Prototypes
Unreal 5 Dolphin Controller
Initial implementation of a player-controlled dolphin swim movement mode in Unreal 5 using Blueprints. Built from the UE5 “third-person” template, but with the following custom-built features:
- Left joystick controls pitch (up/down) and yaw (turning).
- Right stick is a free camera look with a 180-degree range.
- Player speed has four tiers. Pressing the button will increase max speed to the next tier, while holding it will accelerate to that max. The player can mash the button to quickly reach tier 4, though acceleration rate is unaffected.
- Boost sets max speed to tier 4 and instantly imparts 200% max velocity, then decelerates naturally to max.
- Roll: Player mesh leans into turns while swimming (cosmetic only).
- Porpoising: when out of the water, the controller will rotate to match world movement. This is overridden by left joystick input.
- Braking: Player can quickly brake, then swim in reverse at tier 1 speed (25% of max).
Future plans:
- The pawn does not use the template “Falling” state while airborne, as it does not allow pitch control. Update the Character Movement Component C++ to enable this.
- The pawn drifts too much when changing direction; update controller velocity towards heading more quickly during turns.
- While airborne, left stick for tricks.
- Speed-dependent turn radius.
Unreal 5 Creepy Crawly
A 2-hour prototype in Unreal 5, based on the idea “gameplay that feels squishy, intimate, and strange, like a grub crawling on a hand.”
Using a game pad, the left stick controls the “hand” (just a sphere for simplicity) and right stick controls the spider. Both controls make internal sense, but the combination means that left and right are “reversed” in how they affect the position of the spider. The unexpected mental friction of the controls enhances the uneasiness of the overall interaction, while the novelty of the result is alluring in spite of that.
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