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Michael Connelly
Technical Game Designer
GAME PREVIEW
Duration: 1 month
A ENDLESS ROUND BASED ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GAME
Developed solo on Unreal Engine 5.1 with blueprint scripting, 'Your Last Stand' was a class project that received a grade of 97%. This was my first ever created and finished game. I designed and programmed a variety of gameplay mechanics & features, including basic gun logic, ammunition, zombie AI, a health system, animations, and all of the game's 4K realism level design.
GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS & MECHANICS
SHOOTING LOGIC
The bullets here use a line trace to inflict damage on zombies or leave a mark on the floor or wall you hit. Additionally, players can aim down sights by holding down the right mouse button, complete with a crosshair widget positioned in the center of the screen for a better shot.
RELOAD & AMMO
As players fire their weapon, the ammo widget decreases until reaching zero. Reload is the 'R' key. For more ammo, a max ammo powerup, similar to in COD, will spawn at a random location on the map every 75 seconds. When grabbed, it plays a nice flashback to the old days of COD "MAX AMMO" sound I created.
ADVANCED DAMAGE SYSTEM
Special damage from your weapon is possible through physics bodies with the zombie's head, body, legs & arms! Headshots require two bullets to kill, while body shots require five, legs and arms requiring seven. I implemented this system by utilizing the zombies' physics asset in conjunction with my blueprint scripts.
ZOMBIE AI SYSTEM
ZOMBIE FOLLOW & ATTACKING
Pawn sensing is used to track and follow the player. Sound cues of the zombies' screams are triggered based on player's distance. At a certain distance, they walk, but as it gets closer, it switches to running. The zombie will attempt to swing or bite the player if close enough. If the line trace connects, the player loses health.
PLAYER HEALTH & REGENERATION
As previously mentioned, zombies cause the player to lose health if their line trace hits them. If the player's health reaches zero, they will die. Additionally, if the player's health drops to around 40%, their screen will begin to flash red
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LESSONS LEARNED
Your Last Stand was the second game I ever started making and my first project completely finished in the Unreal Engine. Overall, I would grade the game as a B- based on the gameplay, design, and effort invested. The lower grade I've given is due to the following reasons: First off, while I taught myself how to create the game using YouTube tutorials, I did rely on outside resources for guidance. Additionally, the game may become repetitive over time as there is only one weapon available and it is a single player experience. Last off, players may find it challenging when running out of ammo without the option for close proximity combat, such as a knife. The ammo spawning in every 75 seconds does help this issue though. I am proud for this to be my first game however, as the game has zero bugs I've found, runs great, and has stunning graphics.
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