[Dev Log] Generic Slenderman Clone Part 2 // UE5 & Blueprint

So after part 1, I had the bare bones of a slenderman game. In this part I wanted to flesh out the mechanics a little more and make it start to look more like a "game". My Goals for part 2 were:

1. Replace the cubes with actual "notes"
2. Create random spawn points for the notes
3. Create a sprint mechanic + realistic jump
4. Add sprint and notes to HUD widget
5. Change it to night time
6. Create a flashlight
7. Create a battery mechanic
8. Executable

1. Replace the cubes with actual "notes"

2. Create random spawn points for the notes

For this I opened up blender and made the shittest piece of paper. Took about 1 minute. Made sure to resize the plane to A4, curled the edges slightly and gave it a material slot for the front and back and then exported it to Unreal.

I downloaded the note textures used in one of the slenderman games off google images and created materials from them. Then created a way for the notes to pick one of the materials at runtime. There are 8 different textures and each note is unique:

I created a new blueprint which now handles the spawning of the notes and what material they get. This blueprint contains 16 locations where the notes could spawn. More can be added but only 8 locations will be picked at runtime. You can change the number of locations in the details panel in the editor.

3. Create a sprint mechanic and realistic jump

Default unreal man jumps like Princess Peach; in fact it's more floating than jumping and greatly annoys me. Fixing it is quite simple though by just changing the Z Jump Velocity in the Character Movement.

The sprint mechanic is also relatively simple. When shift is held, it reduces the sprint each second and when it reaches 0 (from 100), you can no longer sprint. It takes 10 seconds to replenish fully. I achieved this by using timers instead of ticking. That way, we're not constantly checking to see if we're sprinting (or replenishing sprint value) every frame; only when we need to.

4. Add sprint and notes collected to the HUD widget

Using icons from the Android library (they're free to use) I added a progress bar and text to the HUD:

The progress bar does use a binding to update itself which is expensive but barely anything is ticking in this game so I didn't really care. In UE5, the progress bars now come with a default animation as well which is snazzy. The notes text is updated when a note is destroyed and the blueprint sends a message to the HUD.

5. Change to night time

This was one of the most difficult parts as lighting in Unreal Engine is unbelievably difficult. You need to change colours determined by sun, override sky colours, change the post process volume and exponential height fog....it's never ending. Also, as the scene is so dark afterwards; I duplicated BP_Sky_Sphere so I could add a tick box which would allow me to switch between day and night in real time.

In the construction script I added this mess:

Which toggles between "soft day" and night:

6. Adding a flashlight

For this I simply add a spot light to the character and attached it to the head socket so it moves with the character. I thought about a doing a torch you hold in your hand but couldn't be bothered with the hand animations as this is true first person so instead, the player is wearing a head torch. I added some nodes to allow the player to toggle the flashlight on and off with F.

The flashlight is its own blueprint and spawns on the player as a child component. I gave it a light profile as well using one of the default UE ones so it's softer when far away from objects; but then the cone shape starts to appear when you get closer. It always annoys me in games when the flashlight is just a circle in the centre of the screen.

7. Adding a battery mechanic

This didn't take long as it was almost copy and paste on the sprint mechanic. I added some timers to the flashlight so when it's in use it begins to lose power and it updates the HUD with the new power level. I added a cylinder to game which acts as a "battery". When you pick it up it replenishes the battery power; regardless of how much power you have left. So batteries should be used wisely as you can't store them in an inventory.

8. Executable

In the gif, "slenderman" is motionless as I disabled it's "AI" for the moment whilst testing (and I forgot to remove the debug output from sprinting) but it's starting to look more like a spooky game now!

In part 3, I'll actually create the forest map, add sounds like footsteps, cracking twigs and some story elements. By the end of part 3 it will look like a proper slenderman game but it still won't act like one.

[Dev Log] Generic Slenderman Clone Part 1 // UE5 & Blueprint

The next game on my list for the 12 months of games challenge is a straight up Slenderman clone. Slenderman is without a doubt one of my favourite games of all time due to the simplicity of the premise; you are chased around a forest by an A-Posing faceless man in a suit whilst collecting 8 items. I was always more of a console gamer and so I didn't know anything about the "indie" games scene and then 2013 hit with Slenderman and now I can't go back; indie horror games are my favourite genre.

So to ease myself into UE5 (and remind myself of how the editor works); I decided to make a straight up Slenderman clone. Once I've completed this version, I will then remake it using C++ instead of Blueprint.

