Games UX Design and Research

Please download the project and test the game by unzipping the folder,  then double-clicking on the file labeled "AdventureGame".

Controls (though you shouldn't need them) :

These can be found in-game and in the menus as well. While the game is keyboard and mouse compatible, in-game instructions only include Xbox controller visuals.

Move: Left Joystick, WASD or Arrow Keys

Look: Right Joystick, Mouse

Jump: Xbox A button/PlayStation X button or Space Bar, 

Sprint: Left Trigger, Left Shift

Pause: Controller Menu (right) button, Backspace

Credits:

UX Design and Research: Kayleigh Jones

Game Template (as seen here) and Audio Menu: Brandon Winkler

Industry Advising: Jason Schklar

Advising Professor:  Andrew D. Miller, Ph.D.

Update Notes:

To see videos demonstrating what the project looked like at all update stages, check out the YouTube Status Videos Playlist

Final Update?: 4/10/2023

• Testing last week revealed that players did not register the goal of the game even when a popup telling them what it was on the screen appeared for a few seconds.
• Made the game play ONLY after the user confirms they have read the goal popup by pressing the y button.
• Froze all inputs until the goal popup has been confirmed
• Hookup controller compatibility in the Controls menu, Main Menu, Pause Menu, Death Screen and Win Screen. Still does not work in options menu and I have no clue why but this is sacrificed for the sake of time!
• Fixing bugs that caused the controls screen on the above menus to bug out
• Fixed Instructional UI bug (again cause apparently it didn’t work the 1st time) that made popups overlap each other
• Slight tweaks to the Jump areas to make them larger and the prompts last a little longer
• Added labels to sprint and jump pops to tell them they need to hold the button and can double jump respectively
• Added an invisible wall to the area under the bridge to prevent players from falling
• Final Version of the game (for now) packaged!!! More updates may come in the future but I need time to make a poster and hopefully videos showing off the whole process for capstone night!

Update 8: 3/29/2023

• Updated settings menu to a new layout and made some UI changes to make it cleaner, may update it more after other changes are made if there is time
• Fixed bug where the sprint popup was overlapping the move popup occasionally
• Added instruction to the beginning of the game to tell players to collect all trophies
• Made adjustments to font styling in the game to make buttons and text easier to read
• Added UI showing how to pause the game at the top of the screen
• Adjusted instruction UI popup timing to make it (hopefully) flow smoother and seem less clunky according to player feedback
• Inexperienced gamer playtesting - learned a lot and gave direction for future changes
• Next week: Make the game ONLY play after the user confirms to skip the goal popup, and make the controller work in the menus 

Update 7: 3/22/2023

• Attending GDC and Playtesting so not many updates on the Unreal side of things
• Imported in the Settings menu of unreal - needs UI art still but functions work
• HUGE shout out to Brandon for the help with that! He rocks, and likely saved my sanity during capstone night with those audio controls! Check him out! :D
• Next Week: More Playtesting and Bug Fixes

Update 5: 3/1/2023

• Transitioned the look, sprint and move area prompts to functions that run on player start 
• Redid the move prompt functionality as it did not work with controller compatibility - it now does
• Redid the look prompt functionality as it did not work with controller compatibility - it now does
• Redid the sprint prompt functionality as it did not work with new move and look functions for unknown reasons - it now does
• Replayed the game several times to shoot for a good game feel of how long to wait before the player should be prompted with instructions and how long they should wait to be deleted
• Added several other jump areas in case player does not go forward initially and added functionality to delete them all if they jump 3 times
• Playtesting Survey
• Next Week: Playtesting

Update 4: 2/23/2023

• Made Win Screen
• Hooked up buttons on Win Screen, Death Screen and Pause Screen from options to Restart Level
• Added functionality to display user's current coins and trophys on Win Screen, Death Screen and Pause Screen
• Added additional coins at random to environment (was 51 now 101 and added 1 additional trophy)
• Played the game several times and adjusted some environment assets that were causing bugs
• Created bugs in doing so with wrapping and overlapping UVS - then fixed this as well
• Had to redo lighting of level because it broke, no clue why maybe from unreal updating itself
• Next Weeks: Final bug fixes and playtesting survey

Update 3: 2/18/2023

• Made UI Assets in Figma to show players what buttons to hit
• Made Controls Page as a helpful reminder of what buttons should be pressed when
• Hooked up the Main Menu and Pause menu to display the Controls Page
• Added functionality for area trigger popup UI instructing the player how to move, look around and sprint all with different coding functionality. 
  • Sprint had to have 2 different functions to make sure it was being deleted whenever the player sprinted for 5 seconds whether it be in real time for a nonstop 5 seconds or when the button was released after sprinting for short intervals which added up to 5 seconds.
• Next Week: Win Screen and final touches for March Playtesting

Update 2: 2/10/2023

• Finished adjusting materials and adding new meshes to the game
• Tweaked UI health bar and counters
• Added new sounds for taking damage and jump animations plus music in the “You Died” screen
• Converted UI elements to Common UI plugin buttons making them much easier to stylize: Thank Christian in the Unreal Meetup Group for helping me realize what I was doing wrong!
• Added a Jump UI prompt that appears when the player moves into an area, it’s removed when they leave this area. (Struggled with this but after MANY tutorial videos I figured it out)
• Added a function that counts how many times the player has pressed the jump key. After it is pressed 2x the above function is deleted from the level AND this function is not called again (preventing lots of error messages)
• Bug Fix - The main menu is now working in the packaged version of the project
• Next Week: All other area instructions

Update 1: 2/1/2023

• Adjusted the environment more adding landscape elements
• Added a main menu template (to be refined later)
• Added a pause menu template (to be refined later)
• Added coding so that the mouse is shown in the main menu and pause menu but NOT while playing
• Next Week: Sounds/Jump Area Instructions?

Update 0.5: 1/25/2023

• After trying (and failing) to get started with the unreal engine Action RPG sample thanks to my computer being to weak to work on it, work finally begins!
• Reviewed sample and took notes of current issues. Original status can be viewed in the YouTube Status Videos Playlist and is labeled as "Template" 
  
• Edited the character's sprint speed and jump gravity to make them feel crisper.
• Began working on the environment of the level so that the character fits in better using this free Fantastic Village resource pack
• Next Week: Main Menu