Hello Everybody,
In the past couple of weeks we have been busy with the creation of the first buildable robotic structure in Eden Star – the turret. This is neither a reveal nor news. What I want to tell you about is the journey of its implementation. It might seem that, since we already have the building system in place, all that’s left is to equip them with ammo and send them on their merry murderous way, right? Well, wrong. I SAID WRONG, SIR!
It just so happens that the prototyping of the turret’s functionality in UE4 alongside the tech demo implementation was up to me and so other developers and I have stumbled upon some challenges along the way.
The biggest challenge with AI, as expected, is preventing it from turning against its creator. Turrets tend to be simple-minded and the concept of friends and enemies can be quite daunting for them at times. Yes, we experienced surprise gunfire, not only against the player, Eden Kit, and other turrets, but we also had some turrets targeting their own bullets… yeah…stoooopid turret.
Another conundrum that needed solving was the construction on less-than-optimal terrain. Turrets built on destructible rocks would hover in mid-air if the rock got destroyed and for a time the MATA-Tool had no problem materialising them high up above the ground as long as they touched a wall with at least 1 pixel.
Nothing, however, beats fun with vector maths when your rotators go wrong. The turret is a naturally spinny creature, which is required for all-around protection of the Eden Kit. That is bound to cause problems and we have indeed encountered turrets spinning uncontrollably in place for no reason, firing out their… back panels, and some even being capable of rotating to lock on their target faster than light. You can imagine it was essential for us to make sure turrets give you a fighting chance, if they, despite our best efforts, rebel against you. To keep this from happening ensure plenty of power supply and fresh minerals, but just in case, the emergency button is placed conveniently by the gun barrel. Good luck!
Yours truly,
Marcin