Nerdotellis

This started originally as a “small and quick Unreal Engine 4 learning project” on the 21st April of 2018. As you can see by the release date, it wasn’t quite as small and quick as we imagined it would be. 😅 But it was a great learning experience in many regards nevertheless.

I’ve set myself the challenge to do this 100% in Blueprints (BP), no C++ programming, because I was curious how far you can get with Blueprints. In the end it’s “only” 99% Blueprints, C++ was required for a small part in the game settings to make them work with our custom sound classes for effects, music and master volume control, but I would call this a success.

I also learned a lot in regards to environment art, including the workflow for baking high-poly model details on to low-poly models as well as working with dynamic and static lighting.

The Game

Download

To download the game you can either go to our page on itch.io or download it directly from here. There is only a Windows x64 build at this time.

Requirements

In order to run Nerdotellis, your computer should meet the following minimum system requirements:

  • OS: Windows 10 64-bit.
  • Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD, 2.5 GHz or faster.
  • RAM: 8 GB RAM.
  • Video Card/DirectX Version: DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 compatible graphics card.

A more powerful system is recommended.

Screenshots

Trailer

Environment Assets

All environment assets presented in the following gallery have been created by me, including modeling, texturing and, in the single instance of the trap door, animation. The images have been rendered in the Unreal Engine 5 using Lumen.

Insights

Easter Eggs

As is good manners in game development, we placed some easter eggs in the levels for the players to find. There are a total of 7 easter eggs in the game that can be found in some levels.

Attributions

My Work

In this project I was the main programmer, a level designer, an environment artist, a lighting artist and the UI designer. My work comprises of:

  • implementation of the complete game in Blueprints
  • implementation of the game settings in C++
  • design and implementation of the UI and in-game HUD utilizing UMG (with the sole exception of the dialogue UI, which was done by Daniel Friedenberger)
  • design, modeling and texturing of environmental assets, consisting of
    • the walls surrounding the level
    • the stone tiles
    • the trap door tile to end the level, including the animation
    • the default and lighted pillars
    • all of the easter egg assets
  • lighting all levels, using a mixture of dynamic and static lighting
  • creation of the in-game cinematics using Sequencer
  • video editing of the trailer

The Team

I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to all people who contributed to this project.

Special Thanks

My special thanks goes to Hansheinz Müller Philipps Sohn for providing the server infrastructure and to Jan Ripper for providing the concept of level 9.