Thundershield FPS Prototype

Thundershield is a personal project that I made to explore the conception of some of the game mechanics from Escape from Tarkov.

The objectives

Explore the trauma system from Escape from Tarkov

Create a Trauma system in Unreal 4

Create a gun fire and reload mechanics

Create the movement mechanics

Create a simple AI

THE DAMAGE MECHANICS

For the damage system, I separate the player body into different sections. Each section has its own health pool and creates a different trauma to the player when he is damaged.

Collision setup in unreal 4 each one of them is associated with a section of the body and when they are hit the health pool from the section is reduced by the damage taken and the associated trauma effect trigger.

Here is an example of the player taking damage to the arms

Here is an example of the player taking damage to the chest

Here is an example of the player taking damage to the legs

RECOIL FIRE AND RELOAD

For the gun recoil at first, I was moving the Pitch input value to a negative value directly. It did the job but it was too stiff. I decide to add a timeline and it is now more smooth and it feels better. It is not perfect yet the next step would be to replace the gun where it was before the recoil.

HITSCAN VS PROJECTILE

For this gun, I use a hitscan system as it is not a long-ranged weapon I do not see how a bullet system could add more to the gun. If in the future I make a long-ranged weapon it can be useful to have a bullet system that takes gravity and wind into consideration but for now, I only use 1 type of weapon.

I have set up a raycast system that fires from the player center camera and another camera that is placed on the reflex scope of the gun. When the player is aiming it fire from the reflex camera and when he is not aiming its fire from the player camera.

LEANING MECHANICS

Leaning is pretty interesting in realistic FPS it creates some situation where you have to risk to peek around a corner and expose your head to get a surprise attack on the enemy.

SIMPLE AI

Here is a simple AI that I create when he sees the player he search for cover and hide behind it and he stands up and starts firing and when he reloads he hides again.