Working on a VR game inspired by Hotline Miami. My last topic was archived due to lack of posting... I can take a hint :)
Nothing particularly special today. Have the start of a kick mechanic. I'll be using this for opening doors and taking out the Subjects.
https://i.imgur.com/dNQ0RiI.mp4
I've essentially redone the first pass of the AI in C++ using this - http://dennaton.blogspot.com/2012/11...-miami-ai.html - as my AI design document.
The core AI API is very good. It takes bit of experimentation to get the hang of it but it's very solid. I wasn't sure if I could use UAITasks to break up the various states in C++... I used Actions Extension from https://www.unrealengine.com/marketp...ions-extension and I highly recommend it.
I do have a new found respect for the Behavior Tree solution in UE4 but I don't see myself using it again. I'm able to iterate much quicker with a straight C++ implementation.
Time to get a game play loop to build upon.
Example of a patrol AI investigating a sound source and then going back to its initial task. (hiding behind a wall as the AI is set to shoot on sight). Very impressed how little code you need to accomplish this. Seriously, the AI API is very good and naturally steers you towards an efficient event driven design.
Been pretty quiet lately. Been working on the AI the framework and a new AI type - TechCultist. Next round of work will be tweaking some mechanics. After that... time to start the main gameplay loop... 
Thanks :) The character model is from a low poly modeler known as Rungy. I had to modify it to add the TV screen and PS1 hands (they rock, more games should use this style). The gun is from Dekogon but with the textures stripped down. All the textures I'll rework later. I really need to work on gameplay. Oh and the face for this guy - https://scrimshawcarver.bandcamp.com/ - who is providing the music.
I had been wondering who's face that was, I assumed it was stock footage. by the way I hope you can finish the game! maybe by then I'll actually have a VR headset :)
The other face is mine. I came up with the idea after a few drinks on Christmas while playing with this https://store.steampowered.com/app/697860/Cathodemer/
Thank you! I hope I finish it too. After the VR version is done I might bring it over to PC as there are a bunch of ideas I can't do in VR.
Unrelated to this game I see you have some games up on itch. I've been thinking of spending a few hours a week to play random games to find interesting mechanics and post about it. I'll play yours first :) Keep creating.
Been working on the gameplay loop around bullet time.
I've wanted some sort of bullet time since the beginning to give the
player a fighting chance. I've been experimenting with a bunch of them.
For example just slowing down the bullets for a brief period of time and then
accelerating back to normal speed. In practice all these experiments have fallen flat.
Really flat.
I think I'm over thinking it... I'm just going to go all Max Payne with a global bullet time
coupled with a meter and go from there. That always feels awesome in VR.
I'll worrying about nerfing it later. Having a fun feel good experience is more important.
With the recent announcement that the Rift lineup will be discontinued I thought long and hard about moving this project to PC. I'm not really in the mood for paying 1k for the Index and I don't have Quest Developer status. A few people reached out to me to at least apply. So that's what I've done.
This project is now a leaf in the wind. It either blows over to the Quest or PC.
I really enjoy developing on the VR platform and would return to it in the future.
Although I didn't make it as an Oculus Quest game I was encouraged to join Oculus Start. Decided to go with it
as the developer program looks very good. First cut is still going to be a VR game :)
The last character was a bit too much like Jacket. This one isn't rough enough. Getting there.
Hey Slither! I used paired animations from https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/full-mount-attacks
When I play the execution animation for the player - I move the camera outside of the first person view and then teleport the AI character to the exact position and rotation needed. At this moment I can play the equivalent paired animation for the AI character. Sounds and effects are added directly on the animation timeline.
Still got a few issues to sort out like doing it too close to a wall. The collision capsule isn't great when the character is laying down like this so there's wall clipping.
Fully integrated the execution animations into gameplay. Will have a video of all of them coming up soon.
Then it's cleaning up some bugs, level flow and back to AI for a demo level.
Hey! Just stumbled on the project! Big fan of Hotline Miami, big fan of VR! Eager to see how this turns out.
