New Options UI and Pause Menu

The Problem

This week, I encountered several roadblocks while working on UI implementation for our Unreal Engine project. The main issues involved Unreal not cooperating well with Perforce—causing problems such as unsubmitted checkouts, files being locked unexpectedly, and source control errors that interrupted team progress. In addition, I ran into challenges with sound integration for menu buttons; specifically, audio cues weren’t triggering consistently when interacting with UI elements like "Options" or "Quit."

These issues slowed down development and introduced friction in both collaboration and user experience. For example, without proper feedback sounds, the menus felt unresponsive, which could make the game feel unpolished to players.

The Solution

To address the source control issues, I double-checked Perforce workspace settings across team machines, cleaned up pending changelists, and coordinated with teammates to ensure all necessary files were submitted and correctly checked in. I also adjusted Unreal Engine's source control preferences to prevent accidental checkout conflicts.

On the UI side, I updated the Main Menu by implementing a functional “Options” screen and added a fully integrated Pause Menu for in-game access. To fix the audio bugs, I verified that all UI buttons were correctly bound to their respective sound cues in both Blueprint and code. I also ensured the PlaySound2D() function was triggered with appropriate settings such as volume and pitch, and confirmed the audio assets were not being blocked by load times or garbage collection.

These fixes not only streamlined our development workflow but also significantly improved the player's experience by making the UI feel more interactive and responsive. Moving forward, the groundwork we've laid should help the team avoid similar setbacks and allow for smoother iteration on future features.