blog11_ballmaze

Ball Maze Game

Balancing the Art & Code: A Developer's Day & Night

During my free time, I've been pouring my energy and coding skills into developing a mini-game, and I'm thrilled to finally share it with you all! Check out the gameplay video and download the game from the link below. Simply insert your email and 0$ amount and you will get the link on your email.

Extract the zip file and run the Maze.exe file to get started! 🕹️
Hope you have fun, comments and critiques are welcome!
DOWNLOAD BALLMAZE GAME

For WIP1 and WIP2, I refrained from posting any images because my focus was on establishing the core system. I had to implement the new Input Actions system, but more importantly, I wanted to devise an efficient method to store data and settings. This involved creating a centralized system that all menus could communicate with for data retrieval. Along the way, I delved into understanding Widget UI modular design and other related concepts.

Challenges Conquered: This WIP (Work in Progress) #3 milestone represents some key hurdles overcome. I tackled implementing a random starting position for the ball, integrating control settings into the menu UI via the Game Instance, and streamlining respawning and pausing mechanics.

Looking Ahead: Excited to tackle the next stage! In WIP #4, I'll prioritize polishing the menu UI, added a option in the settings so the user can choose another game view to play 45 degrees. Finally, I'll rework the maze design to incorporate rounded corners and enhance the material textures for a more visually appealing experience.

Ball Maze wip3

Challenges Conquered: This WIP 4 , Implemented an engaging intro sequence that runs every time the Game Starts.
Redesigned the maze layout for improved gameplay. (plan to refine the Maze modeling latter, smaller holes and add beginning and end Decals.).

Looking Ahead: Planning to implement a lives variable for enhanced gameplay. Exploring efficient communication methods like interfaces or Event Dispatchers. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue this exciting journey!

Ball Maze wip4

I've overcome all the obstacles I had pending. Most of them were related to efficiently passing information between blueprints and finding a better way to update the UI without relying on OnTick events. Initially, the number of lives was implemented with a tick event. However, since the goal of projects like these is to test better solutions and experiment to enhance my skills, I sought a more efficient way to update lives without using OnTick.

Game Over

I took some time to fine-tune the ball physics settings and crafted a custom GAME COMPLETED UI. It was an exciting chance to explore the immensely powerful Unreal Engine UI in more depth. Additionally, I wrapped up some minor player options. My son suggested having the up and down movements inverted while keeping the left and right movements normal. Initially, the controls were either all normal or all inverted, so I had to add new variables to store these settings and make some minor modifications to the blueprints.

DOWNLOAD BALLMAZE GAME - Simply insert your email and 0$ amount and you will get the link on your email.
Extract the zip file and run the Maze.exe file to get started! 🕹️
Hope you have fun, comments and critiques are welcome!

Ball Maze Game