The Awakening | The prototype 

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This project was the exploration on interactive Blueprints, Game play logic, brief cinematics and VFX. This was the accumulation of my final project through ELVTR course TART (Technical Artist) that ran from April 30th - June 25th of this year. The goal was to learn what a TA does, what is required of them to do and how might I add this to my skillset or change in career. 

So this project and course we for me to get familiar with a TA role and to develop my skills in this.

 

The Technical Goals

01 | Create a reactive environment using blueprints 

02 | Demonstrate communication between multiple Blueprint actors 

03 | Use Dynamic Material instances to control emissive materials

04 | Create cinematic sequences using Sequencer  

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Skills Used

01 | Blueprint Visual Scripting 

02 | Sequencer 

03 | Dynamic Material Instances 

04 | Niagara particle system

 

GamePlay Flow 

Opening cinematic >> Player gains control >> Player activates tiles >> Temple manager tracks progress >> Sphere energy increases >> Doors close >> Final cinematic
 

BluePrint Architecture

BP_TempleManager

 

Purpose: acts as the central controller for the temple

• Tracks activated tiles

• Calculates overall temple energy

• Updates the sphere

• Detects when all tiles are activated

• Triggers temple sequence 

Key variables 

ActivatedTiles, TotalTiles, SphereEnergy, SphereReference, DoorReference

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BP_GlowTile

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Purpose: represents an interactive floor tile

• Detect player overlap

• Activate only once

• Change emissive intensity

• Notify the temple manager

Flow: step on tile > tile activates > material brightens > temple manager receives activation

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BP_Sphere

 

Purpose: controls the visual behaviour of the central artifact

• Receive temple energy

• Update emissive intensity

• Prepare the final cinematic

• Control the final visual effect

Flow: temple manager > refresh sphere brightness > update material > final sequence

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BP_StoneDoor

 

Purpose: controls the temple entrance

• Open when triggered

• Close after puzzle completion

• Animate using timeline interpolation

Flow: trigger volume > door opens > temple complete > door closes

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Project Details
 

Dynamic Material Instances WorkFlow 

Begin play > create dynamic material instance > store reference > modify scalar parameter > material updates in real time 

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Blueprint Communication 

 

Glow tile > Temple manager > Sphere > Door > Sequencer 

 

All gameplay logic passes through the temple manager so each blueprint has a single responsibility

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Challenges

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01 | 

Blueprint communication between actors  

Managing blueprint references

Dynamic material parameter updates

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02|

Biggest ones were the BP_Sphere gradual light increase and getting the end cinematics to trigger at all for the last tile. It was the math functions and understanding the flow that was confusing.

 

Future Improvements 

Things I would like to work on and learn :

Using ChatGPT and Gemini less, as this project was heavily supported by ChatGPT and Gemini, though many times it was getting things wrong and I had to map a good portion of it out myself. But it was very handy on debugging and resolving most of the issues that I had at times.

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Improvements on : 

Niagara particle effects (have them be more interactive and stand out more) 

Sphere fracture simulation (adding to gameplay)

Improved pillar activation (with certain tiles activating certain pillars)

 Bioluminescent water shader (add in a reactive water shader)

Advanced lighting polish

Environment storytelling (using custom made or free assets to bring the scene to life) 

Optimized blueprint architecture

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