Title:  Splatter Ball Level (2020)

Description:  Speed and agility will be tested in the paintball training level and you must complete this level before you can proceed to the advance training course.  Are you ready?!

Tool(s) Used:  Unreal Engine 4 and assets downloaded from the Asset Library

Highlighted skills:  Animation, 3D, Modeling, Rendering, Shaders, Materials, Lighting, Camera, Sound, First-person

Reflection:

            To create this level, I wanted to create a game that allowed me to explore some of Unreal’s assets to look beyond features within the Engine’s interface.  I decided on a warehouse theme for the project because that is a common setting I see in first-person shooters as well as in various paintball scenarios.  I think this is because it allows for multiple obstacles to be placed in the arena and the cleanup is low maintenance.  I downloaded some of the assets (after paying for it of course) and incorporated them into my project.  Next, I created a small arena akin to speedball, which is a type of indoor paintball, and added the assets into the arena.  The next thing I did, was to create the targets the player must shoot and set up the destroy-actor features for them.  After that, was setting up the gameplay, such as the Main Menu level, the timer, and the target counter.  I went back to revisit the project and added the enemy AI using blueprints and Unreal’s meshes to create a flying spaceship that fired at the player and moved about the level.  One thing I learned about this project is that AI can be created in many ways without the use of Unreal’s Blackboard tree.  If I had more time, however, I would play around with the decision tree feature to expand the AI’s capabilities.  Artificial Intelligence is a subject that fascinates me and it is something I want to explore more as I pursue my game development career.