Video of playthrough of the game, showcasing the time mechanic as well as the level.

Unreal Time Manipulation Project

Game Description

This is a solo demo project I did in unreal for my “Intro to Unreal” class. I focused on experimenting in unreal using time and how you can manipulate it to create game based mechanics while using only unreal’s built-in blueprints.

Time Duration: October 2023 - December 2023

Role: Game Designer, Level Designer, Environmental Designer, and Blueprints Developer

Engine: Unreal

Check out the Game Design Doc!

Responsibilities + Accomplishments

This was demo for my unreal class that was used as my mid-term and final for that class. We were tasked with making a obstacle course running game. Because I was working alone, I had a lot of responsibilities which include but weren’t limited to:

  • Prototyped and white-boxed each level

  • Concepted and implemented core time manipulation mechanics

  • Designed and implemented each type of obstacle. (e.g., pendulums, mushroom spores, pressure controlled doors, randomly spawning rocks, etc.)

  • Designed and implement environmental assets for each level to match underground cave theming using in-engine systems, such as lighting and sound systems.

I learned a lot from this project, especially a lot about Unreal as a engine and all the possibilities you can do with it. I also learned a lot about designing challenging but fun puzzles for the player based of the core mechanics of the game.

Picture of the first level of the game, showcasing the pendulums, mushroom spores, and pressure controlled doors.

Design Process

This was my first ever project in unreal I made in unreal and it was it really interesting seeing the differences between it and other game engines like Unity. Since this was my first time developing in unreal there were a lot of challenges I had to over come, especially as I was doing this solo. There were a lot of issues with having the ‘turrets’ and the pendulums either not moving at all or getting messed up when the player manipulated time. This demo really had me think of new ways and develop my debugging skills. I remember wanting to add a progress bar to the player’s abilities so that they couldn’t use their powers as often and increase the timing and patience of the obstacles.

I also wanted there to be more powers as well, I originally had the player be able to quicken and slow time but I never came up with a interesting enough puzzles that would use the quicker movement. I also tested the idea of having the player be able to stop a object from moving completely, similar to one of Link’s powers in Breath of the Wild but it ended up being scrapped due to time and me prioritizing and finalizing the demo to make the deadline.

Picture of the second level of the game, showcasing the random rock spawner and slamming walls.