Seafeud
Unreal Engine 5
Project Overview
Engine: Unreal 5.1
Platform: PC
Development Time: 4 Months
Team Size: 46 people
Seafeud is a 3D arcade racing game on steam, were players race on giant fish through sunken cities. The player can find pickups to switch change their stats as they take sharp turns, avoid obstacles, and take out other players in hectic races.
My Role
-
Making the turns smoother for the Sea-nic drive track
-
Put collision blockers around the track for the Sea-nic drive track
-
Designing and implementing the Canyon track
Design Goals - Sea-nic Drive
Goal 1: Smoother Terrain
The first task I was given was to smooth out any terrain that cause the player to bounce off the track. Using the terrain, I had to find the right balance between making it smooth with the road while making it distinct to make it feel offroad.
Goal 2: Refine the Barriers
Because of how much verticality changes within the track, I made it my goal to add collision blockers to every major turn so that the player wouldn't fall out of the map.
The 2nd biggest problem was the first shortcut under the Tori gates. Because of the pillars it was easy for the player to bump into each pillar if they were on the side. Collision volumes were added between every pillar on both sides to create seamless racing experience.
Goal 3: Creating the Preview
Because I had some prior experience in unreal engine sequencer and film classes I created the preview for the track.
The requirement for the sequence was to highlight in 12 a major part of the track, an overhead shot, and end on the starting position.
One of the highlights of Sea-nic drive is the broken bridges that branches off between a lower and upper path. To simulate this to the camera begins slow and zooms forward as it goes along the primary path, but also showcases the upper path to the right through the jump pad.
For the 2nd shot I was wanting to highlight the track's central landmarks between the Ferris wheel, the overlapping roads, and the 3 way split. As these were all unique features to Sea-nic Drive.
The final shot was also meant to reinforce the park theme of Sea-nic Drive, which is why it begins zoomed in on a fish seesaw ride.
Track Design - Canyon
The initial design process for the Canyon track went pretty smoothly, as we had a strong desire to create a track with a steep incline, a lot of turns, and memorable set pieces.
Me and three other designers drew out an initial track design that could be broken down into 4 sections.
1. The Slaloms - I researched ski slopes to emulate the feeling of going fast down a sharp incline, while still keeping control. This was done by creating a series of straight paths that lead into sharp turns.
2. Turbine Tunnel - Keeping the player on edge, one of our designers had the idea of the player driving through a straight away tunnel while dodging propellor blades.
3. Three way split - to force the players to split up at the straight away. We made ours different by having the middle launch the player into the air, the left being wider but having guarantied speed boost, and the right side giving items.
4. The End Point - To get the player back were they started the player would be launched up and make a sharp U-turn to get back to the starting line.
The track is raceable but due to production issues we had to cut the track as it wasn't feasible with the development resources at our disposal.
Track Implementation - Canyon
As a group we decided to separate the work between the 4 of us using Unreal Engine's sublevels. I offered to do the slalom as I was familiar with the track mesh editor and had the confidence to implement the steep inclines.
Once the 4 of us made our section we merged them into one sublevel and had a drivable track for the first build.
Problems occurred when we realized the slope was too steep and that the turns were to sharp. I tried my best to make the turns as smooth as possible while keeping the sharp incline, but after days of messing with this I realized the best solution was to raise the incline.
While the slaloms were fixed, issues with productions caused the project to be downscaled and Canyon ultimately got cut.
Post Mortem
What Went Well
Collaborative Process
I joined the Sea-nic drive team late into development, so I made it my goal early on to get to know everyone's existing roles/specialties and figure out what I could add to the team. The team was open to me editing their existing work in order to make the track better for launch.
Making edits to the Sea-nic Drive Track
When I joined the track was in a mostly finished state, however there were things that needed polishing, I made it my goal to add collision barriers to every side of the course in order to create a smooth racing experience.
What Went Wrong
Poor Communication - Canyon and Sea-nic Drive
While the overall team process went well the, we did suffer from misinterpretation and not keeping everyone up to date. At times I would come back to find a lot of my work deleted and wasn't told why until after the fact. My team didn't run into major issues but it did result in lost time and work.
Not Making Changes Faster - Canyon Track
One of the reasons the Canyon track was cut, was because there various issues that weren't getting fixed. For the slolems, I ended up making them to steep causing the road to be hard to see.
What I Learned
Taking risk on a group project
On the Canyon team, I was hesitant to make changes as I thought it would cause issues for everybody else.
Don't be afraid to cut early
For the Canyon track, there were various features that weren't functioning properly. While it would've meant more work I should have suggested cutting certain features early on in order to get the track finished.
Gallery