In total there are 5 stages to this game, in this first part I'll be:

1. Creating the "map" and first person mode
2. Putting notes on the "map"
3. Displaying the collected notes count
4. Adding a way to collect notes
5. Adding "slenderman"
6. Creating a titlescreen and endscreen
7. Creating an executable

So there will be a full "game" by the end of this stage (it helps keep me motivated) but when I say "map" I mean the default 3rd person map and "notes" will literally just be textured cubes from the starter content.

1 - Creating the "map" and first person mode

I've just synced UE5 at work and I did the "Your First Hour in UE5" tutorial from the Unreal Learning portal but other than I've not done much. I will say I like the interface upgrade and the darker colours. For this project I'm using the Early Access 2 version.

I started off with the third person project using Blueprint and starter content. My game will be imaginatively called "Default Unrealman".

I cleaned up the scene a bit by removing the text and moved things into folders. 

I added a hacky "line trace" to my character which is simply just a collision box shaped to a rectangle coming off the players face. It's not very efficient but I'm not making Halo so it doesn't really matter.

"True" first person mode is achieved my simply attaching the camera to the head socket and moving it so it's on the head. The rectangle trace is also connected to the head socket. I set the camera to move with the pawn rotation and then set the pawn rotation to use controller yaw; this way the camera doesn't do a 360 spin around the player but moves as the player moves.

2 - Putting Notes on The Map

I created a new blueprint actor for my notes which simply contains a cube with a texture on it from the starter content. The note contains a text variable with what to display on interaction and a collision box, I then placed 8 of them on the map.

3 - Displaying the Collected Notes Count

For this, I needed to override the current game mode. I created a new HUD class called BP_GameHUD. Then created a widget called W_GameHUD. BP_GameHUD contains a reference to W_GameHUD and a function that allows access to this widget.

With that out of the way, I added some text to the Widget and then added the widget to the viewport.

Currently this isn't interactable but it's simple enough to set up getters and setters in the widget to change this text.

4 - Collecting the Notes

This involved adding the usual "Press E to use" text to the screen whenever the player is looking at a note.  I added a new text component to the hud widget and 2 functions to set and stop displaying it.

Then I gave the note blueprint a reference to the hud widget and called these functions using when overlap begins and ends on the collision box. Now when playing the game it appears in the middle of the screen, directly where the player is looking and disappears when the collision stops. 

To "collect" the note, it removes the actor from the game when E key is released and to update the HUD widget, I added an int to BP_GameHUD and a function to increment which then updates the hud widget.

5 - Adding "Slenderman"

My version of slenderman is an A-Posing default unreal man:

UE5 has a couple of new components that you can add to actors called "InterpToMovement" and "RotatingMovement", however I'm going to do it the old old-fashioned way:

This will get replaced with a behaviour tree later on but for now it's fine.

Terrifying.

6 - Creating a Titlescreen and Endscreen

The most involved part of the process...at least there are widgets this time and I can just drag and move them around instead of manually typing in positions. Bless the editor. I hate doing UI stuff.

After much faffing about creating a new game mode for the menu screen and setting input controls for each screen. I finally had a "working" slenderman game....I mean technically it's a game.

7 - Creating an Executable

This was the most different part of the process from using UE4. Turns out I still haven't installed the Windows SDK on my pc; I've had it for almost a year now. The package and cook is in a completely different place as well and documentation links are broken. Very cool Epic.

For future reference, you need to install the specific .NET framework from here:

https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-applaunch?framework=Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App&framework_version=3.1.0&arch=x64&rid=win10-x64

Then, just when I thought it was building, I needed to disable the Quixel Bridge plug-in due to some random shared pointer being null. I will say though Quixel did fix it back in October, I just haven't updated the Engine...

But eventually I got my application:

It's beautiful. 

It might not look like much but it's basically the bare bones of the game. Make it night time and add a spooky forest and it's pretty much done....OK maybe not completely. The next stage is to add the flashlight and sprint mechanics and make it night time. Then in Stage 3 I'll create the forest.

LP's 12 Months of Games // Alien Invaders Part 2 [C++ & SFML]

Completed Independently

In part 1, I got a basic game loop going and you could shoot invaders as they descended upon you. In part 2 there's now shields, sounds and a flying saucer!

