Information on Past Projects

Brian:

I have recently finished two small projects. I worked in Unreal Engine to design separate but similar games, and through this I have learned a lot about both Unreal Engine's Blueprint system as well as their C++ integrations.

Project 1, The Fox.

This was a simple platformer game designed to learn about the core functionality of Unreal Engine's C++ integrations. The project was designed using almost solely C++ and was super fun to figure out. You play as a fox, with another fox as your companion, where you roam around the map collecting coins and using platforming mechanics to move around the map. I made it so that you had to not only personally collect some of the coins, but you also had to lead your companion to areas to collect coins as well. The game was constrained by a time limit, and it only contained one simple level. Overall, it was a fun learning experience.

Project 2, Fuzzy Farmer.

This was like the previous game. However, unlike the previous game, I designed this one purely in Blueprints. You played as a farmer going around a filed collected "Fuzzies". It was a prototype to test some of the uses of Blueprints but was nothing exceedingly complex.

These two projects and their constraints to a specific system have helped me to better understand when and where to use Blueprints vs C++. I find that a lot of time when it comes to game design engines, people tend to stick to what they know the best and don't venture outside their comfort zone. This changed our way of thinking.

You can find the full postmortem report for the Fuzzy Farmer Project in our Blog.