#the door problem

[merrikstryfe]

Game design is one of those nebulous terms to people outside the game industry that’s about as clear as the “astrophysicist” job title is to me. It’s also my job, so I find myself explaining what game design means to a lot of people from different backgrounds, some of whom don’t know anything about games.

[nicolahynesart]

The Door Problem: XB2001

(5/5)

Final Scene

Here’s a short clip of my basic scene and my initial top-down plan sketch.

[nicolahynesart]

The Door Problem: XB2001

(4/5)

Line Trace Interaction

To be able to start using doors and picking up items, I need to have a line trace action to allow the player to interact with objects via a button, in this case the keyboard letter “E”.

Here’s how I did it:

In the project, go to  Edit>Project Settings This will bring up the above window. Here we can add in a new Input for the keyboard letter “E”.

First Person Character BP

Image showing a line trace for the E interact key

[spewagepipe]

Can’t remember where I first heard about the Door Problem, or even if it was “The Door Problem” or just some similar example of a single, seemingly non-existent design choice that nevertheless involves tons of complicated decisions – but if you’ve never heard of it, this is a quick read and potentially a big eye-opener. Unless you don’t care about game design... but surely there’s not enough other content on Spewage Pipe for you to follow me otherwise?

[tz-researchlinks-blog]

"Game design is one of those nebulous terms to people outside the game industry that’s about as clear as the “astrophysicist” job title is to me. It’s also my job, so I find myself explaining what game design means to a lot of people from different backgrounds, some of whom don’t know anything about games." - Liz England