After two more lectures from Unreal, granted the ones on physics are from a few years ago, I can see why people have complained that they lack proper tutorials for everything. Even in their documentation on their site they have instructions that are outdated. Get it together Unreal. The more time I spend fiddling around the more I realize I am in deep with no idea how to navigate these waters. It’s time I start taking a new class or one of the long videos that encompasses the entire program.
I am slowly starting to strengthen my grasp on the physics tool of the engine. It’s pretty straight forward but some parts are confusing to a first timer, such as linear and angular dampening. Instead of reading I change the numbers and jump back and forth to simulate the whip. It’s fun, as if I am conducting experiments. Eventually I remember that Unreal has some free characters that I realize I can either use for animations or inspiration. I found someone who uses a whip, but it’s a magic whip. It’s something to consider, a whip that apparates in and out of existence. I don’t think I can make the main weapon of the game completely physics based. Unless that’s part of the challenge? Anyway at least I have tons of free assets I will probably end up using for some of the more complex animations.
Finally after a lot of searching I found a nice short tutorial that showed me how I could put a ragdoll physics object on my character without it simply falling from his hand. I was able to get the whip kind of working at first but it wouldn’t follow him. I basically made a snake to start with. It would get crazy too and toss my all over the map because of weird collision business.
There are a few things I realized when I finally got it attached to his hand. It wasn’t a very long whip. Scaling it up longer made it bug out. So I will have to make it longer in Blender eventually. I still need to figure out the perfect settings so it doesn’t spaz out like a spinal cord coursing with electricity. And whips are chaotic and fun. At one point it was slapping the crap out of everything. Flipped the cape inside out. Looking forward to fixing whatever I have started with. Need to refine the whip, perhaps making it more rigid and less random.
At least the Haunter finally has a weapon. And it is pretty cool already, even in its silly state. Animating a whip will be a pain if I do choose to do it. Urgh.
GG out.
GoldenGratus Games 