Capture The Nade Thread

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Hi guys,

I am making a simple capture the flag based game from scratch in order to mainly learn some of UE4's Blueprint.
I thought I would share my progress here and hopefully receive some valuable feedback.
To begin with, I tried to break down the steps needed to make things easier for myself and perhaps give you a clearer idea.

Main idea: The game consists of a single player controlled character maneuvering through flocks of weapon equiped enemies with a primary goal to capture and return flags successfully.
Gameplay: The main character will be equiped with grenades only, that obviously can be used to fight back the enemies, but to spice things up, they will not damage the player itself but instead act as a boost jump in order to reach higher grounds, jump across "rooftops" or avoid enemies when in trouble.
Camera: This will be a mix of mainly far-back 3rd person view combined with top down, to provide the player with enough vision around him.
Movement/controls: I am aiming for keyboard with basic WASD movement, space for jumping, F to throw items and E for possible interactions such as dropping the flag or activating level components like lifts or doors for example.
Environment theme: Urban arena

Graphical style: Keeping in mind that this is mainly a personal project to learn Blueprint I will be keeping graphics rather simple and abstract. Right now I am thinking of a neutral bright grey base material for the environment with orange colored decal indications to break things up. The player and enemies will have their own color palletes to put more focus on them. I will also be using sublte complementary colored lights to help spice up the overall look.

I've went ahead and compiled a quick list of modular assets that I will be needing for the game:
Buildings with rooftops that allow jumping across
A simple spawn base at both ends of the map
One or two "central" areas where flag can be picked up or get respawned
Some urban elements such as sidewalks, manholes, pipes, ACs with smoke particles, fences, hydrants, lightposts, simple stationary vehicles (optional), ...

I have also thought of giving the main character basic animations such as:
Running cycle
Throwing animation
Jumping up animation
Falling down animation
Death animation
Scoring animation / taunt (optional)

Perhaps a finishing touch of some particles such as:
Smoke coming from level parts
Explosions
Bullet trails

Depending on the time this will take me I might also consider more optional effects such as subtle footsteps smoke or an emmisive trail behind the player when flag is picked up.

This is basically an idea I have right now to help me break down the process, but nothing is set in stone yet and might slightly change. Suggestions more than welcome!

Below you can see a quick blockout of a level segment to give you the general idea.

Cheers!

Edited by: onpoint

I really like the main idea of the gameplay, can't wait to try it!

Hi guys

I've been working on some updates in the game, here's a quick list:

Grenade projectiles with displayed timer
Player model, sort of a ninja dude
Idle cycle
Running cycle
Jumping animation blending (jump start -> jump loop -> jump end)
Nade throw (intended to attack enemies)
Nade short throw (intended as a self boost)
Camera shake on explosion
Some collision tweaks

Some examples below:

Also an ingame clip with the main nade-jumping functionality:

Next up on my list is implementing the flag to capture as a main objective of the game and perhaps some enemies to make things somewhat challenging.

Cheers!

Edited by: onpoint

Looking nice! Do you have any plans on adding different kinds of grenades or an option to change the explosion timer?

Thanks! The explosion timer is one second apart right now as they're intended for different situations, probably will need some fine tweaking though once I get some enemies in the game. I will firstly focus on implementing the other key functionalities and then perhaps add more stuff on top of it. But nevertheless thanks a bunch for the suggestions! Something to look into

Alright! I was thinking about something like a grenade that is pulling instead of pushing. Might change the gameplay too much... I don't know. Anyway, keep it up!

Added some updates to the game, including some placeholder enemies and a flag object with start and finish points that shuffle after each score. Locations randomly chosen from predefined coordinates. Some example gifs below

Cheers!

Nice to see the mechanics in action, looks pretty fun. Also, I really like the floating level design. One thing that might cause problems is the grenade countdown. Maybe add a "detonate now" button so you don't have to wait for it to explode.

Noted thanks

A bit annoyed by how new posts just get attached to my previous one.

Edited by: onpoint

An other idea maybe is to add a parachute to the guy so he can "fly" further

Edited by: Szalage

I took some AI advice and made the enemies a bit smarter. Every each of them now spawn with a random speed, follow the player only within a certain range and can damage the player. This already made it pretty challenging to reach higher scores.

More updates soon.

Added some updates to the game including some UI indications, an end screen and a character ragdoll on death. Some images below:

Loving the "Wasted" screen It would be nice to see the AI in action, are you planning to showcase it?

This time I'm back with bigger updates:

Parachute - as suggested, I thought the idea was cool and it is now implemented! Deploy with Q, once used there is a 10 sec delay before it can be used again.

Background - I wanted to do something with it and added far background planes with city skyline silhouette textures.

Custom kill Z volume - during testing I realized that the default kill Z volume was not sufficient so I implemented a custom one that filters out player from all other objects that now get deleted, while the player is simply killed.

Enemy AI & spawn point - enemies now spawn inside a gate closed area and run outside chasing the player when he gets close enough, if the player gets too far they start freeroaming.

Enemy model & attack animation - it now has a cop themed animated model that is close to main player in terms of graphical style. Equipped with a flash light and hit the player with it when nearby.

HUD Icons - parachute availability and health bar are now displayed.

Smoke particles - Every footstep now has a small smokey particle attached. Simple manhole and fan meshes with smoke particles implemented and populated around the arena.

Some gifs:

For the next updates I will try to focus on expanding the current arena slightly and adding/reworking some props in terms of looks.

Latest build now available on first post. C&C are welcome!

Edited by: onpoint

This seems really cool, to be honest. I'll be sure to try out the build and follow its development when I have the time. It seems like it could turn out to be something very fun to play.

Hi guys,

Going to wrap up my project here. Added some more tweaks including more UI notifications, an elevator, a hydrant that reacts to explosions, a main menu, some flickering lights and extra props. Some screenshots below! And of course the final build on the original post!