August 24 2025 Launchpad Minigame

Hello!

Hello! This is the first update for a stealth game I am making as part of my Game Design 1 class. The game was started by Brian Foster and will be modified by myself as the semester continues. In this update I added a couple of variations of launchpads and a new door that is animated to open instead of being destroyed when the player opens it. I then created a small minigame, in which the player is tasked with finding and unlocking the door, that utilizes the added launchpads and animated door. 

Launchpads

The launchpads I created launch the player into the air after the player walks over the platform. The first variation launches the player a short distance. This is done by creating a small platform and adding a box collision. Then I created an event for when the player begins to overlap with the box collision to launch the player. I set the launch velocity to be 1,000. I found this to be enough to allow the player to jump about twice the normal jump.  This launchpad is useful for allowing the player to jump a bit higher than normal while still allowing for control over when the ability is used.

The second variation allows the player to jump a much larger distance. It was  created a a duplicate of the smaller launchpad. I then tweaked the launch velocity value to 2,000. This was enough to allow the player to jump to the highest platform created in the minigame. This launchpad is useful when a level needs a quick way for the player to reach the top of a tall platform. 

Animated Door

I added a new door blueprint which allows the door to open and stay open after the player unlocks it. This was done by creating a duplicate of the door blueprint and removing the destroy actor node at the end. This node was then replaced with a timeline and a move component to node which allowed the door to be opened away from the player in a smooth way.  This improvement makes the door feel more realistic. 

This update was a good refresher on using Unreal Engine after my break over the summer. I am still trying to relearn the controls but this has definitely given me some good practice. In the future I hope to add more improvements like the animated door as well as some new features that could be used in future levels.