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CAGD 370 Blog Post 1

 In CAGD 370, my new group and I have just started working on a new project currently titled Thunder Vault! It’s a 3D Platformer where the player has to rely on their pole vaulting skills and momentum-based physics to clear levels as quickly as possible! Andrew Kostlan is the Lead Designer, Anish Neupane is the Producer, and I am the Programmer of this project. In our first 2 week sprint, We’ve set up our backlog, developed and tested our paper prototype, and created our Unreal Project File and set up Github Version Control from within the project!



As the Programmer, I was the one to set up the Unreal Project this week. I chose Unreal Engine version 5.5.3 since it’s the latest release, so that we’ll have access to all the latest features during development.



The next thing I did was set up Git Version Control within Unreal. I recently purchased a new computer, and didn’t move over anything from my old machine so that I could have a fresh, uncluttered start. A consequence of this though, was that I had no Git software installed on my computer. So I started by first creating our github repository in the web browser, adding the UnrealEngine .gitignore file. Next, I downloaded Github Desktop to clone the repository on my computer. With the repository on my machine. I then tried to link Unreal to Git by giving it the path to my Github Desktop .exe, but that wasn’t working. That’s when I remembered that I had to install Git itself onto my computer. So after doing that, and giving Unreal the correct path to my git.exe, my version control was up and running!




I was hoping to have gotten started on the player character’s movement mechanics this week, but sadly prior time commitments as well as a monstrous couple weeks of homework prevented me from doing so. However, with the Project now set up and available for my group mates and me to work on, I’ll easily be able to start adding in the fun stuff next sprint! And hopefully I’ll have a more interesting blog post next time because of it. I’ve spoken with the lead designer about his vision for the player’s movement, and I’m very excited to start implementing our ideas!


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