Hi,
thanks a lot for the nice comments, I really appreciate it.
I wanted to share a little breakdown of how I made this demo.
The character
I used photogrammetry to make a 3D model of my head. I then used mesh to metahuman to create the character.
The suit is from the marketplace: Character Diver
I had to edit the model a bit to make the suit, the diving tank and the helmet separate skeletal mesh. I also tweaked the helmet model a bit.
The facial animation is from the City Sample Crowds pack.
The sweater is from the same pack. I also edited the model to remove the unnecessary parts like the sleeves to prevent interpenetration with the suit.
The animation
I used Interaction with ALS, an updated version of Advanced Locomotion System V4
It’s packed with features but many of them are not completely functional and there is not much documentation. Still, it’s an incredible work and I think it’s the most advanced locomotion system you can find for a third person game.
I added and modified a few things to suit my needs. For example I added a camera head bob from a BP I found in Western Desert Town. I also created the logic for the “follow tunnel” when crouching or crawling.
The menu
I used Ezitna Kit System (Main Menu, Option, Chat, Inventory, Light, Ping, Name & Door)
It’s a really well done system. Easy to integrate and everything is done in a pretty consistent way. So once you get the hang of it, everything works pretty well and it’s easy to modify to suit your needs. I had to add a few things for my project like a camera head bob scale setting because it gives certain players motion sickness.
This menu system is fully mouse / keyboard and gamepad compatible.
It also adds the input key bindings based on a widget Option menu that’s pretty neat.
The models
I modeled and textured a few little things I couldn’t find, but the majority of the models are from Quixel Bridge and a variety of marketplace packs I mostly got for free over the years, thanks to Epic “free content for the month”:
Old West Learning
Engine Hall
Wild West City - Wild West Town - Wild West Sky City - Town
Automatic Coral Generator
Fantasy Cave Environment Set
Western Desert Town
Cave Constructor
Modular Industrial Area
Luos’s FREE Modular Caves/Rocks mini Package
Dungeon Lamps
The weather system
I used Ultra Dynamic Sky
VFX
I used FluidNinja LIVE for the torch. I took a few things from Blueprints too, like the fog sheets.
Sound
I used Footsteps Sounds with Blueprint Setup and various sound from freesound.org
Other
I used Property Transfer Tool to transfer variables and functions.
I also used Async Loading Screen to be able to have a functional loading screen. From what I read, it’s pretty much the only easy way to load a level without having a frozen loading screen. This plugin allows the loading screen to run while loading the level and has an animated throbber to let the player know the game hasn’t crashed.
I used World Partition to stream the map content.