Junkyard Bash
Role: Technical Game Designer
Development Time: 2 Weeks (2018)
Tools: Unreal Engine 4
Team: 9
Contributions:
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Game Play Programming
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Multiplayer Back-End Systems
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Game Design
Music and SFX by Joakim Johansson
Trailer
About
Junkyard Bash is a physics based racing game for 1-4 people where players race through a scrappy junkyard full of traps and junk.
This was the first project we did at Futuregames in two weeks where our theme was Physics and Goofiness. So we made a racing game with goofy characters and where the vehicles were all driven by physics.
Game Play Scripting
I made all the Game Play Scripting such as Input Handling, the Camera and the different Physics-Based Vehicles that are made completely from Scratch.
Junkyard Bash Play through
Physics Based Vehicles
Getting Custom Forward of Spinning Vehicle
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Custom Forward Vector
What was challenging was getting the Vehicles Forward Vector ...
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So I had to make an own Custom Forward Vector which was calculated by getting the Physics Linear Velocity, Normalizing it times 200 so I got a point in space 2 meters ahead of where the vehicle was heading. Then GetUnitDirectionVector toward that location. The same was done for the Side and Up Vector. -
Since the sphere is always spinning, the Cockpit gets its Rotation set toward the vector point in front of the character every frame so the character itself doesn't spin around.
Acceleration & Engine Braking
Using the Custom Forward vector I could Apply Force forward to the Vehicle by ...
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So more force was applied when the Vehicle was standing still and much less when it has reached top speed, so you could have high acceleration but not have it continually add as much force when at top speed. -
The player can also brake, if they don't accelerate or brake, the Vehicle will Engine Brake by itself and graully go slower.
Acceleration & Engine Brake
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Slope Tilting & Pitching
Slope Tilt & Pitch
When Spawning the players for the actual race it checks ...
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Sets SplitScreen if its more than 1. -
Loops through the 4 PlayerControllers (that was created at begin play so all players could give input when selecting characters), and RemovesPlayer if a playercontrollers State is not LockedIn. -
Spawns the player, camera, HUD and assigns them all.
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Ground Friction
The Black Material represents Tar with alot of friction which gives the vehicle lesser acceleration
The Black Material represents Tar with alot of friction which gives the vehicle lesser acceleration
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Boost, Jump, Bash and Drift
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Surface Friction
Using the Custom Forward vector I could Apply Force forward to the Vehicle by ...
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So more force was applied when the Vehicle was standing still and much less when it has reached top speed, so you could have high acceleration but not have it continually add as much force when at top speed. -
The player can also brake, if they don't accelerate or brake, the Vehicle will Engine Brake by itself and graully go slower.
Abilities
Players can choose whichever character they want ...
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When a player Joins in the CharacterSelectScreen State, the Vehicle Mesh will be spawned. -
Pressing left or right while in the SelectingCharacter State will switch to the next character.
Camera
Overview
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The camera focuses on the direction the player is headed to so it's easier to see where you are about to go. -
Blends Speed lines FX and slightly changes the field of view depending on how much forward velocity, to give a better sense of speed.
Camera Tilt & Pitch
- The Camera Tilts, Pitches and slightly rolls when on slopes to make it easier for the player to see where they are heading towards.
Camera Height Adjustment
- The camera can adjust it height as well and smoothly lerps down and up again if going under something.
Camera Tilt and Height Adjustment
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Back-End Scripting
PlayerController, GameMode & GameInstance
I made all the Back-End Scripting such as Character Select Screen, Checkpoints, State Machine and the different Multiplayer Setup with Spawning, setting the cameras, clearing up Player Controllers etc.
You can play the game with 1-4 players but I made it comfortable to pickup and play so for example controller 1 and controller 4 could join a game and it would be a 2 player game with the split screen adjusted for the amount of players joined.
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Character Select Screen
Players can choose whichever character they want ...
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When a player Joins in the CharacterSelectScreen State, the Vehicle Mesh will be spawned. -
Pressing left or right while in the SelectingCharacter State will switch to the next character.
Character Selection
Character Selection
Spawning Players
When Spawning the players for the actual race it checks ...
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Sets SplitScreen if its more than 1. -
Loops through the 4 PlayerControllers (that was created at begin play so all players could give input when selecting characters), and RemovesPlayer if a playercontrollers State is not LockedIn. -
Spawns the player, camera, HUD and assigns them all.
Spawning Players
Spawning Players
States
I make good use of States to determine where in the game the player is, for example At Menu, At Sub Menu or At Race, depending on which the Input could execute different things. There is so much more I could write about the Back-End but for readabilities sake I'm gonna present the most notable below.
Input & Use of States
Level Streaming
The game's level is split up into several sub levels so each designer and artist could work on different one without conflicts. The Main menu uses the same level to make the transition from Character Selection Screen to Race quick.
After the Levels have been loaded it checks what State the Game is in, for example if it was AtIntroLogos it means the game has been just Booted, If it was Debugging then it will call Debugging and spawn the characters that's been chosen to debug with right away.