What I’ve Been Working On: Over the past week, I’ve focused on laying the groundwork for my “megadungeon” project in Unreal Engine 5. My aim is to create a procedural dungeon reminiscent of classic TTRPG complexes, something sprawling, layered, and full of opportunities for emergent gameplay. To get comfortable with UE5’s procedural content generation tools, I started by building out a procedural forest environment, scattering grass, bushes, and trees across rolling hills.
A “fun” challenge popped up when I ran into the infamous Texture Streaming Pool error as my terrain got more complex. Diagnosing that issue taught me a lot about optimizing textures and memory settings for large environments, a skill I know I’ll need as the project scales.
On the character side, I’ve built a modern explorer character to navigate the ruins. Basic movement (walk, run, jump, crouch) and animation blueprints are functional. It’s satisfying seeing the player controller come together, and it’s a good test bed for dungeon traversal mechanics down the road.
Artwise, I had a productive meeting with Erica Henderson, the artist working with me – she’s a Veteran too(Air Force, but I won’t hold that against her lol). She’s put together a really evocative style board, it walks a line between pulp adventure and eldritch decay, which is exactly the vibe I’m after.
Current Status: With the foundation laid, I’m starting on structural dungeon generation, aiming to get a first pass of the “megadungeon” ready over the next week or so.
Next Steps: Short term, my goal is to get a functional dungeon prototype up and running, complete with entry/exits, room layouts, and basic obstacles, enough to get early playtest feedback on layout and flow. Once that works, I’ll iterate based on feedback and start layering in gameplay systems.
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