Development Update March 2023
Hello everyone!
A couple of months have passed and it's time for yet another update on Mall Craze!
As I mentioned in previous updates, I'm now rewriting the whole game in a new engine - Unreal Engine 5. I am also rewriting the game from Blueprints to C++. I went through all the reasons in previous updates, and today I would like to focus mainly on the progress I've made over the last couple of months.
Basically remaking the whole game from the grounds up is not an easy task, and only by doing it I realised how much work it actually is. The first few months were the hardest as I was transitioning to C++ and I was laying down the game's code foundations.
It was hard for me to come up with some structure or a theme for this update, so I've decided to just walk you through some screenshots as I'm slowly building up the game once again.
[h2]January[/h2]
I mentioned the need to transition from Blueprints to C++ for the first time in May 2022, but I actually started to work on this new version only in January this year. Most of the time in between was spent with me re-learning C++, getting familiar with Unreal's C++ quirks and working on the Demo.
January 12. This is the first screenshot from Unreal Engine 5 version of Mall Craze. This scene was generated from a save file where I randomly generated positions of 10'000 trees. This time I added a first version of save/load system right away. Can't make the same mistake twice :)
January 14. Added a few more models into the game to test a new rendering feature - Global Illumination. You know what? Let's talk about this topic straight away.
[h2]Graphical Improvements[/h2]
Switching to UE5 brings a great opportunity to further improve on game's visuals. One such improvement is Unreal's new Global Illumination and Reflection system called Lumen. I think that I don't have to explain reflections, but Global Illumination (GI) in a nutshell - GI adds more realistic lighting by calculating light as it is bouncing from surface to surface, illuminating and coloring places not directly accessible by light.
These two improvements brought the whole scene to life and it is something that I will be implementing into the game from now on.
March 1. Global Illumination and Reflections in action.
[h2]Shop and Mall building mechanics[/h2]
If you played the pre-alpha demo. you probably found out that the way you build shop walls, entrances and windows is different from the way you build mall walls, entrances and windows. I was pretty happy with the current iteration of shop building (and according to your feedback, most of you were too), but the way you build mall walls, entrances and windows was lackluster at best.
This will change. The way you build mall will now share most of it's mechanics from the way you build shops. Meaning that you will "draw" the area to build walls, and entrances and windows will now automatically snap to those walls.
March 14. Me trying to make wall corner pieces spawn at the correct place.
March 14. Shops can now share walls with each other with less graphical glitches.
Each color represents a different shop.
When will you be able to try out this new version? My main goal is to bring this version at least to the same level of content/features as the old one before the next Steam Next Fest, which takes place in June. That's roughly 3 months from today. Until then, there is still a lot of things to do, so I should get back to it right away! :)
Thank you everyone for your support, and take care!
- Milan, developer
A couple of months have passed and it's time for yet another update on Mall Craze!
Unreal Engine 5
As I mentioned in previous updates, I'm now rewriting the whole game in a new engine - Unreal Engine 5. I am also rewriting the game from Blueprints to C++. I went through all the reasons in previous updates, and today I would like to focus mainly on the progress I've made over the last couple of months.
Basically remaking the whole game from the grounds up is not an easy task, and only by doing it I realised how much work it actually is. The first few months were the hardest as I was transitioning to C++ and I was laying down the game's code foundations.
It was hard for me to come up with some structure or a theme for this update, so I've decided to just walk you through some screenshots as I'm slowly building up the game once again.
[h2]January[/h2]
I mentioned the need to transition from Blueprints to C++ for the first time in May 2022, but I actually started to work on this new version only in January this year. Most of the time in between was spent with me re-learning C++, getting familiar with Unreal's C++ quirks and working on the Demo.
January 12. This is the first screenshot from Unreal Engine 5 version of Mall Craze. This scene was generated from a save file where I randomly generated positions of 10'000 trees. This time I added a first version of save/load system right away. Can't make the same mistake twice :)
January 14. Added a few more models into the game to test a new rendering feature - Global Illumination. You know what? Let's talk about this topic straight away.
[h2]Graphical Improvements[/h2]
Switching to UE5 brings a great opportunity to further improve on game's visuals. One such improvement is Unreal's new Global Illumination and Reflection system called Lumen. I think that I don't have to explain reflections, but Global Illumination (GI) in a nutshell - GI adds more realistic lighting by calculating light as it is bouncing from surface to surface, illuminating and coloring places not directly accessible by light.
These two improvements brought the whole scene to life and it is something that I will be implementing into the game from now on.
March 1. Global Illumination and Reflections in action.
[h2]Shop and Mall building mechanics[/h2]
If you played the pre-alpha demo. you probably found out that the way you build shop walls, entrances and windows is different from the way you build mall walls, entrances and windows. I was pretty happy with the current iteration of shop building (and according to your feedback, most of you were too), but the way you build mall walls, entrances and windows was lackluster at best.
This will change. The way you build mall will now share most of it's mechanics from the way you build shops. Meaning that you will "draw" the area to build walls, and entrances and windows will now automatically snap to those walls.
March 14. Me trying to make wall corner pieces spawn at the correct place.
March 14. Shops can now share walls with each other with less graphical glitches.
Each color represents a different shop.
Looking forward
When will you be able to try out this new version? My main goal is to bring this version at least to the same level of content/features as the old one before the next Steam Next Fest, which takes place in June. That's roughly 3 months from today. Until then, there is still a lot of things to do, so I should get back to it right away! :)
Thank you everyone for your support, and take care!
- Milan, developer