I was working on another game but I am now working on Isles of Adalar again. I am incorporating everything I learned from working on that game. I am using the opportunity of porting to Unreal Engine 5 to rethink everything. I have spent way too much effort on the level editor. I still am going to support mods but now it is through JSON files. All the data is in JSON files and scripting is done through LUA instead of the in- game level editor. I am trying to focus on the gameplay. I wrote a design document and I think I have what I want in the first island planned out as well as the game mechanics. It will be awhile before I upload the new version, I want it to be playable.
I wanted to show my progress. I have been concentrating on building up the UI as well as the character creation system and quests.
This shows the new character screen. I am trying to standardize everything. I am using metahuman models. Any metahuman model can be used which will allow the addition of new metahuman models through mods.
Here is a close up. Since the rig is metahuman (tal normal weight) any clothes/armor rigged to that can be added through mods. Only human characters are supported right now. The hope is in the future to add different races but that will be a ways off.
Male and Female supported. Not many variations yet but I can add more later.
Showing the background tab. Here you can select the class and subclass. Each subclass has its own starting stats and set of skills that the character starts with. The plan is you get a stat point to use and you can learn a new skill every level. Stats determine what skills you can learn.
I have the inventory system working. You can equip/unequip weapons and armor.
You can filter the inventory based on item type
Containers are working. You can take and place items.
Doors are working. You can open and close doors. Still need to implement picking locks and using keys
You can harvest materials to use for crafting. Some materials will require a certain tool and/or a certain skill to be harvested.
You can find crafting stations that will allow you to craft different types of items.
If you have the skill to craft a recipe and the recipe is of a type that matches the crafting station then they will appear in the list. You can craft items if you have the required materials.
I have only the first person view working right now but Unreal has a full featured 3rd person controller (as well as first person) that I can use. Still a lot of animations to hook up.
Monsters need a lot of work but Unreal has a very nice AI system that I can use, instead of having to write one from scratch, again....
This shows the JSON file for configuring and adding recipes. The crafting station reads this JSON file to determine what you can craft. You will be able to add additional JSON data in mods to add your own recipes, items, etc.
This shows the JSON that sets up the conversation.
This shows the LUA code that can be called. Still a lot to do but LUA code will be used for conversations (determining what options and nodes can be seen, actions that occur), and quests. Also interactable objects and triggers.
This shows the JSON file that determines what is in a chest. Right now you can specify specific items but in the future you will be able to randomly spawn items to be in a container.
The way JSON information is associated with objects in a level are through Unreal's tag system. For this NPC it has a tag for the type of Object it is (in this case it support conversations) and the ID of the object. You start the with ID_ (to avoid conflicts with other tags you might use) but the game strips off the ID_ to match with the object in the JSON files.
The idea of this system is that if you want to make a new island you can use Unreal's free and extremely powerful editor (5.3). Then you add your JSON and LUA code and link it through tags that you place on objects in your scene. This is the way I am doing it so users can do the same thing.
I worked a lot on the editor for Isles of Adalar but it was too much, to make an in-game editor and work on the game so now I am offloading that work onto Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine has a new Procedurally Generated Content (PCG) system which is a better version of the procedural content generation I created in Isles of Adalar, so that takes away the biggest reason I needed an in-game editor. You could not easily generate an island (at least without buying some assets from the unity asset store). PCG is included for free in the Unreal engine. Also I can standardize on the much better looking metahuman models so that it is easy for modders to add their own. The Unity version of Isles of Adalar is based on a custom rig. You cannot map animations to that rig through mecanim but it is pretty easy to map almost any animation to the metahuman rig.
I have to have a full-time job to pay the bills so I will be working on this in my free time so progress will be slower than I would like, but my plan is try to finish the game that you paid for and deserve.
Kevin