AI Movement

AI Movement in UnReal

We are in this post going to look at two forms of AI Movement.

Random AI movement. This is where a NPC moves around the map randomly. This can make it hard for a PC (player character) to predict where a NPC will be. for example stealth games where a player tries to get past some NPC's.



AI Patrolling. In this tutorial we will look at a NPC who patrols between two fixed points. This emulates a traditional concept of a guard patrolling a set space.

Card Game and Space Invaders

Next Two Games to create

Now its time to work on the two official games.

They are the creating of two games, a card game and a space invader type game. I will give who is doing what at the beginning of the session.

Half of the class will work on the card game and half works on the space invader game, then you swap over.

These assignments are to be worked on by yourself, you can ask for help and I will provide help (especially in the realm of coding) to get you going.

So what are the first steps, well look at the picture before. I shows all the steps needed to create a game. 

First steps are usually :- Create Sprites, then level design, after that its up to you. I won't tell you the steps now. You have created games for me now and know the process.

However I want you to decide what steps are you going to do ?

I want you to come up with :-

Whats the min you will do this session ?

Whats do you actually think you can do?

What happens if you complete what you planned what would you do next?

Come up with this list because I will ask you !

Now look at my YouTube clip so you see the actual games and have fun!

Unit 71 : OO Design

Lets look at Health Bars

Here is a short "Youtube" clip I created that shows how to create a Health Bar in Unreal.

So what are you going to do?

I expect you to try to create a health bar (even if you don't think you will use this in you game).

Some of you will get a working health bar working in your test game setup.
I would some of you to take this and start to apply to your game, but only if you have test setup working and you can show me!

PowerPoint version

Follow it and have fun creating a health bar!

Here is the Function that updates the health and does health Regen

I use 3 Variables and a One widget!

Games design next assignments

Next Two assignments

Ok so now Shapeman exercise is concluded and hopefully you all have a working game!

Now its time to work on the two official games design assignments.

They are the creating of two games, a card game and a space invader type game.

Half of the class will work on the card game and half works on the space invader game, then you swap over.

These assignments are to be worked on by yourself, you can ask for help and I will provide help (especially in the realm of coding) to get you going.

Now look at my YouTube clip so you see the actual games and have fun!

OO Design Assignment One

Task 1

Object-oriented design is one part of the overall design process and should be seen in this context. Normally object-oriented design would start after completion of the creative phase (development of concepts and ideas) and would be used to flesh out ideas. The object approach can then be used to plan the detailed implementation of a project to ensure that milestones and other parameters are met.

For this assignment you need to understand the purpose of object-oriented design for games

Look at and discuss :-

Concepts and principles: simplified understanding; reusability; maintenance; efficiency; real-world modelling; collaboration and sharing; communication; quality assurance

Game objects: sprites; characters; weapons; rooms; walls; scenery; instances; rewards, eg bonuses, power-ups

Object properties: colour; size; speed; movement; sounds; health; lives

Actions and events: mouse and keyboard events; create; destroy; collision; timers; scoring

Inheritance: parent; child; inherited behaviours and properties; overriding events

Assignment One

Documents this or blog this

Upload document here pls.

Getting a job in the games design industry.

Getting a job in the games design industry.

I have been in email correspondence with many ex games design students. Their are a large number of students who are unable to get a job in this industry this is a scary statistic.

I have been scratching my head about how a excellent games design student gets into the games design industry itself?

How do developers recognise new talent?

Do they look at qualifications?

There seems to be no one answer.




Yes qualifications are important, but contacts are more important.

Experience is also very important.

However here comes the catch 22. How do you get experience if you need experience in order to get a job?

I hear this time after time from previous students I have taught.

So how do you get experience when you need experience in order to get the job?


Volunteering is one answer, many student don't like this path as their is no money in the short term. However if a student really is talented then a prospective employer will see this and that student will get a job in time. Its a risk and how do you get bills paid whilst you do this? Well for those students who will be 'signing on' and getting universal credit (as its now called) volunteering is recognised and comes of the the mandatory 5 hours a day a job seeker needs to do in order to get money from the government. So how do you get into volunteering? Well you do some research about games development companies in your area and then you try to link up with them, Email and written mail, Remember people are getting very disconnected from emails these days. Most people just delete unwanted emails and treat them as spam. So write to them! A personal connection may work better!

Develop some games and get them out their. Is for me a better answer. Develop a game and publish it independently. Not cheap and you need money to get it out their.

Steam Greenlight is a good option its $100 initial cost and you can even charge for people to have your game. However who actually uses greenlight? I am a steam user and I have rarely used it. What image does greenlight have? I still think that as a first step it's a good idea.

Google Play : $25 one of fee + up $99 a year afterwards per app (game in our case). However issue here are there is massive fragmentation in the android market.



Apple App store : $99 for Apple Developer Program to get publish any number of apps for one year. However Apple have to approve it first! From the articles I have read Apple tend to reject apps if they find the slightest error.


See this article about comparing them both,

Here is an excellent article by the guardian newspaper on this subject as well

3D Environment Home page

3D Landscape Concepts

You have been asked to create a 3D environment based on the film 

"Big Trouble in Little China"

Task 1) : Initial ideas, sketches and Prototypes

Task 2) : Create game environment 

Consider these elements :-

Client brief - This came about last year as you where ask to gamify the film "Killer Klowns from outer space", you wrote the brief then.

Target Audience - Who are you making the game for?

Sketches should be both 2D and 3D

A Prototype of game is question will cover most of the aspect needed and a simple play though level showing example elements that will be used. Don't be afraid to show elements tyhat don't work or are semi-completed. You are showing a prototype not a full working game.

This links to James work : http://jamestedder.net/unit-66-67-3d-modelling-animation/