Players Objectives

• Rescue the Firefly
• Remove the Bambo Plant
• Repair the Spider Web
• Return Home Before It Gets Dark

Achievements / Metric Tracking

• Health
• Number of Ants Devoured
• Status of Rescueing the Firefly
• Status of Removing the Bamboo Plant
• Status of Repairing the Spider Web

What Went Right:

1. Spider Web Hook Mechanic – It worked perfectly as I planned, which was great. I did add one modification where using the webs cost the player health, which I felt made traversing the world a bit of a challenge in a good way for the player and stopped them from just freely using webs all over the place.
2. The modeling – Everything in the level was modeled through BSP and done custom for this project. In working with a creature such as a spider, dealing with scale and proportions was complicated, and it is essential to understand that the player is playing through the spider’s lens, making designing the world a fun challenge.
3. Research and Planning – Preparing to design the work inside Unreal Engine was well planned. There were many inspirational resources, including mood boards, top-down drawings, and a planned map with passage routes we would expect the players to traverse. Having this plan in hand made putting the work into action a lot easier and less stressful.
4. Sound Effects – I feel like the sound effects I produced blended well with the game and the actions they were working with.
5. Player Feedback – Alerting the player to everything that was occurring in the level was essential to me. Using audio and widgets, the experience felt smooth, and the player was constantly made aware of why they had died or what they achieved during the gameplay session.

What Went Wrong:

1. Third-Person Camera View – I originally wanted the player to be able to use both the first and third-person camera perspectives using V to toggle between. This worked until it didn’t, and it didn’t right around the time of implementing the webhook and having to use the crosshairs to aim where to fire the webs. The player’s character became prone or lying down and did not work well.
2. The UI I created experienced a slight glitch where the text would misalign after I moved an unrelated static mesh. This resulted in me having to do two project revisions through source control and was not a significant issue to work around and resolve.
3. The Web Tightrope Mechanic – This mechanic did not work correctly when combined with the Spider Web Mechanic. Also, the scale of the level was not large enough to use both mechanics often enough, and this mechanic was scratched and not produced and used in the project.
4. Modeling and Rigging the Spider – The spider was modeled inside Unreal Engine 5.2 using BSP; however, the model required bones, which Unreal Engine 5.2 could not provide. I brought the project into Unreal Engine 5.3 and created my bone rigging to solve this. However, this was unrequired since the game remained in first-person and not third-person.
5. Creating a waterfall – I wanted to have a waterfall in an area where the player would traverse, and the water could have knocked them off the tree branch; however, the waterfall did not blend in well with the scene, and I scratched it.