Arkanoid in UE5.1
A few weeks back I created some mock-up screenshots for #screenshotsaturday of an interpretation of the Arkanoid game mechanic blocking humanity’s logistics and distribution centers.
I enjoyed making the static scene, so I decided that when I am not overburdened with relaxation this holiday season, I am going to try and recreate the game mechanics and share my progress with the community.
Here are the screenshot I made to start of with:
And here is the first iteration of the physics driven gameplay loop:
Looking forward to sharing my updates and iterations with the community over the next week or so remaining of the holiday.
I enjoyed making the static scene, so I decided that when I am not overburdened with relaxation this holiday season, I am going to try and recreate the game mechanics and share my progress with the community.
Here are the screenshot I made to start of with:
And here is the first iteration of the physics driven gameplay loop:
Looking forward to sharing my updates and iterations with the community over the next week or so remaining of the holiday.
Thanked by 1Leslie
Comments
This is how it turned out:
I have managed to add the next PowerUp pickup to my Arkanoid UE5.1 remake.
The 'Slow Motion' pickup will slow the ball down for 30 seconds before returning it to its previous speed.
Here is a video demonstrating the pickup, audio and Particle FX for it:
With this 'Power Up' the player can catch the ball with the paddle. They then have a three second window to aim/redirect and manually release the ball before the ball gets automatically released again.
(This was slightly more complicated to implement than what I initially thought it would be)
Here is the video of the Catch ball powerup working:
Is there a build you can share with people for feedback?
Interestingly, this power-up capsule had a similar initial response from adult me than from what child me struggled with it all the time. I remember always getting distracted by either the capsule coming down, or by the shooting after collecting it, and stopped paying attention to blocking the ball with the paddle.
Here is the video of the simple transformation and the laser cannons firing:
First up is the 'Triple/Disrupt' power-up. When collected it triples all the balls in play. This power-up is stackable, so if there is currently multiple balls in play from a previous pick-up, they will get tripled. I guess this was called 'Disrupt' in the original game because it disrupts your focus when trying to pick which ball to play.
Here is the video for the 'Triple/Disrupt' power-up:
The second one is the 'Break All' power-up. It breaks all the remaining boxes remaining in the level, effectively giving the player a free pass and a score boost.
Here is the video for 'Break All' power-up:
There is one other power-up, but all it does is grant the player with an extra life. So, no need to create a video for that.
For now it just dips to black while the paddle is reset, but I am currently working on all of the UI elements needed for scoring, level transitioning, and life lost transition.
Here is the video with the paddle destruction FX:
If you're wondering about music, I'd love to write something for this! If you're keen, we can chat and get you a custom score? I'd be happy to do it for free as portfolio work.
Thank you for the offer, I will take your details down, and when I get to that stage of this project, I will send you a message and we can have a conversation about it.
The first 8 round/level layouts have been added to the game. Along with the game instance functionality, and the UI/HUD.
Regarding the round/level layouts:
I have decided to break the 32 main levels from the original game into 4 groups of 8 using the same environment. The first 8 will use the same warehouse scene, but sticking to my theme of 'The disruptions of humanity's logistics', each level will have more warehouse inventory accumulating that couldn't be shipped because of the blockage/obstruction.
Here is a screenshot of what round/level 8 looks like:
And here is a video of the HUD/UI and some gameplay from each of the first 8 Rounds:
Here are the first 8 rounds set in the warehouse environment:
Here is the office environment used for rounds 9-16:
For the second 8 rounds the locked, or unlit light boxes have to be hit twice before they can be destroyed on a third hit.
For rounds 17-24 I used a shipping container yard:
For the third set of 8 rounds the locked light boxes have to be hit 3 times before they are activated for destruction.
Rounds 25-32 happens on a suburban front porch:
With the locked light boxes needing yet another additional hit before destruction.
