Weekly Digest #45

My UE5 learning process is going exceptionally well! I am on the verge of releasing the first version of my first UE5 project, which consists of a gauntlet top-down shooter game where Olivia has to survive wave after wave of feral roamers rushing her inside a ruined temple room. While technically quite simple, this project as a learning process benchmark has helped me understand all aspects of the editor I will need to port The Island game to the incredibly beautiful world of UE5. Speaking of which, I have started identifying assets I will need, starting with the introduction part of the game (the Yacht). We also have a version 1.0 of the new Olivia for Unreal 5 made entirely from scratch in Daz3D (images are coming soon). 

As you may have noticed, I skipped the last weekly digest. I was engrossed in a coding spree with UE5. So far, things are going well. As you might know, I'm working on a small project to familiarize myself with the engine, and it's progressing nicely! Starting from scratch, I've created a map (level) that represents a temple or underground area, developed numerous blueprints for game logic, and designed Olivia’s geometry and her movement around the map. I chose to start from scratch rather than using a project template to fully understand how the engine works. My next goals include adding feral roamers to the game, applying animations, introducing projectile logic, a weapon, managing damage, and the game over scenario, among other things. I estimate I'm about halfway through this side project. My goal is to create a fully functional game before delving into the more complex survival game logic I've prototyped based on the current RPGMV game. The skills I'm acquiring from this will be beneficial for the main game. Additionally, we've been working on transitioning the Olivia model from the RPGMV game to Daz3D. The results are impressive and I'll share images of her very soon!

Progress with getting started on the GDE is going well. The lessons learned in the online courses are proving beneficial, and I'm starting to grasp the nuances of Unreal 5's level editor. I have come across several free and some paid graphics assets that I would like to integrate into the game; they looks amazing! Soon, I will start consultations with members of the Discord to help with Olivia's basic appearance. Ultimately, I aim to incorporate a system to customize the character at the beginning of the game, a feature I am eagerly anticipating. If everything goes according to plan, I should have a basic proof of concept to present to subscribers, featuring a small level in the jungle, very soon.

After discussing with the community in the exclusive subscriber Discord channel of the game and analyzing the options and direction for it, I have decided to focus on utilizing the Unreal 5 engine with Daz3D. I have already started exploring the GDE and started production of a technical test for the new version of the game. To help me reach my goals, I plan to purchase a few courses on Udemy to assist me with the more abstract aspects of development with Unreal 5 and follow tutorials to improve my skills with Daz3D in order to produce, arguably, a much better visual representation of the current game. The story has evolved significantly since its initial concept. Although it may differ slightly from the RPGMV version of the game, there is no need to radically change it, and thus I will focus on the technical aspect In addition to the core features of the game (primal regression, pregnancy, etc.) and since we are going to significantly upgrade the engine, I have come up with a few idea/features I want to incorporate into the game. Here are a few things we aim to accomplice: 

The engine enables the creation of a wide variety of procedural AI to introduce both passive and aggressive NPCs, monsters, and animals for resource gathering or interaction and that opens up many possibilities. Walking in the jungle will no longer be a "walk in the park," as you will have to watch your step to avoid encountering a random tiger or being startled by an ambushed feral roamer. The Unreal 5 engine, combined with Daz3D animations and high-quality art, is very promising and hopefully, will take the Island to the next level. The capabilities of this engine surpass those of the previous one, enabling me and the crew to be more creative than ever before!

As mentioned in my previous Weekly Digest, I successfully identified and isolated the bug in the current version of the game. To resolve it, I plan to remove all videos and replace them with fixed images to reduce memory usage in RPG Maker MV. The heavy use of videos in the game is causing instability, and adding more features in the future may worsen the situation. Given this information and the popularity of videos in the game, I have begun to explore the possibility of transferring the game to a different engine. After seeking opinions from the game community on Discord and conducting research throughout the week, I am leaning towards using the Unreal 5 engine for a potential game revamp. I am also looking into rendering software to create new 3D art and videos. In terms of the revamp, I am contemplating whether to maintain the top-down/isometric third-person view or switch to a first-person view for a more immersive experience. There are many factors to consider, and this decision-making process will require time and careful consideration. Ultimately, these changes will enhance the game in various aspects.

Join the discussion on our Discord : https://discord.gg/aJBkNStPnw

This week, the subscribers' version of the game includes yet another round of bug fixes. The "Now Loading" bug is currently taking up most of my development time. Since I cannot reproduce the bug, as I mentioned earlier, it is challenging to isolate the cause. However, with the assistance of testers, I am gaining more clues as to where to look. Apparently, the bug is related to Olivia's reaction as she progresses in her pregnancy. Therefore, I have added a new option in the game to disable Olivia's reaction for those experiencing this issue, as well as more debug flags to the log.txt file to assist me in further analysis. While this bug fix is not acceptable in my opinion, it allows me to shift my focus to adding new content, continuing the main story, and creating new renders and videos, all while allocating some time to try to fix this bug.