UE5 Car Combat Game

About

Engine: Unreal Engine 5

Team Size: Solo

Project Duration: 4 Months (Aug 2023 - Dec 2023)

Genre: Third-person Vehicle Combat

Role: Game Designer, Game Programmer

About the game:

Welcome to the ultimate 3D vehicle combat adventure! Imagine piloting a futuristic vehicle on the lunar surface, battling alien invaders to reclaim our celestial neighbour. Crafted as a solo project using Unreal Engine 5.3 at George Brown College, this game pits you against alien turrets with a 10-minute oxygen limit. Can you save the moon and humanity? The countdown starts now!

Gameplay

Features

Features:

UE5 Car Combat Game

The game is a 3D car combat game developed using Unreal Engine 5.3 with Blueprints and C++ scripting.

To-do in-game

Players must destroy all turrets within a given time while avoiding hazards that can damage them.

In game Instruction

The player can access this menu either from the main menu or via the pause menu.

Main Menu

The main menu offers three options, "Play", "How to Play" and "Quit", accompanied by background music.

UI

The game's UI displays the vehicle's health, speedometer readings, remaining turrets, and time countdown.

Health pickup

Players can find health refills at random locations in the game.

Hazard 1 (Land Mine)

Landmines inflict 10 damage on players and trigger both sound and visual effects upon explosion.

Hazard 3 (Destro Discs)

These destro discs deal a massive 30 damage to the player. If the player does not move away in time, they will continue to take damage. Both sound and visual warnings are provided.

Win Condition

If the player successfully defeats all turrets within the given time frame without dying, the win condition is triggered, and the player wins.

Hazard 2 (Nuclear Barrel)

These barrels deal 15 damage to the player upon impact causing them to stop in place and become an easy target for turrets. The barrel blast includes both sound and visual effects.

Damaging Turret

The objective is to destroy the turrets. These turrets will shoot down the player if they get within range.

Lose Condition

If the player dies or if the time runs out, the game will end and the player will be considered to have lost.

Timeline

Production Timeline

Project Initiated: Attended first Fall Batch 2023 class for game programming at George Brown College. Received project criteria to design and develop a Third-person Car Combat game by mid-December.
Finalize Design: Began designing the game after receiving project details. Researched vehicle combat genre, drew inspiration from games like Twisted Metal. Conceptualized a modern take on the genre, drawing inspiration from India's Chandrayaan 3 moon landing for a unique setting. Spent a week studying moon surface, materials, and atmosphere for accurate level design and visuals.
Asset Search: Spent 1-2 weeks sourcing appropriate assets for the game environment.
Development: Started game development using a combination of Blueprints and C++. Utilized Blueprints for rapid prototyping and visual design, while leveraging C++ for enhanced performance and scalability.
Vehicle Mechanics: Delved into Unreal Engine Chaos Vehicles through online tutorials, lectures, and documentation. Enjoyed the learning process, gaining insights into advanced vehicle mechanics, terminology, and design principles.
AI Development: Worked on implementing AI for the turrets in the game. Utilized existing design concepts and online resources to streamline the process. Spent 1 week creating turret functionality and 3-4 days balancing turret ranges.
Hazard Implementation: Added hazards to the game based on earlier design concepts. Smooth integration of hazards into gameplay due to pre-planning during the design phase. Hazards were implemented within 1-2 weeks of development.
UI Design: Created various UI elements including health bars, timers, pause menus, and title screens. Leveraged tutorials and blueprint knowledge to design and implement effective UI components. Experimented with different combinations for optimal results.
QA Testing: Engaged friends and family for QA testing, recording their gameplay sessions to evaluate level design and overall game performance. Used feedback to refine gameplay experience and identify bugs.
Final Refinement: Spent the last 3-4 weeks refining the game, focusing on fixing minor bugs and optimizing performance. Achieved a full 100/100 completionist A+ grade from production Professor.