Rotten Apples

On day one, I studied the blueprint and tested out the gameplay. After a few references to troubleshoot the program, I found one that helped with distracting the enemy AI and done some changes and additions to the Player's Blueprint. It took about a week to get the blueprint to function properly with couple of interesting bugs. The first is the noise being made before the object hits the ground and the second is the rock bounce mid-air during the throw. It took about 2 or 3 days to notice there was an invisible collision block that was causing the noise and extra bounce, as I adjusted the arrow component that causes the object to be thrown. 

After the success of the mechanic, I moved on to creating a visual aid to the player indicating how far it will go, like lobbing a grenade into the air. This task took me a while to research on and figure out, many of the reference I found focus on third person instead of first person. I found one that educate me using a draw line as a debugger to test out the mechanic. Interestingly, it required me to redo the blueprint and create new components to an already created blueprint, but the result came in twofold. One, the mechanic was shooting at one direction, the 0 degree axis, not in front of the player. For example, if the player was at a 90 or a 180 degree axis, it would shoot either to the side or the back of the player. The debug would show the same results as the throwing mechanic. It took about a day to troubleshoot the issue. 

After completing the effectiveness of doing a debug line that would function the throw mechanic, next was creating a crosshair for the player to use to aim the rock. I started off with a white block material and using a new kind of blueprint I have never used at all with Unreal Engine. It was an interesting experience to learn and one I put a little extra effort on as visual aid is vital to the gameplay much like the mechanic itself. When I completed the blueprint and test out the gameplay, it felt a little off, as it was a giant white box blocking the player's camera asset and became too large for comfort. I looked up on possible crosshairs to use, one with a transparent background to aid me with solving the issue. 

I took time to examine the issue, restudy the video, and experiment on it for a day or two. The end result was a crosshair that does function, thou at times blink, either due to the timeline of the crosshair restarting or the blueprint being slightly out of date. After tinkering with the size, length, and number of the crosshair per appearance, I manage to get the throwing mechanic to function properly, having it appear similar to what some first person shooters would with grenade projectiles, making a noise upon contacting on the ground, and simulate a distraction for the AI to follow when it contact near them.

If there is one thing I would add in, it would be to have a color indication that would change if the player is targeting an AI and prevent the player from throwing it at the AI. The game heavily focuses on sealth, so this would add a little extra point of realism to their gameplay. Overall, it was an experience I enjoyed and one that helped me understand my interest in programing, imaginating, problem solving, and study.