Description

Kidgilantes is a 2-player local co-op game developed as my capstone project at UC Santa Cruz. The game's objective is to rescue all animals from a zoo while avoiding guards.
Our team of 15 chose to develop the game in Unreal Engine 4, a platform unfamiliar to us, to challenge ourselves and stand out from our peers. Despite the steep learning curve, we successfully completed the game within a 6-month timeframe.
As the Gameplay Programmer, I was responsible for implementing new mechanics into the game. This role required me to develop various systems and mechanics, providing me with comprehensive experience in different aspects of Unreal Engine.
This project not only honed my technical skills but also taught me the value of teamwork, problem-solving, and pushing boundaries in the pursuit of innovation.
You can see the end result on Steam!

Challenges

Working with Unreal Engine, a platform new to our programming team, presented our first challenge. It took us two weeks to fully grasp its workings and structure. To expedite the game creation process, we chose to work with Blueprints instead of traditional coding.

File organization was a crucial aspect we aimed to maintain consistently. We ensured to leave comprehensive comments and maintain visual clarity for nodes in blueprints. This practice facilitated smoother transitions when team members needed to make changes, preventing confusion and saving time.

Another challenge was the lack of a streamlined pipeline for adding assets into the game. I took the initiative to handle this task, ensuring the seamless integration and functionality of new assets. This experience not only enhanced my technical skills but also underscored the importance of adaptability and proactive problem-solving in a team setting.

Learning Outcomes

Throughout the development of Kidgilantes, our team encountered several learning opportunities:

• Blueprint Limitations: We discovered that not all features we envisioned could be implemented using Blueprints alone. This taught us the importance of understanding the capabilities and limitations of the tools we use.
• Source Control: We used Git for source control, which led to some complications when merging our work. This experience underscored the importance of mastering source control tools to ensure smooth collaboration.
• Asset Pipeline: I learned the significance of having a proper pipeline for integrating assets into the game. Some assets initially didn't function correctly, requiring additional time to troubleshoot. This taught me the value of thorough testing and problem-solving.

Despite these challenges, I am incredibly proud of the work my team and I put into this game. The joy our players experience while playing Kidgilantes makes all our hard work worthwhile.