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KYLE KOTOVSKY
Mirage Escape
Role:
Solo Developer
Date:
May-June 2024
Engine:
Unreal Engine 5.4.2
Genre:
First-person adventure
Description:​
A short game that I created on my own for a summer Unreal Engine class with the focus on digging deep into 2 Unreal features of our choosing. I chose Cinematics and Vehicles and made a game to show off what I had learned with a focus on visual fidelity.
My Contributions:
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Utilizing UE Blueprints, Landscape Tool, Landscape Materials, Chaos Vehicles, Animation Montages, and Behavior Trees to create a level based with post apocalyptic and futuristic military theming.
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Creating an environment supporting a transition from the player traversing on foot, to a race against the clock in a vehicle.
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Sourcing, crediting, and adding sound effects, static meshes, character models, and animations.
Gameplay
Creating the initial level
The level for Mirage Escape went through an interesting process as it was full of a lot of firsts for me. It was the first time I had created a level that needed to have high fidelity due to a focus on cinematics. It also needed to be traversed with a vehicle, which I have never had to design a level for, making the level gameplay challenge as well.
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
The beginning of the level starts with the player being on foot, but I knew going into the project that I was going to implement a vehicle, so I themed my project to be somewhere between Mad Max and generic dusty vehicular apocalypse.
Since I knew I was going to be implementing a vehicle, this meant that I needed to also put an early focus on sound design. If I put sound on the backburner, I would have most likely forgotten about it entirely. If my car had no sound, it wouldn't be right.​
Adding the vehicle section
To transition the player to the vehicle section, the idea from the start was to have them drive off a massive ramp to come crashing down on the other side.
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Once I was done with the opening section of the map, I worked on the vehicle section slowly by adding more sections until the length and variety of obstacles felt right. With this being the first time I had ever made a level specifically for vehicle movement, trial and error were the best way for me to determine what felt right.
Each section of the vehicle level was added in sequence and mostly involved trial and error to fine tune to make sure the level is actually completable and reasonably easy to play.
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
I was rather limited with time so I could not make new features inside the vehicle area, so I took advantage of the UE Landscaping tool to do most of the work for me. Creating sand dunes and a massive pit as obstacles in the path the player needs to follow to escape.
With the cherry on top being the Spaceship at the end of the level which the player needs to reach to succeed. If the played doesn't reach it before the timer ends, it explodes, making the player restart.
The Car
I used one of the two base car Blueprints that come with the vehicle starter kit. I decided to use the Offroad Car as it fit thematically and finding my own asset was not an option due to the requirements a mesh needs in order to work with the Unreal Chaos Vehicles system.
Car Thruster
The first trap I made was very simple. It is just a simple collection of spiked sticks with a collider that deals a lethal amount of damage to instantly kill the player.
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Car Quality of Life Improvements
An interaction system so the player can enter and exit the car freely. An RPM UI element so the player knows how fast they are going inside of the car. Added camera movement to make give the higher speeds of the car feel more impactful.​​​
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Tire Tracks
This was a last minute addition that I wanted to add as I felt that the vehicle did not feel that grounded in the world. The way I went about doing it is rather crude, I will admit, but it was the best solution I could come up with. If I were to make it better I would look into UE Landscape deformation with things like mud or snow to see if I can do something similar with sand.​
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
Click the image to see it at full resolution
If I had more time with this project I would have liked to improve the car's movement. The car has a problem where it can spin out very easily when going at high speeds and all of the solutions that I could find did not work. There is just unfortunately not too much online that I could find to fix the issue, I might have found a solution if I spend more time with it.