Dine n' Dash

Key Features:

• Player Functionalities and Pickup:

  • Developed player movement controls utilizing Unreal Engine 4's Blueprint system, ensuring responsive navigation through the dynamic environment.

  • Implemented a unique hunger management system where the player's survival hinges on consuming burgers to prevent the hunger level from hitting zero, which results in game over.​The balance between navigating obstacles and replenishing hunger levels adds an immersive layer of strategy and challenge.

    • The hunger system was achieved by creating a "Hunger" function, and within that function I first created a float for the player's hunger level and another for the maximum hunger level and set the maximum hunger to 100.

    • I then created a decrement on the player's hunger, so it constantly decreases, then created an "Update Hunger" function which sets a percentage relating the player's hunger to the maximum hunger and cast it to my HUD for display.

    • Then finally I created a Boolean to trigger death when the hunger level hits ≤0. ​

    • To increase the hunger by picking up the burger i created an event on begin overlap in the burger blueprint for the runner, then cast to the runner character and retrieved and added a value of 10 to the "Player's Hunger" float and run the update hunger function.

  • Introduced diverse pickups, including coins and magnets, Coins being to the player's wealth accumulation, while magnets attract said coins, augmenting the gaming experience and offering strategic advantages.​​

• Scoring and Point System:

  • Engineered a comprehensive scoring mechanism through Blueprint variables and event triggers. The general "Score" is counted by how many of the player tiles the player as crosse without dying. And that was set up by creating a Score variable in the player blueprint, then in the tile blueprint i created an invisible collision box and its event on hit for the player is to add a +1 value to that score variable in the player blueprint..

  • Integrated real-time distance tracking and coin counting functionalities using Unreal Engine 4's Blueprint variables and UI widgets. The distance counter accurately reflects the player's progress, which is different from the overall player's score.

    • This was implemented by first creating a transform variable "Location" and at event begin play a GetActorTransform is used to store the player's initial transform.​

    • Then next a "Distance Travelled" floatr variable is created and from the event tick function we subtract our "Location" from our player's current location and then add the "distance travelled" to that, to set it into the distance travelled(this is to keep updating it for increment in value).

    • Then finally get the actor location and set it into "Location". This updates our Location variable and keep us in loop.

Tools:

• Unreal Engine

• Adobe Mixamo

• Adobe Illustrator

• Blender

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Challenges and Learning:

Navigating through the development of 'Dine n' Dash' posed various technical challenges, especially in fine-tuning the hunger management system, balancing the game's difficulty curve just enough to keep players engaged without overwhelming them also presented a creative challenge that demanded thorough playtesting and tweaking.

Throughout the development journey, every obstacle encountered served as a lesson. From refining gameplay mechanics to optimizing user experience, each challenge provided invaluable insights. These experiences have deepened my understanding of game development and strengthened problem-solving abilities.

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Future Development:

The roadmap for 'Dine n' Dash' involves additional gameplay elements. Plans include introducing diverse environments, a better variety of pickups and integrating power-ups to further elevate the gaming experience.

Focusing on user interface improvements and performance optimizations is a priority. Streamlining the UI for a more intuitive experience and optimizing game performance to ensure smooth gameplay across various devices are key areas for future development.