My First Game Dev Journey: Week 16

Hey guys, I’m back again after a difficult week. 

Last week, I realised that a lot of the work I’d put into building my game wasn’t going to be usable, which was pretty disheartening to say the least. With my deadline just around the corner, it’s very much all systems go. 

One of the first things I had to do when starting again was reconnect and set up Wwise. Thankfully, because I’d already been through the process before, it didn’t take as long as it did initially, although it was still a bit tedious. That said, one positive from this whole experience is that repeating these steps has really highlighted how much my knowledge has grown and how far I’ve come. 

This week, I’ve been working within a pre-made game environment that I sourced online, as I simply don’t have the time to rebuild my original world from scratch. My main priority now is creating and implementing sound, which is what this project is really about. I am cutting it a little fine, but I’m pushing through. 

I also had another session with one of the game lecturers who helped me last week. He kindly offered further support to help me speed things up, which made a huge difference. 

I had originally downloaded some assets from KitBash that I wanted to reuse in this new environment, but unfortunately, when I tried to migrate them across, I ran into compatibility issues between different versions of Unreal Engine. That was definitely a bit frustrating. 

So, I went back to the drawing board and sourced some new assets. The style is slightly different from what I initially envisioned, but it still fits the overall aesthetic and works well for what I need. 

With the help of my lecturer, we were able to set up some Blueprints to activate and transport the player through portals. We also implemented some glowing red spiders that follow the player in certain areas, which creates a really ominous and atmospheric feel, perfect for sound design.

We also managed to set up a simple collection system to activate the portals. Players now need to find all of the gems in the cave before they can leave, which adds a small gameplay objective and makes the environment feel more interactive. 

Now that the fundamentals are back in place, my focus is on creating and implementing sound, and getting everything ready for my final showcase. 

I’ve got two weeks left until I present this, wish me luck, I’m going to need it!