I hope it all follows some sort of logical through line: First with the logistical warehouse: then the corporate office of the logistical company being blocked; followed by a shipping yard; and finally the destination being blocked, a residence.
I did also make the final level, round 33, it takes place in a System Shock 2 inspired virtual world:
Over the next two weeks I should be able to finish the project. Only have a few more elements to add, and the fine tuning of some gameplay and physics.
Here is a video of it implemented:
A few additional updates have also been made:
1 - All of the UI is now done, including the 'Round Clear' and 'Game Over' screens.
2 - The logic for the Extra Life score tracking and PowerUp has been added.
3 - The ball speed for the physics has been stabilized, and the speed now increases a set amount with each time the Paddle is hit by the ball.
4 - There is also now a particle trail behind the ball. (hiding some of the ghosting hopefully.)
There are only a few more things I need to do before the project is finished:
1 - Create the various levels with cutscenes.
2 - Fix the fine tune the probabilities of the 'Random Generation' regarding the PowerUps.
3 - Implement a Save game system for keeping track of the high score.
4 - Check all the levels a final time to see if the type of Bots are spawning from the correct area.
Almost there! I hope to be done this week!
About the Project:
It started out as a single screenshot for a Saturday. With a mock-up scene depicting the first level of the classic Arkanoid game. This resulted in me opting to go on a two month development journey.
Project Objectives:
After I committed to remaking Arkanoid, I outlined a few project deliverables I wanted to achieve:
1 – Remake the game in its entirety. I have worked on numerous hobby game projects in recent years, but none of them ever to completion. That is why I made it the core objective of this project.
2 – Set a fixed time frame to complete the project in. I wanted a hard deadline to plan towards, with this being a hobby project I accounted for my spare-time and decided two months would be a good project window.
3 – Learn more about particles. Before I started this project the extend of my knowledge regarding the ‘Niagara Particle System’ was that it existed. That had change.
4 – Practice and Expand my knowledge regarding Blueprint scripting.
I also Identified a couple of objectives that didn’t need to be met during this project:
1 – Don’t 3d Model anything unnecessarily. I have been 3d modelling for over 20 years now and did not need that to be part of the educational journey on this project. Making the vast library of free marketplace content acquired over the years fair game.
2 – This game project can not be released for distribution, not for sale, nor for free. And can only be a personal hobby, educational, and portfolio project.
The Final Product:
Through careful planning, and defining a reasonable project scope, I was able to complete the project in the allotted two months. I will admit, at times I was very tempted to expand the scope with more elaborate game play mechanics or level design. Fortunately I was able to resist, and finished the project on time.
Did I manage to remake of the original in its entirety? Yes, mostly. I did manage to reproduce the level design and basic game play mechanics. However, the pace of my game is substantially slower than that of the original; This was mostly because the intended player, me, does not posses the skill to play it at a faster speed. I also allowed some of the power-ups to be stackable, for example, the triple ball. Another change I made, was removing the possibility for player to invert the horizontal velocity of the ball depending on where it makes contact with the paddle. This was due to personal preference.
Did I achieve my learning objectives? Yes! I understand the basics of the particle systems, with a familiarity of the layout and tools, nothing advance, but a great base to build from. As for working with blueprints? Yes, my understanding and confidence for working with GameInstances; blueprints communicating with each other; and the use of basic construction scripts to facilitate faster project production after prototyping, all improved.
In Conclusion:
Since Unreal Engine 4 release almost nine years ago I have always enjoyed tinkering in the engine. I have had many ideas, for many projects, but I will admit that committing to this single project to completion, even if it is a rudimentary one, has been the most satisfaction I have had working on games. I don’t think the sense of achievement one feels for completing a project in a set time can be replaced. I am looking forward to building on this new personal culture, and setting out more future projects for me to do.
Here is a link to a full playthrough of the remake: (thank you in advance for enduring how bad I am at playing it.)
I did also made an overly dramatic trailer for the game project: