SNHU Fuzzy Farmers Rapid Prototype
This artifact was created for a project studio. We were given a design document and was instructed to follow the document to create a rapid prototype. The title was called “Fuzzy Farmers”. This was designed to be an objective based level, in where the farmer would collect “fuzzies” within the given time limit. The farmer also had many different items within the fenced plot to uncover and find.
For the prototype I looked into the design document and started on the setting, as it was the easiest to create. After the setting and the play area was established, I started on the finer points of the prototype, such as the Fuzzies (NPC). After I created their mesh and movement, I started working on the interaction between the Fuzzies and the player. After I finished by doing sub objectives like the destructive mesh and the UI. In the polishing, I was focused on improving the pickup system, establishing a menu, and fixing some other issues like AI.
I learned a lot of using Ue4 script to implement elements of game design to flesh out a prototype. I learn about events, triggers, relations between objects, destructible meshes and UI implementation. I also learn the process of implementing a game document to create a rapid prototype.
I face some challenges when interacting with objects in Ue4. One of the harder challenges was finding the right class of object to use for the fuzzies. Originally, I used an actor for them and used a gate to introduce interaction with the player controls. It wasn’t until I started to polish that I realized that housing interactions with the fuzzy was not as efficient as housing those triggers with the player model. Another challenge was the implementation of UI during the game play. In the beginning of creation, I decided to remove and create the widget in a loop with collision boxes. It wasn’t until debugging that I found that it was entirely inefficient and that using other means like toggling invisibility was better in implementation.
From initial creation to polish, it is like night a day. I established a better pickup system that ran without any log errors, I fixed the AI to run basic vector paths for navigation, established a working pause and main menu with small errors like the pause button, sound integration with ambiance and pickup.
