Project Vault Game Dev log 08

And we are done with another month and year!! I can't believe 2024 is already over at this point ;o;! It's been one heck of a year full of some major milestones for me as a creative! First off I started this whole project and finally stepped into the world of game development! It's been an absolutely insane journey so far full of so much learning. I've learned that every week can be something new when it comes to game development. Whether it's learning how to create things in blender for the first time, or working for weeks to Bod pushing a block without Unreal collapsing haha.

It's ultimately been just such an absolute joy that I've been so happy I can share with you all. So with that lets get on with the updates and such :3!!!

Dec 24': The Movement Month

This month had a huge focus on trying to clean up Bod's movements and general handling. Spent a lot of time in blender learning how to create cleaner animations in general. Bod's Idle stance, walk cycle, and run cycle all got a major rehaul. Likewise I started introducing Lean animations into the run so that Bod turns a little more naturally while walking or running. This will probably require some further tweaks and exaggeration down the road but for now it's seriously helped the movement a ton!

In addition a new crouch Idle and walk was animated with complete transitions to and from the standing idle. In general a lot of code cleanup occurred here to help it all run smoother in game. In general the system works a heck of a lot better now! Need to give the same treatment to the prone/crawling system next down the line but that will be it's own can of worms haha!!

Lastly I added in Bod's aerial cartwheel! This is one of the major movement mechanics that Bod will be able to utilize in the game! Outside of being a potential offensive ability, it also gives Bod some movement and traversal capability. It will be one of the few ways to cross gaps in the terrain or avoid some obstacles/traps. It was seriously a ton of fun going through the animation work for this guy. There is still a lot I need to play around with before it works fully as a finished product, but for now it's been so cool to see it in action!

New Mechanic Doodles:

So a bit of time went into to doodling up some future mechanics also that Bod will utilize! The first is Bod's swarm shield mechanic! This is pretty much going to be Bod's first line of defense against attacks in game.

The second mechanic is called the Resonance pulse! Using this Bod can get a quick snapshot of the surrounding area to locate any points of interest such as enemies, loot, or traps.

Next Month: Bod gets an enemy >:3c!

So it's about time that I finally start working on adding in enemies to the game. It's been long overdue for a stealth game to not have some guards to make the ruins more dangerous haha. Going to see about creating an initial model for the Sensor Puppet enemy type that will be found in a lot of the ruins in the game. Getting this guy working in game is going to be a big goal for the next month so that I can finally start testing out and building on the stealth mechanics. Likewise by having them in the game I'll be able to start adding in some of Bod's major mechanics that will revolve around them! So stay tuned for more updates with these guys next month :D!