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Jacob Lawrence's Portfolio

Game Design

Unreal engine

My first time using unreal engine

This was my first time ever using Unreal Engine. I've used game engines like 'Roblox Studio' before, so I had a very basic understanding of the basic mechanics, like the move and expand tool, etc. The coding system was completely new to me; I've never seen anything like it before, so it was a bit overwhelming when looking at it for the first time. I had to watch some tutorial videos about how it works. It's no longer daunting now, and I have a very basic understanding of how it all works.

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These blueprints are code for a working button and door that I made in Unreal Engine. The code awaits a specific input (in this case, pressing E when near the button), and the code will receive that input, and tells the door what position to move too, which is outside the level, making it seem like the door has opened.

Jacob Video Still Unreal

Click to view video on YouTube

Level design

Level design

Level design in geometry dash

This is an example of a level I made inside of a game that has a built in level editor. It looks simple at first, but it's actually more in depth that you may think. 

You have to use 'triggers' (which is basically a form of coding) and you have to specify what the triggers have to do, whether that be pulsing the background a different colour, or moving objects to a certain location within a given time frame.

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The level editor can be complicated if you are not careful. It's not just trigger work you have to build. It's the block design, making sure the level looks nice, the layout of the level, which you have to test multiple times to make sure it is fair and it works.

You also have to add decoration, which is not easy to do.

My level uses multiple songs, so when the song switches, I have to make sure it is on beat, otherwise the level will sound a bit weird. Everything to the tiniest details has to be accounted for, and if you forget to even turn on collision in some blocks, or the trigger work is wrong, then your whole level could be ruined.

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Click to view part of the level