Post-Production devlog

Hello all!

This is the final development log for our game 'Bludgeons & Flagons' We are extremely delighted to share with you our progress and publish the game on our page later today. As mentioned in the previous development log, this is the last forward facing log WILDBORNE games is posting that involves our flagship project 'Bludgeons & Flagons' It's been a enlightening experience, working with a fairly sizeable team; some team members were even entirely remote from Glasgow! so that was a learning experience for all of us here in Leamington. I will go into detail on what aspects of the project were polished during this sprint.

Before I go into detail however, I need to mention that we had to pivot in direction and change UNREAL ENGINE version: going from 5.3.2 to 5.5.0. This is due to the fact that during this sprint, we had to retarget skeletal meshes of imported artist models. This UE feature is present in other versions, however it's not as streamlined as it is in 5.5. This shouldn't effect the final product for players at all, it was just worth noting down in order to stay transparent with the audience. (Screenshot below is the retarget window) 

To begin, I'll start with how the character selection was improved from last sprint, firstly we managed to import an free icon pack in order to provide more-in depth UX design and overall improved player experience. This was also the sprint where the programmers were able to import artist created assets and refine the pipeline of asset > UE5. The programmers created multiple animation blueprints for each imported character and were able to retarget mixamo animations to these rigs; thanks to the pivot change of switching to Unreal version 5.5.  

We were also able to import multiple free asset packs (No attributions) and use those packs to build out and texture the level, both the char select and main level. In addition, we were able to implement a class system that reads the current index value of the swapped to player (In char select) It then saves  that into a game instance and then loads into the event begin play. This makes it so that when the player(s) load into the main fighting game level, it gets the index value from the game instance and then matches that with an existing mesh, if it's exactly equal to a specific mesh, that's the mesh that's loaded. This of course works for both players. The character that's loaded also changes a few other values, like the projectile mesh that spawns when the player uses a projectile attack (It will either be a hammer or spell) as well as the health value and certain damage values; some characters can deal more damage, but have less health, etc.   

In addition, we were able to include a fairly in depth sound system that mixes the buzz of a tavern with background music fitting the setting. Using a sound cue and a level referenced  music player in each level that plays sound. 

The combat included in the final build also is fairly simple, as it fits the overall theme that we're trying to match with our marketing strategy. It detects the weapon sockets added to artist imported characters and adds a sphere trace when the attack animation plays. If this sphere trace collides with the other player character, the damage interface would be called and thus deal damage towards that player; lowering the float value of the player health variable. And when health = 0, the game slowly fades out and transitions to the main menu map; restarting the game as it was first booted. 

I want to personally thank all players that followed our development process and read these blogs; the game should be in your hands very soon!

'Brawling to win bragging rights'