the Mountain King
Themes and Story.
It has been years since the great iron gates of the mountain kings domain were broken by the ravaging Giant armies. However the long since abandoned home of the dwarves has begun to see new and hostile life. You mission will be to invade the keep and retrieve the legendary smithing hammer known as “Molten Core”. With this hammer in hand maybe you can forge a weapon that can kill the god whose wrath is destroying the land.
This level will more be focused around defeating monsters with large swarms attacking the player. In order to get inside they must navigate the former battlements of the old keep and activate the four statues to open the main door.