Wipeout Postmortem

Postmortem

For our 4th game project, we were tasked with creating a physics based game, which meant a game that features physical interactions as a core mechanic. I had a lot of options,  but the physics-based game I decided to go with was Wipeout, and was done on an unreal engine.

Things I had trouble with(a lot)

Originally the game was going to be a 2.5D platformer where you have to get through the enemy Ai and reach the stages endpoint, and while it was going alright, midway I ran into an issue with setting up the enemy to follow the player, for some reason I had an issue with getting them to follow the character. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t really find a solution, so I decided to scrap the concept.

I decided to do my game on unreal because the software is a bit more streamlined and I had a lot of game type options to create in that software.

It also gave me the opportunity to develop my skills in Unreal and its blueprinting.

After the bug in my original side scroll game, I was going to go for a first person shooter game, and I was close to committing to that idea, but at the last minute I chose to do wipeout. I chose to do that game because it was still similar to the idea of the platformer game and it was also more physics-based with the use of rag-doll physics.

Another issue was with the re spawn feature. ideally the what was supposed to happen was that after the rag-doll sequence, the character was supposed to go re-spawns at the starting platform, and while it did do so, it was only the capsule shape appearing instead, I was still able to move it around (move, run, , jump), but there was no skeleton mesh to convey the actions. In order to solve this problem I had to add a re-spawn function with the click of a button.

I also expanded in that when you fall off the platform, you fail and the prompt to restart or quit appears. If you click restart, then the character spawns at the starting platform.

What worked well for the game were the obstacles and how conditions were applied to make the character rag-doll  if it’s touched. I do believe that the stage provides some level of challenge while also making it fun to play.

There were some pieces of cut content that did not make it into the final game, mainly just due to time constraints , for example, an  aesthetic that is associated with wipeout, the Big Red Balls platform,  originally that was going to be added but was cut for the sake of time, which probably was not the best idea because it would have added a lot more to the games fun factor.

Originally the stairs-like platforms at the end of the pitchfork obstacles were going to be moving and you’d have to jump from platform to platform with precision to reach the final podium.

In terms of the visuals , I decided this time to keep it simple so I opted to use the standard Unreal Mannequin body, and the stage I kept as a basic material, I was more focused on the game-play aspect and did not put Enough time into the visuals.

Overall I am happy with how the game turned out, but it was rushed, with the lack of stage variation, simplistic visuals and polishing that it could have used. I am happy that I was able to make an actual game on Unreal Engine and I look forward to developing my skills with the engine as I progress.