Journeying on - Week 7

Overview:

1. Checkpoint Creation
2. Level Expansion/Development

Now, before I got into creating the rest of my level, I needed some sort of respawning system. I wanted the level to be relatively long - with the difficulty I had in mind, having to run from the beginning every time you die would be quite annoying. So, I had to create a checkpoint system! However - I didn't want it to be a basic one, instead I thought it'd be better to make these 'safe havens' where the player can regenerate their health before advancing.

Upon entering the range of a checkpoint (Which I had decided to be small crystals), the crystal activates and emits a blue glow. While standing in this glow, the player would regenerate health. However, upon leaving, regardless if the player heals or not, the healing glow will disappear. This allows players to 'trade' time for health, so those who wish to be quick and possibly speedrun the game would have to sacrifice regaining health.

I had to make this a Video, as the framerate for the gif variation was less than desirable.

You can view the blueprint for the checkpoint here.

This part is going to be rather image-orientated, which may be a nice change for you. I focused on actually creating the level, as I had gotten far into the project but hadn't actually created much of my level, let alone finished it. That's what I dedicated this week to, and the images below are the result of that, up to the point of what I created in said week.

The Opening of the level (final variation).

Straight after the opening - the first enemy and platforming encounter.

A bit more platforming, this time with a fly, before the first checkpoint and first slime.

The first encounter with 'Void Lava'. A simple environmental (It makes use of the old Portal material, glowing pink) hazard that damages the player over time with the 'Pain Causing Volume' in UE4.

More platforming with a large amount of flies, followed by a checkpoint and then the introduction to the slime. The green box is the trigger for the bunny, which is set to die through the use of a sequencer.

A large challenge for the player, combining all three enemies and then introducing the possibility of losing progress through falling. Followed by a healthy checkpoint.

A slight reprieve from the challenge before, teleporting through all these flies at once can be rather satisfying.

The final part of the level I created at the end of the week. The Green box is for a later section, which I did not create during this week (Hint: The green box causes a camera zoom out).