Daniel Ibironke | Unreal Engine Games Designer
Tank Blaster (named after completion)
Software Used: Unreal 5, Microsoft PowerPoint
Genre: Action Shooter
Gameplay:
The game is an action shooter where you play as a tank and fire at other tank enemies. Throughout the level, the player gains access to multiple weapons and can swap between them. At the end is a boss enemy which must be defeated.
Problems I encountered:
While working, I encountered a few issues. When creating the flamethrower, it initially did not hurt enemies or activate the explosive barrels. This was because in the Multi Sphere Trace for Objects , the Object Types array needed to include WorldDynamic so the barrels would be affected. Additionally, the enemy parent's object type had to be set to Enemy so they can be damaged by the flamethrower.
TThe boss, which was visually inspired by Bowser from Bowser's Fury, was supposed to move from one area to the next after dealing enough damage, moving twice over three phases. This type of boss is used often in videogames, such as Master Stalfos from Link's Awakening. But for some reason the boss does not die upon reaching 0 health, and I was unable to fix it before the deadline.
What I implemented:
In this project, I implemented a handful of ranged weapons, which the player can equip: one that shoots fast but weak bulllets, one that shoots slow but powerful bullets, one that shots highly damafing bullets with the longest reload time, and a flamethrower with a steady rate of damage.. I added glowing buttons which open doors when shot, and an elevator for transitions between areas during the latter half fof the level.
I created a heal zone to heal the player when they enter it, an explosive barrel that detonates a short while after being shot, a turret which fires bullets, and a variety of enemies., Some enemies chase, others move randomly, and some remain stationary. A specially dangerous boss enemy is fought at the end, with high health, good danage at a fast rate, and three phases where at the end of the first two, it moves to a different area..
Plans I changed/cancelled:
There were a handful of planned features which were ultimately scrapped. For instance, barriers which heal over time and thus need certain weapons that deak danage fast enough to break them. Another idea mentioned was having multiple weapons equipped at once, like in Shooty Skies (a mobile game made by Mighty Games), although having a traditionally weapon switch was ultimately for the best.
For the ending, there would have been a congrats room and a secret ending if the player found all three optional collectables (keys to shut down the rogue robots) to tie in with the overall narrative I had been building) Unfortunately, none of this was made, although the narrative itself is somewhat hinted at in game.
