week one


Planning (Deciding which design challenges to complete along with beginning my research)

Since being assigned the task for this module I decided to dive deep into which design challenges to work with, these include;

  • An interactive and animated button and lever interaction system 
  • An in-game painting tool where the player can pick up a brush and paint onto a canvas 
  • An interactive radial menu as an in-game smartwatch, attached to the player’s wrist 
  • A remote-control/drone mechanic 
  • A small domestic room in which some of the furniture can be re-textured in game 
  • An interactive door system 
  • A main menu system using only 3D, diegetic/in-world components 
  • A ladder mechanic where the player can use their hands to physically climb

The design challenges range from changing the POV of the user to changing textures of other objects while in game. I decided to go with the challenges in bold ^^ this is because they intrigue me more than the others which I think is an important factor along with my abilities to actually create a functioning outcome.

Before starting up any projects in UE5, I want to make sure that I have enough prior knowledge so that I don't feel overwhelmed and so I have a clear idea of how I'm going to execute my solutions to the challenges.


Research / Brainstorming

After deciding which DCs I'm working with, I need to come up an overall view of how I'm going to solve them and then give myself small milestones to work towards each week / session.

This week I decided to focus on one DC, this being 'an in-game painting tool where the player can pick up a brush and paint onto a canvas'. This is because I already have a few ideas on how to execute this and I want to try to figure out how to make my ideas a reality.

IDEAS :

  • Table that has a palette with multiple different colours on it
  • When the colour is pressed, the player's hand becomes that colour (Can work on choosing which hand , left or right , in the future)
  • Text above the table that has brief instructions on how the game works
  •  When player has colour, they can walk over to a plain canvas and hold the trigger to apply the colour to it (Maybe in the future I can allow a feature that lets the colours blend together)

EXTRA :

  • Save - This allows the user to save their work
  • Share - This allows the user to share their work, whether it be online (maybe on an online community),  or on socials (Twitter , WhatsApp etc...)
  • Gallery - This allows the user to display their work
  • Profiles - This allows users to sign into their own respective profiles that allows them to see their own work


Things I need to think about :

How is the user going to move ?

Do I need to make any 3D models ?


Useful Links :

None for this sessions