UnrealOni/Documentation

Assets

Import

Images

Unprocessed files like PNG can be imported by drag and drop in the Content Browser.

They will be saved as .uasset in the folder you dropped the original file.

Video

Intro video

Ingame videos

Logic

• Blueprints ?
• C++ ?

Startup visuals

Splash screen

It's not a level splash screen. It's shown when the game starts. In 600 x 200 pixel.

Settings > Project Settings > Platforms > Windows > Splash

Editor Splash, Game Splash

Watch out for dead space at the left bottom area as it gets occupied at runtime by text displaying the engine version, the game's name, copyright, and loading progress.

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  Spash screens and game icon

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  Editor spash screen at runtime

Game icon

Beneath the Splash, the Game Icon can be set. In 256 x 256 pixel.

For Photoshop there is a free plugin available for making *.ico files.

Videos

Show Intro video

Settings > Project Settings > (Project section) Movies

Wait for Movies to Complete [x] (prevent bug from closing video automatically right after start)

Movies Are Skippable [x]

Add element to array, insert an MP4 video

Some older engine versions require the MP4 to have 25 fps.

Bug: On Windows the mouse cursor will be shown during video playback.

An animated intro would be nice but that's unfeasible for us. Instead ingame cutscenes could be used.

Display other videos in fullscreen, e.g. for Outro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_nSACYTIvY

General notes on using blueprints

Exposing object-specific nodes by pulling a pin out of a reference

When right-clicking on an empty BP grid then by default you will see pre-selected categories and nodes.

In rare cases you have to disable the Context Sensitive option to get all possible nodes.

To get Variables and functions from a specific object you need a reference of that object first.

Connections can be double-clicked to get a Detour node. When you hover a Detour node with a little offset you will notice a changed mouse cursor, indicating that the node can be moved.

Detour nodes are used to visually organized the connections.

Mouse cursor

User widget with mouse cursor texture

Assigning a new mouse cursor

Tested in version 4.18, 4.22

• create a png with transparent edges, import it
• create a user widget, open it
• drag and drop the mouse cursor asset into the widget designer
• make it 32x32 in size 0, 0 in position
• compile and save
• open project settings
  • Engine > User Interface > Software Cursors
  • Add a new software cursor with "Default" option and pick your newly create cursor widget as map element.

The cursor might act strange in the editor's play mode. This should go away as soon as you test it via Lunch.

Finetune the widget image by moving it in the upper left corner. If its size is 32x32 then use the half (16) for the X and Y positioning.

Note of warning: DPI scaling doesn't seem to affect the mouse cursor at all.

User Input

Key binding

Key binding

You can bind actions to key (or other inputs) by going into Project Settings > Engine > Input.

Multiple keys for one action are also possible.

Note how movements use a scale for allow for eventually different direction values.

Processing

Double check: Input like key presses shouldn't be consumed by a character because characters can be replaced while playing.

The logic should be stored inside a controller otherwise you have to duplicate a lot of code inside all the characters, not to mention to keep that code up to date.

Movement controls might live inside the character BP.

Player-specific controls like opening the help menu should be inside a controller.

• Create a new AI controller, name it something like OniPlayerController
• Select the character in the world outliner or viewport, Ctrl + E to open the BP
• Search for "Controller" and set the "AI Controller Class" to the new OniPlayerController
• Add logic to the player controller (see Pause game)

Ignore inputs and pause game

Pause game

Since F1 is used to switch into wireframe mode in UEditor, we will bind # to pause the game as we need the regular keys (any letter of the alphabet for the cheat code input).

Normally key inputs are ignored when the game is paused.

In order to unpause the game we need to set the key to "Execute when Paused [x]" in the details panel.

Theoretically a flipflop could be used to register the second key input but the game could have been paused by other means so it is better to use an variable here. Luckily Unreal provides just that as a boolean node.

To let the game behave like a typical game pause inputs for character move and look are ignored. This is actually redundant as the game is paused.

We can recycle those ignore nodes later for game menus that don't require the game to pause.

Cheat codes

Find longest cheat

Detect cheats

Unreal has a Cheat code class but that doesn't ship with cooked games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM_MPrEN7t8

Also, to detect combinations of keys pressed ("shapeshifter", "lifeforever", etc.) we would have to write our own code anyway.

Instead of detecting each key press individually we can use the Any key event and then get key names, mostly capitalized letters for standard alphabet characters.

The letters will be stored in a string which we will keep at a maximum length of the longest cheat. The string is then compared against an array of cheat codes.

The string is cleared as soon as a cheat is found. A case select a.k.a. switch node can handle the different cheat functions.

Carousel

Slow motion cheat "carousel"

Carousel uses the "Set Global Time Dilation" node and that's it.

Other games usually have a smooth transition from normal play speed to slowmotion and vice versa, but that is not the case for Oni.

If we really wanted to we could add a timeline node for a smooth transition.

Also, fast mode could probably be bundled with this function.

Character scaling

Behemoth function with scaling parameter (recycled for other character scalings)

This is basically one function with two free parameters, one for the scaling and one for the cheat name.

The central property in this code is the Actor Scale 3D for which we will set the scaling as following:

• minime (0.5)
• behemoth (2)
• godzilla (4)

For toggling we need some checking on what is active. Booleans can work but with more different scaling more booleans are needed.

Instead we use read the current "Actor Scale 3D" via "Get", break that vector to floats and compare the X one against of our new scaling float.

If the input has the same value we will reset the scale to 1, bringing the character back to normal size.

The second parameter for the cheat name is purely decorative, it is only for the status message.

