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Glutton Runner

I started to code by doing games with Unreal Engine 4. For my first game (and only one sadly), I decided to go with something not to complex and chose to do an endless runner like Subway Surfers. It turned out to be more complicated than I thought
I started to code by doing games with Unreal Engine 4. For my first game (and only one sadly), I decided to go with something not to complex and chose to do an endless runner like Subway Surfers. It turned out to be more complicated than I thought

Table of contents


A bit of context

In 2018, I discovered programming with the Unreal Engine 4. I wasn’t really writing code (I mean not C++) but I was using blueprints, a visual scripting system that allowed me the same than writing code.

Unreal Enfine 4 blueprints

(Source: Unreal Engine 4 documentation)

At the time, I didn’t understand the principle of functions so there was duplicated code everywhere, it wasn’t great. But still, I was able to write games.

I don’t remember a lot of things about developing Glutton Runner 4 years ago, so I’ll make my best to find interesting things to talk about.

The game

The game is an endless runner like Subway Surfers. Seems pretty easy but it wasn’t, at least with my level at the time. I faced several challenges during its development:

Challenges

Target

First of all, I wanted to make a mobile game using Unreal Engine 4. I think it wasn’t quite ready for that at the time, Unity would have been a much better choice.

Moreover, I developed the game on desktop so it was definitely not mobile friendly nor optimized for mobile. I had to rework a lot of stuff.

Performances

I wasn’t a 3D modeler so I used a free pack on the Unreal Engine marketplace which was POLYGON - City pack from Synty Studios. It’s a low poly city with a lot of assets but I wonder if it was optimized enough for mobile.

In order to fix the performance issues, I unloaded any tiles (basically, the game is about going through modules of assets like a bridge, a town etc) too far from the player. I also added a fog (a sphere around the player with a grey texture) to load the tiles as late as possible. I also added a shader to make the view rounded and hide upcoming fog as much as possible.

I also manually worked on LODs (Level Of Detail) in order not to show too many polygons if not needed.

Wrapping up

That was definitely an interesting project and a great introduction to programming.

Type
Game
Technologies
UE4

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Florian
LEFEBVRE
French self-taught fullstack developer.

© 2022 Florian LEFEBVRE. All rights reserved.

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