This week we presented our version 0,02 build of our Unreal Engine 4 Tower Defense / Shooter game. It was really the first build that included any sort of actual work on the game and it really helped me to review the Unreal Engine Blueprints system. If you haven’t heard of it, UE4 has a visual type of coding called Blueprints along side the standard C++. Blueprints consist of function blocks that you are able to connect together with specialized wires. The program starts and follows the execution wire along block by block until it reaches the end. This type of visual coding is extremely useful for creating things in Unreal and it is often much easier to use than to do all the normal coding your self. This system is also really useful for creating a bunch of the same object because you are able to tie the blueprints to specific parts of the object you are creating. This allows you to swap out any part in order to create something slightly different without breaking the functionality.
For my contribution to v0.02, I built a working turret as a representation of the first tower in our game. The turret is able to track the player and detect if there is an obstruction in its line of sight. If the player is in line of sight and within range, the turret will fire projectiles at a preset pace. This will be a really useful base for the rest of the game, as we will be able to create more towers by simply swapping out certain parts of the blueprints. I look forward to the rest of the project in order to see what other unique things we will be able to create using the blueprint system. 🙂