Now that HIVEMIND is a complete project, we wanted to offer you a small insight into what we learned from the project. Additionally, you will find a changelog for the latest version at the bottom. If you haven't seen our trailer yet, you can see it right above this!

Art

Not only programming and gameplay-wise our project went through a lot of changes, but also on the art side we faced some hurdles we had to overcome. The project started off as the aliens invading a dark building, where they should find their UFO, kill some guards and plan their escape.

Initial ver. & Release ver.

We all felt like both the environment and the aliens had a bit too much of a sinister look to them, so we ended up with our current, kind of goofy mood. We started off by tackling the biggest and most important meshes and props, as well as the level layout. At that point we had a better view of where the project was going and we all agreed we wanted to take it into that direction. 

Some meshes and level decoration later and the project nicely came together. Making sure we had enough modularity in our assets we were able to decorate a relatively big level for the scope of the project, and thus creating HIVEMIND!

The first layout concept & the release map -- some concept areas actually more or less made it into the final version!

Programming

HIVEMIND was actually the first real project where we used Unreal C++ as much as possible. We quickly learned it is a beast of its own, often requiring patience when iterating over gameplay mechanics for example.

The Unreal coding standards and other official resources gave us a quick idea of how to approach things and while the Unreal C++ documentation often came in handy in the beginning, we sometimes faced more obscure issues or had to use some barely documented functionality, but we managed to pull through every time so it wasn't too much of an issue.

Our project makes heavy use of Unreal's AI features, Apex Destruction, the Algo library, data tables and custom plugins among a bunch of other things, so we had to learn a lot in as little time as possible! If you're planning to learn Unreal C++, the official Unreal channel has some nice tutorial videos you can follow, for example: Unreal C++ Playlist

Changelog for new updates

• 1.01:
  • Fixed a rare bug where the music would cut out due to audio channel limitations
  • Removed a particle effect that was visible in the map, even though it shouldn't have been
• 1.00:
  • Alien icon pops up above the head of downed aliens for better clarity
  • Added sounds for wood/concrete destruction
  • Added alien footstep sounds
  • Added alarm sound when escape phase starts
  • Improved lobby screen slightly
  • Some optimisation changes