Dimensional Shift Prototype
Dimensional Shift is a First Person Puzzle game that revolves around finding clues in different dimensions and using those clues to solve puzzles. What could be behind the door? Can you solve the code?
Download link to prototype:
Dimensional Shift was built using Unreal Engine 4 and Audacity.
Dimensional Shift started off as a camera effect experiment and transformed into something much more. The skills that this project is aimed to demonstrate is my ability to learn and use Unreal Engine's node based code structure, highlight my debugging efficiency, and to show my simple but fun game design.
FAQ
How would you describe the process of creating and polishing this project?
When it came to developing and polishing this project, it was a process of trial and error. This project was developed with the intention of just being a camera effect but ended up inspiring me to create a playable prototype of a game that I always thought would be fun. Once I had the idea out on paper, I began coding within the game engine and ended up with a simple prototype. It took a lot of research in order to develop the skills to do some of the game mechanics. The polishing is the funniest part of the project in my opinion because the project itself is completed but needs some fine tuning which feels like wrapping up a Christmas present.
What did you learn as you were creating and improving this project?
What I learned was that whenever you are working on a project that mechanics and gameplay can and will change throughout development. I learned that being flexible with how certain mechanics need to be handled is a very good stance to have. This is because throughout development, I needed to make some sacrifices to the overall game idea in order to make a prototype. Optimization being the one thing that limited my vision for this prototype. I also learned a lot more Unreal Engine node based coding in order to implement the logic of my project.
What challenges did you face?
The main challenge that I faced was my system limitations forcing me to optimize what all I had in the game world. Being able to balance gameplay and visuals was strenuous for my computer system. I also had to keep in mind the audience in which I wanted to present this prototype to along the lines of game performance. This challenge demonstrated that sometimes, sacrifices to game vision need to be made in order to complete a project.
How did you incorporate feedback as you made changes to the project?
Whenever I completed the initial build of Dimensional Shift, I allowed for friends to play it and give honest feedback for changes. A lot of the feedback came back from them in a very positive and professional way. After all the feedback was received, I wrote the feedback down and began finding ways to balance my vision with their feedback. This resulted in some great changes in the game for the user and offered me some additional goals to my debugging and polishing section.
How was the project improved?
The polishing improvements that I made for Dimensional Shift are a UI system, clearer instructions for the user, additional textures, and better optimization. These demonstrate my ability to design in both 2D and 3D, in the addition of learning what players need to know in order to play a puzzle game. These simple changes add a feeling of polish to Dimensional Shift and allows me to be comfortable enough to share it with the world.
