Escape-More | ronaldvan

Escape

Planning

This project was stemmed from an inspiration from listening to an artist's set of songs and I wanted to make a rhythm game based on those songs.
During the planning phase, I looked into other rhythm games of similar style like Sayonara Wild Hearts and infinite runners like Fotonica, Temple Run, and Boson X.
The idea/project would also challenge me in things that I hadn't done before which includes making a rhythm game for the first time and having to work on C++ in Unreal for the first time.

Prototyping

Below is the video result of how the game looked after placing all collectibles together for the level and without thought of the level's scenery.
While starting out, I focused on the player controller/character where I wanted it to be similar to the infinite runner style gameplay so I stripped the controller down to a simple runner.
As soon as I had the running going, I had the trouble with how the physics would affect timing on collecting the collectibles in timing of the beat/tune of BGM.
I had explored multiple things to try and making the player move only left-right and not 45 degrees in direction and slow down based on moving in diagonal direction.

Reasons for Abandonment

The project primarily felt less fun to work on as the time went on and it felt personally tedious due to constantly adjusting the collectibles to the music.
Realized that the music can fire off a little too late or too early based on tech which causes all the sound effects of collecting to be off beat.
Also felt that it wasn't fun to play and would need a lot of reworks to find it at a better place but it wouldn't have a lot of options in making it better.

Challenges

Having to work on Unreal C++ and a rhythm game genre for the first time.
Making a rhythm game that played on beat to song and in concept similar to the games that inspired the project.
Keeping the game's mechanics simple but good in accompanying the music.

Lessons Learned

Using Unreal C++, it was quite familiar to me since I had used both Blueprints and C++ before and understood how it works differently to Blueprints.
Doing the rhythm game genre for the first time, I knew of the nuances on what to expect when making this game but it didn't prepare me on how meticulous it would be to make the gameplay tune to the songs.
Managed to make the game be similar to the mentioned games above where it utilizes music and infinite running mechanics to make the whole experience.
Planned the game to show different mechanics/obstacles as players move through different levels but wanting to start the game out as simple as possible so that players learn the basics first.