It's almost there but there's still some bugs and finishing touches such as:

• Background music. The famous "dun dun dun dun" has not been implemented as I haven't managed to recreate the sounds to a satisfactory standard and increasing the step as you destroy invaders is a task in itself as I'm not a sound engineer person.
• The arcade style surrounding and background as well as the CRT shader. A colleague showed me a different way to implement the disintegration effect using shaders so I'll be implementing that as well as messing around with some other shader effects.
• 2 Player mode
• Demo mode
• Taito Cop Easter Egg
• Different Invader shots. Right now they're all just using 1 shot and will fire every couple of seconds or so. That needs changing.
• The flying saucer is every 3 seconds which isn't correct. I haven't figured out from the assembly yet though what the actual timing mechanic is for it to appear.
• The Credit Inserted and Start Game animations haven't been created.
• The states don't really play with each other nicely
• Bugs

I'm shocked that the original developer managed to create this game in a year but not just the game; he also built the hardware that the game ran on. This is a level of engineering that I can only dream of reaching. 

Result:

It doesn't look like much but I'm quite proud of myself for sticking to a project and getting it to a somewhat finished state. That in itself is an achievement for me. I am feeling a bit burnt out on SFML though having done 5 back-to-back projects with it and I'm looking forward to a bit of Unreal and Blueprints for the next project.

This is far from over though. I have a new project now to recreate Space Invaders with as many APIs as I can. Making it that first time though is the kicker; now it's almost out of the way, I can focus on refining the code and then re-implementing it using other libraries.

Code:

https://github.com/l-paz91/AlienInvaders2/tree/main/AlienInvaders2

The code is quite honestly, awful in places lol. But I don't care. I think that's one of the hardest lessons I've learnt whilst doing this exercise; just do it and worry about how shit your code is when it's done. I do enjoy refactoring and optimising but they don't help you get a project finished.

LP's 12 Months of Games // Alien Invaders Part 1 [C++ & SFML]

Completed Independently

So the final game of "Beginning C++ Games Programming" by John Horton was a clone of "Space Invaders". I skimmed the first chapter of the project and he starts talking about Entity component systems, Factory class designs etc and I just completely zoned out and decided to make it myself. 

This took me a while as Back 4 Blood added an offline mode and there's nothing quite like hitting zombies with a baseball bat. Also the Witcher season 2 and Lost In Space season 3.

So anyway, I kept getting annoyed with myself whilst making this game; I was trying to make the code as beautiful as possible right off the bat; which is impossible unless your Bjarne or Scott Meyers or something. I asked many colleagues how they would go about implementing Space Invaders and amusingly, the more senior the engineer the more the answer became "just do it all in main, who cares?"

So, I've written some terribly hacky code that only gets worse as time goes on but I have a game! This is labelled part 1 because it's not finished however, there is a title screen, a game and a game over. It saves the high score between runs and loops after game over so it is a game...regardless of how finished.

I'm quite into the task now and the shields are ready to be implemented, as are the sounds. Then the flying saucer needs some attention as do the shot exploding animations but then I'll have a full Space Invaders clone!

I've given myself a few little extras that involve creating a CRT shader and making it look as though you're playing the game on an arcade machine.

Result:

I'm extremely happy with what I've done so far. I'm really trying my best to make it look and feel exactly like the original. I'm going so far as implementing the same bugs using this site which comments all the assembly:

https://www.computerarcheology.com/Arcade/SpaceInvaders/

There are some issues which you may have already noticed; my game over text isn't displaying and the high score isn't updating. That will be fixed next but the code is in place.

I just really wanted to get something uploaded for this month and I've already learnt so much from attempting to do this by myself. I'm glad I ignored the book as this game is deceptively hard but a great place to start when making a complete game from scratch for the first time.

I almost gave up a couple weeks ago as I find it difficult to find the motivation to finish things. I have about 70 started projects but I thought to myself, the whole point of this challenge is to get better at making games and I won't get better if I don't at least try! So I managed to scrape the code together enough to call it a "game".

It also made me realise that I hate UI programming with a burning passion.