Munitionfrenzy

Weapon cheat "munitionfrenzy"

Setting a variable to type object class

Creating an array of weapon classes requires to go into the side menu of the variable where you can chose between instances, classes, and soft references.

For RealOni we should better have the means to fill that array automatically.

The nodes for all the locations and rotations are meant to spawn the weapons in a circle whereby the player stands in the center.

Kangaroo

Jump cheat "kangaroo"

For higher jumps we need bigger values for the "Jump ZVelozity" node.

In Oni jumps have a jetpack timer: the longer the jump action the higher the character will be eventually.

That feature is very important for the "marypoppins" cheat.

Debugging

Live scripting

In Oni you can do some scripting with the developer console.

We probably should also allow to call functions and set some variables like ai2_chump and chr_debug_characters = 1.

This requires a user widget and a key binding which will be # + Alt by default.

The ^ sign is a bad choice as it is not consumed and will be added to the first character, making âi2_chump an invalid command.

The dev console will not require a cheat in order to activate it on key press. While developing this test it won't make sense to restrict its access.

The widget is created by the player controller and attached to the viewport.

Alt + # will toggle the visibility and makes the input box ready for typing.

The text box has a On Text Committed where inputs can be processed.

Clear Keyboard Focus on Commit was set to False in order to allow repetitive input.

Todo: Use = sign and spaces as separator and a select node to handle the different variables and functions.

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  Dev console (construction)

Sample functions and variables

ai2_chump

ai2_chump spawns a character, always face-to-face and 100 units away.

A better "chump" character is meant to implemented later, matching player's team id when ONCC component is done.

Also, the attached ai2_followme is not implemented yet.

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  Function ai2_chump

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  ai2_chump called from a custom dev console

Ingame menus

Text pages

Styles

Requirements for text pages with multiple styles:

• User widget (blueprint)
• Rich text block
• Data table (blueprint) with row structure "Rich Text Style Row"
• A new font file (if necessary)

Procedure:

• Add some default text to the rich text block
• Add a default row to the data table named "Default" and set the other defaults including the font
• Move and save rich text block in order to see changes
• Add more rows to the data table, those are the style
  • Row name equals tag name which can be used in the rich text block
  • Tags are to be used like HTML. This is a text in default style and <xeno30>this is a text in a style I named xeno30.</xeno30>

[YT tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msy7bRDpKF4]

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  User widget with rich text block

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  Data table for rich text block styles

Images in rich text block

These images can serve as inline images, being only as big as the default text.

Requirements:

• RichTextBlockImageDecorator (blueprint)
• Data table (blueprint) with row structure "Rich Image Row"

Procedure:

• Add images to that new data table
• Use image tags in rich text block as following: <img id="tagName"></>

Physics

Gravity

Objects

Set Simulate Physics and Enable Gravity

In blueprint of object > Viewport tab (while mesh is selected) > Properties panel > Physics tab

Set Simulate Physics and Enable Gravity with Blueprints nodes

Set Simulate Physics and Set Enable Gravity

If you disable Can Characters Step Up On via a Set node the object is still kickable.

These settings are interesting for pickup items such as powerups and weapons.

Table of content

We could make many tables but let's keep that number low. They will serve as milestones.

So if these are done we can say: "Yep, it's all possible." Cheats deal with levels, characters, AI, weapons, inventory, animations and particle. So it's a good overview.

Cheats

Cheat	Status	Notes
shapeshifter		needs data collection means
liveforever		needs health system
touchofdeath		needs health system
canttouchthis		needs anim/throw system
fatloot		needs inventory
glassworld		needs material system
winlevel		needs level management
loselevel		needs level management
bighead		needs character/anim system
minime	ok	RealOni imp.: adjust animation speeds based on char scale
superammo		needs weapon system
thedayismine		needs implementation of more debug features and char/weap cycling
reservoirdogs		needs AI system
roughjustice		needs weapon system
behemoth	ok	RealOni imp.: adjust animation speeds based on char scale
chenille		needs health, particle and daodan system
elderrune		needs health system
moonshadow		needs material management
munitionfrenzy	ok
fistsoflegend		needs anim system
killmequick		needs AI system
carousel	ok
bigbadboss		needs health and weapon system
buddha		needs health system
bulletproof		needs health and weapon system
kangaroo	ok
marypoppins		needs jetpack mechanics
shinobi		needs health, weapon, sound and AI system
godzilla	ok	RealOni imp.: adjust animation speeds based on char scale and could be extended to test destroyable furniture and buildings
test		reserved for current testing

Systems

Cheats	Status	Notes
Dev mode
Main Menu
Pause/help menu, diary and text pages
CJBO		CHAR CMBT CONS DOOR FLAG FURN MELE NEUT PART PATR PWRU TRGV TRIG TURR WEAP
Level objects and materials
Levels		Demo content Documentation Collisions Modular construction Level streaming?
Level management		Splashscreen handling Level load routine Savegames
Characters		ONCC component Difficulty upgrade (ONCV) Documentation Import Adjustments
AI		Perception Behaviour
Animations and H2H combat		Standing and special idle Running and evasion Jumping Crouching and sneaking Prone mode H2H collisions Blocks Standard attacks Mechanics for the 7 damage factor types Throws Variants Overlay anims Aiming
Particles		FX Behaviour (movements, attractors, physics) Damage Healing Function calling
Sounds
Impacts		Can and should this be centralized? (ONIE)
Cameras		3rd person view Free camera
Cinematics		BP logic FILM equivalent letterbox subtitles

Things that possibly need C++

• Permutation of soundtrack parts
• Fine-tuned jetpack mechanics