Product Development
Package Deal is a survival-based video game that I built using Unreal Engine (UE4), the world's most open and advanced real-time 3D creation tool for Photoreal Visuals & Immersive Experiences.
The player's mission is to survive as long as possible through day & night, finding in-game items to assist in resource management.
Core game design elements focus on the following video-game mechanics:
• Heads Up Display (HUD), Clear Objective, & Survival Time
Design Elements
Heads Up Display (HUD)
The graphical & text elements the player sees on the screen are the following metrics:
• Objective
• Hunger
• Stamina
• Flashlight Battery Power
• Survival Time
Heads Up Display (HUD)
The Process
I created the 'Hunger', 'Stamina', and 'Battery' meters on the left side by layering two pictures on top of each other. The pictures simply being colored rectangles.
Then, I utilized Unreal Engine's 'ProgressBar' function, which allows me to take the first image's layer and manipulate the opacity from right-to-left until it becomes an empty (faded colored) bar or regenerate it from left-to-right to fill up the bar.
Depletion
• The 'Hunger' Bar depletes little by little every few seconds.
• The 'Stamina' Bar depletes while the player is running (when player is holding the 'shift' key).
• The 'Battery' Bar depletes while the player is using the flashlight (when player toggles 'F' key).
Regeneration
• The 'Hunger' Bar regenerates when the user finds 'food crate' game items that spawn across the map.
• The 'Stamina' Bar regenerates when the user is not running around (when player is not holding the 'shift' key).
• The 'Battery' Bar regenerates once the player finds 'battery crate' game item that spawns on the map.
Progress Bar Mechanics
Hunger Mechanics
I created logic-based functions using Unreal Engine's 'Blueprint Visual Scripting', which is an alternative approach to hard-coding in C++ or other languages.
The 'Hunger' blueprint asks the following question in order to get a true or false answer:
• Is the player's health greater than a value of one?
• True - Hunger Bar is drained a fixed amount over time.
• False - Hunger has reached zero and game is ended.
Hunger Blueprint
Stamina Mechanics
The Stamina mechanics work the same way, using logic-based principles that can track gameplay metrics.
The 'Stamina' blueprint asks the following questions in order to get a true or false answer:
• Is the player running? (holding the 'shift' key)
• True - Stamina Bar is drained a fixed amount (system checks to see if value is greater than one).
• False - Stamina is not used.
• Is the player's stamina greater than a value of one?
• True - Good. This condition acts as a confirmation to the user holding the 'shift' key.
• False - Stamina cannot be used.
Stamina Blueprint
Flashlight (Battery Power) Mechanics
The Flashlight function works the exact same way as the Stamina function.
The 'Flashlight' blueprint asks the following questions in order to get a true or false answer:
• Is the player's flashlight on? (pressing the 'F' key)
• True - Battery Bar is drained a fixed amount (system checks to see if value is greater than one).
• False - Battery is not used.
• Is the player's flashlight greater than a value of one?
• True - Good. This condition acts as a confirmation to the user holding the 'F key.
• False - Battery cannot be used.
Item Mechanics
There are a total of three (3) distinct game items that spawn in the game environment.
• Big Health Crate
• Big Health Crate
• Restores player's hunger significantly, this item is the most scarce within the game.
• Small Health Crate
• Restores some of the player's hunger, this item is a bit more common within the game.
• Battery Power Crate
• Restores all of the player's flashlight battery.
Big Health Crate
Small Health Crate
Battery Crate
Gallery
Game Cover
Objective
Sprint Instructional Tip
Flashlight Instructional Tip
Game Over
Scenery 3 (Overview)
Scenery 1 (Riverside)