Code:

https://github.com/l-paz91/AlienInvaders2/tree/main/AlienInvaders2

LP's 12 Months of Games // Thomas Was Late [C++ & SFML]

Completed Via Tutorial

The 4th game taught in "Beginning C++ Games Programming" by John Horton and there are some more things I found strange:

• The engine class had 4 functions but only the constructor and 1 other function were defined in the cpp; the others were given their own cpp file....I have honestly never seen this. I can understand wanting to keep the code "manageable" but just collapse the function? There are class definitions in Unreal Engine thousands of lines long. If you're having trouble use Alt+G to directly go to the function or just Shift+F and search.
• The private const member variables in classes. If they're private, they can only be used within the class anyway so move them out of the class and into a private namespace in the cpp. Those variables are padding out the size of the class; all those bytes add up; especially if you are creating many instances of the class (as games often do). The const variables in the namespace will still be static but at least they're only being created once instead however many times you have created instances of the class they were in.
• There are also other implications on your classes to do with move/copy constuctors caused by const members.
• I've also seen some "Variable const x", especially in function argument parameters. Yes the compiler will accept it but it's good practice when declaring a const variable to have the const before the type. You may see const after a function declaration but that is promising that function doesn't modify any member variables inside the function. The const before the function return type specifies that return value cannot be modified.
• The given code doesn't actually work or compile. 
• Pointer pointers were introduced....in a book aimed at those who have never programmed before....I have no words. I know you can't create a 2d array without using values defined at compile time but that's because it's an array; just use a vector. This is not Beginning C Games Programming.
• The LevelManager should be holding an instance of the level vector array, this eliminates the need to new anything up. In the original code the pointer is returned to a different class. If it has to be a pointer at least ensure that whatever is holding the pointer frees it properly in the destructor (or better yet, use smart pointers).
• He includes headers in cpp's that have already been included in the matching header file.

I will admit, I did find this funny though:

Finished Result:

The tutorial spanned from chapters 14 - 18 and I stopped halfway through 17 because the game is severely broken:

I don't have time to get this working nor do I really care. There was something going on with the drawing and ordering of the sprites vs the background. Left and right were only for the green shape, A and D were for the red. It knew this when input was received yet for some reason it decided to apply the updates to some other sprite.

There's only space invaders left now which should be more fun; this one was a bit dry.

Code:

No code drop for this one. The authors repository for the book is here though:

https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Beginning-Cpp-Game-Programming-Second-Edition

LP's 12 Months of Games // Zombie Arena [C++ & SFML]

Completed Via Tutorial

Another tutorial finished from "Beginning C++ Games Programming" by John Horton. 

Please do not use this book to learn C++. Some things boggled the mind when following this tutorial like:

• variable + 0 (???)
• Creating a header, only for it to contain functions that are neither marked as extern or static or within a namespace. One function returns a raw pointer which is deleted somewhere else...
• #pragma once #ifndef #define combo (pick one. I like ifndef define because it's slightly more portable).
• Constant float to int/int to float with no casting or safety in place. For example, he'll choose to make an int variable but only use it with a float???
• Singleton classes. Don't get me wrong, I like singletons but this is not the best way to do it. The constructor should be private with copy and assignment deleted. There should instead be a static public function that declares and returns a reference to a static instance of the class to ensure it is destroyed properly.
• Member functions that don't modify are not marked as const nor is anything returned by const reference if it can be.
• Initialises class members in the constructor body instead of via initialiser list; this causes the member variable to be default initialised and then assigned again.
• Const member variables are initialised in the class body definition??? static const integral types yes, but otherwise for linking sake, it's best to initialise const members in the constructor.

One thing that really bugged me was all the event handling for input was done in main. I am a firm believer that objects should handle input events themselves. That said, the author promised at the end of this game that there will be better code handling in the next two projects so I'll hold further judgement until I finish the book.

Finished Result:

I was having fun with this one by the end. I quite like "Demakes" and I think this style would make a good Left 4 Dead demake. The hitboxes on the zombies are a bit janky and I'd like some background music but other than that I'm actually pretty happy with this one. 

It taught some solid SFML concepts that I can take away to personal projects. I'm itching now to start Tetris or my own version of pong to apply what I've learnt but I'm going to finish the book first as he mentioned using more advanced sound features, particle effects an split-screen in the upcoming chapters.

Code:

https://github.com/l-paz91/ZombieArena

There's a code drop for this one as I feel I changed it enough. Assets haven't been included for copyright reasons but here is the authors repository:
https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Beginning-Cpp-Game-Programming-Second-Edition

LP's 12 Months of Games // Basic Pong [C++ & SFML]

Completed Via Tutorial 

This is the second project taught in "Beginning C++ Games Programming" by John Horton. The two chapters mainly focused on teaching classes and multiple files so the actual pong game was lacking.

Finished Result:

The "bat" is far to quick and moves off the sides. The ball scrapes along the bat or becomes stuck resulting in ridiculous scores and there's no states like a menu or game over. The basics are there though but I'll be improving this over the next week to add better collision, sounds and "english" (where the ball bounces off the bat with a certain velocity) as well as multiplayer.

