Category: Portfolio

What I’ve Been Working On:

Over the past few days, my focus has been on adding polish and variety to the project. Following up on last week’s work, I’ve now implemented a basic options menu. From here, players can control master volume, change their screen resolution, and adjust key graphical settings like texture and shadow quality. To improve the game’s presentation, I also designed and added a new logo and title, “Mega Dungeon,” to the main menu. Additionally, I’ve implemented “Easy,” “Medium,” and “Hard” difficulty settings, which directly control the size of the dungeon by setting the number of rooms to 20, 40, or 100, respectively.

The biggest update, however, is to the dungeon generation itself. I’ve introduced a new category of “special rooms” that have a much lower chance of appearing. The system is currently set to spawn one special room for every ten regular rooms, which helps break up the pacing and adds rare points of interest for the player to discover. This special list includes unique set pieces like the Cthulhu statue chamber, a new smaller monster statue room, staircases, and environmental storytelling rooms like one with a collapsed exit blocked by rubble.

Current Status:

The game now features a complete menu flow with a functional options menu and difficulty settings. The main menu has a polished title/logo. The dungeon generator is significantly more varied, using a weighted system to mix rare, unique rooms in with the standard layouts.

Next Steps:

With the options menu functional, my next technical task is to make those settings persistent, so the game remembers a player’s choices between sessions. After that, I plan to start adding unique gameplay interactions to the new special rooms to make their discovery even more meaningful for the player.

What I’ve Been Working On:

This week was all about adding crucial layers of immersion and functionality through audio design and core menu systems. I implemented a full suite of sounds to bring the world to life, including footstep audio for walking and running, jumping sounds, and a layer of creepy ambient music to build tension. The system is also dynamic, with the music changing when the player enters specific locations within the dungeon.

On the systems side, I’ve added a much-needed pause feature, complete with a functional pause menu, as well as the main menu for when the game first starts. Finally, I spent some time fine-tuning the dungeon generation algorithm. Adding the textured assets last week revealed some minor room connection and overlap issues that weren’t visible with the simple blockout shapes, so I’ve been working to resolve those.

Current Status:

The game now has a solid audio foundation that dramatically improves the atmosphere. A complete menu flow, from the main menu to a pausable in-game state, is now functional. The dungeon generator is also more robust after addressing the bugs that arose from using more complex art assets.

Next Steps:

With the menu framework in place, my next logical step is to build it out further by adding an options menu. This will allow players to control settings like audio volume, which is especially important now that the sound system is implemented. After that, I’ll look into expanding the soundscape with more interaction-based sound effects (like item pickups etc.).

What I’ve Been Working On:

This week, my focus shifted from core systems to enhancing the player experience and establishing the game’s atmosphere. The most significant change was switching the player controller from a third-person to a first-person perspective. This immediately creates a more immersive and claustrophobic feel, which is perfect for a dungeon crawler.

To build on this, I’ve done an initial lighting pass and applied a green tint to the player’s view, simulating a night vision or found-footage camera aesthetic. I also implemented a functional splash screen on game startup and began updating some of the basic placeholder textures. In parallel, I’ve been collaborating with my artist, Erica, reviewing her latest asset deliveries and providing feedback to ensure they align with our vision.

Current Status:

The game now plays from a first-person viewpoint with a distinct “night vision” mood. The splash screen is functional, and the next set of art assets from Erica has been reviewed and approved for implementation.

Next Steps:

My top priority for the upcoming week is to begin integrating Erica’s newest assets into the procedurally generated levels, replacing the current blockout pieces with more detailed models. After that, I plan to start development on the main menu and pause systems, and working on sound for the dungeon which will be another major step toward creating a complete and polished experience.

What I’ve Been Working On:

While I’ve continued to refine the procedural dungeon generation, my main focus this week shifted toward implementing a core gameplay loop: artifact hunting. I’ve successfully built a system that procedurally places key artifacts throughout the generated levels. To support this, I also coded the item pickup functionality for the player and created the initial HUD feedback, so there’s a clear on-screen notification when an item is collected.

On the art front, my collaborator, Erica, has delivered the first set of blockout assets for the dungeon’s architecture. This includes walls, arches, and some fantastic vaulted ceilings that will really help define the space. I’ve had a chance to review them, and they look great.

Current Status:

The artifact placement and pickup systems are fully functional within the basic greybox version of the dungeon. The foundational art assets from Erica are mostly complete and ready for implementation, but I have not yet had the chance to integrate them into the project.

Next Steps:

My top priority for the coming week is to add some of Erica’s assets and lighting. This will be a huge visual and practical step forward, allowing us to finally test player navigation and scale within a more realistic environment. Once the new architecture is in place, I will refine the artifact placement logic to work intelligently with the more complex geometry.

What I’ve Been Working On:

These past few days, my focus has been coding the core of the megadungeon itself. I’ve successfully implemented the first pass of the procedural generation, which is now creating structural layouts for the dungeon. A large part of my time has been spent testing the player controller within these generated levels to get a feel for scale, flow, and navigation. Right now, everything is using basic textures.

On the art side, my collaborator Erica has begun creating the architectural blockout assets, starting with walls. Her focus is on establishing the correct scale and footprint for the pieces before moving into detail.

I also had a humorous bug where a flaw in my stair generation created a dungeon that looked like an Escher painting, with staircases leading nowhere and connecting in impossible ways. It was a good laugh!

Current Status:

The generation system is functional, and the “Escher” bug is fixed. I am currently able to explore basic, connected levels with the player character. Erica is finalizing the scale for the main wall kits.

Next Steps:

My immediate goal for the coming week is to refine the generation to produce more varied and interesting layouts, and adding spawners that I can use to populate the dungeon with artifacts and possibly enemies or traps. For Erica, once the scale is locked in, she will begin modeling the first props that will define the dungeon’s atmosphere, specifically torches and braziers. The next major step will be integrating these first-pass art assets to begin replacing the grey blocks and bringing the dungeon’s “pulp adventure” vibe to life.

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.

As part of my Game Integration class for my Bachelors from Full Sail University I am building a game. To that end, my focus this month is to dive into procedural generation using Unreal Engine by developing a solo proof-of-concept for an “infinite” or mega-sized dungeon creator.