Started the short course on Global Illumination. Most of what it taught I had already learned but there were a few interesting aspects such as using an emissive texture as static lighting. That may come in handy if I do go back to static sources. The lighting I have for the game is all moveable. Nothing is baked which makes it simpler but also more expensive. I made sure that there aren’t lots of costly things, so hopefully, it isn’t too hard to run on other machines. I need to find better ways of testing the came on different hardware.
Since I’ve been taking courses for a while, I missed working on something new on the game. I jumped back in and thought about what the power from the fifth stage should be. I had an idea of something that would bring the player back to life, but I didn’t want it to just be an extra try. I first tested out what would happen if I did bring the player back. It wasn’t too hard to make it work. There were certain variables I needed to put back when the player came back to life. Then I had to remember how to remove the camera color and also the “retry” text. Once I had that figured out, I plugged in a few more checks and reversed the effects of the disintegration. The material effects are easy to manipulate, and I went with a black color that makes the character look like a pure shadow. The downside of coming back is that the player cannot regenerate Primelight, and they only respawn with half their health. It is a second life, but it will make the fight harder in this “Shadow State.”
Then I had to make sure it only worked after the player acquired the power. The blueprint runs through simple checks, and the HUD displays whether or not the player can “Return.” I thought it felt appropriate to use the input for the “Light Power.”
An unintended side effect of coming back from the dead is that the lantern doesn’t emit any light from its radius. This means in dark areas, nothing will be lit around the player unless they raise the lantern. It is a cool feature that works well with the mechanic. I had forgotten that when the player dies, I turn off the light of the lantern.
Tested the power in a fight and ironed out some bugs with the power and making sure the player could only come back once. There are bound to be other issues, but it is pretty straightforward that I’m happy with how it turned out.
With that implemented, I will jump back to the courses I have left on my list. The next one is an overview of the structure of the engine itself. It might not help me with any new developments, but I will have a deeper understanding of the inner workings of the powerful tools.
GoldenGratus Games 