I did finally learn how to use Github with Visual Studio though in this exercise. It's quite painless once you get used to it. I still prefer Perforce but for project sharing/collaboration, Github is the clear winner. That won't stop me from using Perforce though.

Code:

I modified the code in the book however it's mainly from the tutorial so I won't be posting. The next Pong game I will though.

LP's 12 Months of Games // Timber!! [C++ & SFML]

Completed via Tutorial

I started a book called "Beginning C++ Games Programming" by John Horton. It's aimed at those who've never used C++ before and teaches you how to make 5 games using SFML. I thought this would be the perfect introduction to SFML as I could ignore the bits about C++ and focus on the library. I was right.

I've just completed the first game; Timber!! I've used sfml once, many years ago to try and make pong. At the time I had been learning cpp for about 6 months and found it utterly confusing. This time, thanks to experience with FLTK and DirectX it was more "ah so this is how I get a sprite, this is how I draw it, this is how you poll events" etc.

I'd say this project would take a while for a complete C++ beginner but it was perfect to showcase on how to get to grips with sfml. I'm looking forward to the other 4 games and learning other sfml features.

As for the tutorial itself; I don't like the amount of hardcoded numbers and the fullscreen game (I prefer windowed when debugging). All the textures rely on the screen being a certain size as well but I can remedy that in my own projects. Also, the author is extremely bias to arrays and OOP with the code being very java-ry. I wouldn't recommend the book for first time C++ programmers as I feel it would teach some bad habits; make sure you use Principles & Practice for cpp.

Finished Result:

The assets were all provided by the book and I made a few adjustments to the code but other than that it's pretty much what the book gives.

I will say I'm extremely surprised by just how easy SFML actually is to use. I'm already formulating how to get a tetris game working or match 3 from just doing this simple game. So I guess it was a good tutorial overall.

Code:

A code drop will not be provided for this one as it's mainly from the book.

Challenge // LP's 12 Months of Games

So I'm an engine programmer...I like optimisation and tool creation. I'm at my happiest when making/doing things that makes gameplay programmers lives easier. That's mainly because I find the more gameplay aspects of games, well, tedious. 

The problem with this mindset though is that ultimately it makes me a terrible engine programmer. I can't make the best game engines if I don't know how games work. Like I know how a game works in the logical sense of how a computer understands it but I don't understand the nuances of level design, timing, AI, suspense, re-playability, state, message dispatching, entity systems, stat balancing...the list is endless. Hats off to gameplay programmers; you are wizards to me.

That's why, I'm designating the next 12 months as the year of games (it was originally supposed to be a new years resolution but I always fail at those so I'm starting early to try and trick myself). I'm going to attempt to make a game every month; no matter how shitty or simple; I want to make a game that has a start, a middle and an end. I've already got some ideas like:

• Slenderman clone in UE4 (I already half started this in 2020 and then got bored when I had to actually make the game)
• Tetris
• Solitaire
• Pong
• Space Invaders
• Doom
• Five Nights At Freddy's clone
• Super Mario World clone (not the entire game...jesus like 1 or 2 levels)
• Game Jam entry (probably Ludem Dare or Haunted PS1)
• Bejewelled clone
• Minecraft??

I want a good mix between styles, like shoot-em-up, platform, 3D, strategy, etc. Also I need them to be well documented so I don't get caught up in deciding what game mechanics to put in. I've noticed that if there is too much choice, I get overwhelmed and abandon the project. I think that's why I'm such a terrible gameplay programmer; the ability to do anything is too much and I just want very specific projects like; implement rotating images. Add animated gif support.

For the more classic games I'd like to just use C++ and DirectX or FLTK/SFML and then Unreal for the 3D games...I might even make slenderman in UE5 as I've not even opened that thing yet.

I'm saying 12 games because I feel that's more realistic, however if I feel like making something new every weekend I'm not going to stop myself. I'll update this post with games as I finish (or not finish them) and I'm excited to see how I've done by November 6th 2022.......

EDIT:

- Timber!! [C++ & SFML] (Nov 2021)

- Basic Pong [C++ & SFML] (Nov 2021)

- Zombie Arena [C++ & SFML] (Nov 2021)

- Thomas Was Late [C++ & SFML] (Nov 2021)

- Alien Invaders Basic [C++ & SFML] (Dec 2021)

- Alien Invaders Part 2 [C++ & SFML] (Jan 2022)