The depth of Unreal's blueprint system amazed me, with how there seemed to be a blueprint node for just about anything. I was drawing parallels between Unity's C# scripting and the blueprint system, which helped a lot with figuring out the necessary logic for checking for nearby players or executing player inputs using Unreal's input mapping contexts. At first we wanted to have the pilot running around to different stations, controlling the different functionalities of the balloon. I quickly found out that maintaining the player's local position in the balloon while it moves through the sky was not possible. I pivoted to a control scheme where the pilot could orchestrate the wheel and the harpoon guns from where they were. In a sense, the player was the balloon. I also designed and blueprinted the AI state logic using Unreal's blackboard system. The behavior tree made understanding the flow of my AI enemies decision making much more apparent. I loved all the dropdown options for priority of tasks. This project served as a great introduction to Unreal 5's workflow and systems, and I can't wait to utilize C++ scripting in conjunction with blueprints later on.

What I worked on for this project is:

• Unreal Engine 5 Blueprints for core gameplay mechanics

• AI Blackboard and Behavior Tree

• Project Management and Agile Workflow using Github