Total War Troy Development Blog

I found a character model that I liked that I could use to help demonstrate the different effects when hit by a sword, a character design with a set of metal armour. Once I had imported the character model, I started to figure out how to get the effect working, looking up some tutorials on how to use emitters and effects.

I found a tutorial that would work, getting used to getting it to emit a smoke effect just to learn and get to grips with it. I then looked around to figure out how to get the emitter to emit a spark effect that would be fit for metal hitting metal. I then found a tutorial that would work, following through the steps to get to the point that I had the effect working.

Once the effect was working, I started to edit the animation that I imported so that it wouldn’t go through the character model, and stop where it impacted the character model. Once I was satisfied with my game mechanic I started to write my report, doing some research on exactly what to write and also how to make the video to show my mechanic.

Having still not found any good animations I could use, I asked my tutor for any he would recommend, and he directed me to a website called Mixamo. I took a look on Mixamo, and found a sword swing animation that I liked. I downloaded the animation, and imported it into Unreal. Once the animation was imported, I then started to try to figure out how to get the sword to stick to the characters hand, using the sockets that my tutor had also told me about.

I then started to research on how to use the sockets, figuring it out after a little bit of research and added a socket to the hand of my character. I then used a sword prop that I wanted to use as the weapon my character would swing, but I couldn’t get it to attach to the socket, getting an error message everytime I tried. I then did some more research and realised that I needed to use an actor and then use the sword mesh on that actor to then allow me to attach it to the socket.

Once I attached the sword actor to the hand socket, I looked through Mixamo for an idle animation I could use on the character getting hit, since they were either t-posing, or had a hit animation that would never be in sync. I found one that I liked and imported it into Unreal, then positioned it in front of the swinging character.

Next I need to get a character model for the idle character, preferably one that would fit the genre and style used in Total War: Troy.

I then started to figure out how I could make the characters stand properly, and not just t-pose in the air. I used the animations that were pre-set into Unreal, but saw that they didn’t really fit the theme of Total War Troy, since the character looked like it was holding a rifle. I then searched through the Unreal Marketplace to find some animations and props I could use, finding a couple of free animations and a prop set that I could use.

Once I had the animations and props added into the project , I started to look through them to find one that I could use for a sword swing, but the animations being more for fist fighting. I did get a sword prop that I could use though, positioning it into the characters hand then trying to figure out how to attach it to the characters hand so that it stays in their hand while the character moves around, but couldn’t seem to find how to do that.

Once I added in the characters, I had troubles with getting them to stay where I wanted, them constantly falling through the world when I played the level. At first I thought this was because I had no floor for them to land on, so I added in a flat floor beneath them, but the same problem occurred.

I started to look around in the settings and properties for the characters to see what I could change to hopefully fix this. I came across multiple different settings that would fix this problem, but nothing seemed to fix it. Only one did, and that was disabling the gravity on the character but that then meant that the character would end up just floating in the air above the block instead.

After trying to figure out how to get the character to stop falling through the floor, I finally got them to stay still, but I didn’t actually figure out what I changed to fix this, not really changing much. Once the character would stay still, I then added another one, making them stand close together to allow one to hit the other.

While trying to figure out how to get this to work, I realised that the free roam camera that I had got working was slightly janky, not really working as intended so I decided to get rid of it entirely and just use the camera that you are given when you press play.

Once I found a tutorial online that would help me figure out how to make a free roam camera, I followed it through and used the guide to make the camera free roam. While following the tutorial through, it helped me get a better understanding of Unreal, one that I could use to properly make my game mechanic.

After I had gotten the free roam camera working, I then started to try to make the character in the game wander around the level so that I could then make another character hit that wandering character, but then in the end I decided that it would be easier and better to have one character standing still wile the other walks up and hits the still character. I chose to do this since it would easier to show the mechanic on a still unit, since I could better show the effects that come off the armour and character because of the sword hitting them.

Once I had put the characters into the level, I then tried to get a sword into the level, one that I could move around freely or attach to a character to then use to hit the still character that I will add some armour onto that I will then configure into different pieces so that when hit I can make different effects happen to each piece.

As I said in last weeks blog, I found that there wasn’t a blueprint to allow me to make the camera move freely while the character stayed still. After trying to figure out a way to do this with the camera editor and the code on the camera, I eventually hit a dead end, not knowing how to advance or what to do from there.

After hitting the dead end, I decide that I would do some research on how to make the camera move around by itself, it being independent of the character. Once I had done some more research, I went back and tried to get it to work properly with the help that I had looked at.

After making sure I had enough research based around the game and what I would need for the game mechanic, I started to learn and research Unreal, and how exactly to make it happen in Unreal. I started off by using the tour in Unreal to see what each section was about, then tried to have a mess around myself in Unreal, trying to see if i could figure out the tools and how to do what I wanted to before I dived into looking at some videos.

Once I had done what I could by myself, I searched on YouTube and the internet for some videos that could help me better understand Unreal and what it can do, the video showing me around some of the help materials on the Unreal website, and then showing me around Unreal, helping me better understand each section and what they could help me do. Once I had watched enough videos to help me better understand Unreal, I had another little play around, using the third person blueprint since Total War: Troy is a third person aerial game.

After loading up the third person blueprint, I tried to figure out a way to make the camera separate from the character, allowing the camera free roam while the character move, but couldn’t figure it out, so I ended up looking through the other blueprints, then found the top down blueprint.

Once i had loaded up the top down blueprint, I found that i ran into the same problem, not being able to move the camera separately from the character, controlling the character when i want to be controlling the camera. I will start to do some research on how to change this, letting me move the camera separately from the character while the character stands still to allow me to test the sword hits on them, after applying the models to them.

After been given the green light for my proposal, I started to collect some more research, such as what a metal sword hitting against metal would look like. I found that trying to find videos of this wasn’t the easiest,since most of the videos to do with this were only the sound of a sword hitting against metal, no actual videos, so in the end I decided that I would look for videos that showed people fighting with metal weapons, then have to just look close for the interactions between the armour and the swords.

While looking for these videos, I can upon a website where character models for the game Total War: Troy were posted, being able to use that in the future to export into Unreal when I need the models to hit for the mechanic and to also give me inspiration for what materials would need to be thought about and made for the mechanic.

This is my week one blog for the development of my game mechanic for the Total War: Troy, where I will be showing the development process that I went through to come up with my idea for a game mechanic.

When I was tasked with making something for the game, Total War: Troy, I instantly knew that I wanted to do a game mechanic, since I’m hoping to get a career in game design in the future. When I was thinking about what kind of game mechanic to do, my lecturer had mentioned a mechanic where based on what a flaming arrow hits, there would be a different effect, such as the fire going out if it went into water. After hearing this, I got the idea to make a mechanic where based on where a metal sword hit on a enemy, a different effect would show, such as metal sparks when it hits metal armour, and more, which I have detailed in my proposal.

When making my proposal, I first went and researched the game, since I had never heard of the game before. While doing some research, I found multiple images that showed the types of armour and clothing that the units wear, helping me get a sense of what types of materials I would need to think about and how a metal sword hitting against them would react and what effect would occur.

After I had done and gathered some research, I started to write up my proposal, detailing what I wanted to do as a game mechanic, and the details of each different material I was thinking of. I added in multiple pictures, the  ones that showed the types of armour and clothing that is worn, to help show what types of materials I would be working with.