My Crypt Raider Dev Log

[Tyger2]

This is a thread to show the progress of my Crypt Raider project for Section 4 of the Unreal C++ course.

Here’s my design sketch:

It’s composed of three main areas: A guards’ chamber, a row of prison cells, and a torture room. Two of the doors will be locked, and I plan to use a key object which will be hidden somewhere in the level. I haven’t planned the lower floor yet, but you can see the stairs leading down to it in the top right of the picture.

Here’s how it’s going so far:

I wasn’t totally satisfied with the free assets, so I decided to try making some of my own since I know a little Blender. They are very primitive at the moment. I’m using the materials from the Medieval Dungeon asset pack, but I haven’t aligned the UVs yet.

I know it will take longer this way, but I’m feeling more interested in the project, and therefore more motivated. Thanks for checking it out .

[SteveMerritt]

Nice! I think the only time I ever actually created something in Blender and brought it into one of my own projects was for Project Boost in the Unity course. That’s cool you were able to create something that you felt was an improvement over the dungeon set. As for me, I’m still stuck with either really terrible programmer art or pre-made assets.

[Tyger2]

Thanks! It definitely doesn’t look as nice as the pre-made ones, but it’s my own so I appreciate it.

[Tyger2]

Level layout complete, plus some detailing.

Jailor’s Quarters:

This will be the starting point of the level. Would be nice if those lights could look like flame eventually. Also you can tell these are the walls I made myself because I still haven’t aligned the UVs correctly.

Cell Block:

Added some ceiling rafters. Not sure how I feel about them. Behind each cell door is a very small cell, but they are totally undetailed. Could be fun to have some of them explorable eventually.

Torture Chamber:

The door at the end of the cell block leads to the torture chamber. I plan to have the door locked and maybe a key hidden somewhere in the jailor’s quarters.

Placing a statue on this pedestal will act as the trigger…

… which opens this totally not obvious at all secret door:

Seriously, though, it would be nice if one of the decorative walls had no back because they would be perfect for a secret passage. This would be a good candidate for a custom asset made in Blender.

Secret Passage:

Down and through the secret passage we go. It is currently lit by disembodied point lights. I would love to have it be totally dark and give the player a torch, but I don’t know how to do that yet.

Mausoleum:

And finally we reach the mausoleum which is basically the same as the course example.

Reflection:
As you may have noticed, I decided to mix my custom assets with the content pack assets, as making them all myself would have just taken too much time. Eventually I’d like to make my own assets from scratch, but I’m getting a bit impatient to finish this project and get on with the course.

Overall I’m amazed at how good things can look in Unreal in just a short time using free assets. I think lighting and detailing is where my project could most stand to improve, but I’m having a great time. Thanks for the look, and any feedback is welcome. Cheers!

[FedPete]

@Tyger2

I think lighting

… I got the feeling it’s illuminated with a bad LED light. Maybe to shiny wall and floor. Also the light could be warmer color (and the wall floor texture, grayer to compensate for the light color)

[Tyger2]

Yeah the lighting definitely needs work. Ideally, I’d like the whole underground area to be totally dark, and only lit by a torch the character carries. I don’t really know how to do that yet though.

[Tyger2]

Return to the Crypt

I took about 4 months off from this project/course, and it turns out that was too long. I couldn’t quite remember how things worked, and to top it off it was no longer compiling for some reason. So I decided to start over.

I decided to scrap all of my original models this time and just go with the assets from the dungeon pack.

I also decided to pretty much copy the design layout from the lectures to save time, so that aspect is not really remarkable.

I like the little alcove I put above the stairs though.

But the real interesting thing I did is this:

I figured out how to make a carriable torch!

So I was able to remove the other lights from the crypt corridors and give it a nice spooky vibe. I like it much better this way.

Here's the process if anyone's interested:

1. The Mesh
   I exported the mesh so I could remove the part where it attaches to the wall. In the asset browser, right click on the mesh you want > Asset Actions > Export. Then I imported in Blender and deleted the unnecessary parts. Finally export to fbx in Blender and import to Unreal again.

2. The Actor
   Make a child blueprint class of the BP_Torch that comes with the asset pack. Replace the mesh in the mesh component with the new mesh.

3. Character Blueprint
   Drag the new actor from the content browser into the viewport and position it where you want. Make sure it is attached to the camera actor so it moves when you look around.

4. Game Input
   Go to project settings > Engine > Input and add an action mapping called “Torch”. Assign the button you want. Then back to your character blueprint and do this:

(BP_Torch_Free is my new actor created in step 2)

I would guess we will cover something like this later in the course, but that’s the way I was able to figure it out and I was pretty happy with it!

Cheers!

[Tyger2]

Finished

Like I said before, I mostly just copied the design from the course, so here are the bits I modified.

Making the carriable torch allowed me to make the overall level a bit darker.

I separated the statue trigger area from the secret door on the upper floor, the same as we did for the crypt area.

One cool thing I did was make it so the statue copies the rotation and location of the trigger component when you release it, so it doesn’t just float there awkwardly.

Here’s a closer look at the evil gargoyle alcove you see after you open the secret door.

And in the final chamber, I used this golden Buddha statue I made for this old Blender Collab project.

The second trigger component only accepts this stone Buddha as a replacement, and not the other various props, though they are also grabbable.

I had a great time in this section. I hit it pretty hard after I restarted, and was able to finish relatively quickly. I got a little bogged down in the C++ at times, and it felt like I was stuck in the ground…

but I rewatched the lectures that I was stumped at, and took some notes to try to cement my knowledge, and I feel like I have a good grasp of it now. Thanks to @sampattuzzi and the rest of the Gamedev.TV crew.

On to the next section!