- Basic Stage Creation -
Welcome! In this section we will be creating a 2D and a 3D Stage! As mentioned in the previous section, 2D and 3D Stages are no different in functionality as we are always in 3D Space so don't let it scare you!
To be fair, if you checked the previous page you already know how to create a Stage. We will be just going through the steps one by one so you can feel more comfortable and see how easy it is!
1- Preparation
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First lets prepare a Folder and copy our 2D Stage Template into it.
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Then create another folder named "Visuals" to copy the Flipbooks, Sprites and Textures into it.
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We will be using the "Moonlight Stage" visual data but feel free to use your own flipbooks!
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Now we can head back to the "Moonlight Stage" folder and Advance Copy the Flipbook folder, which will copy all the items AND update their references!
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Of course you don't need to do this if you are providing your own images etc!
2- Development
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Next let's get inside the Stage Blueprint and delete all the Flipbooks it has. Then drag the ground flipbook into the view.
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Sometimes Unreal Engine does not properly drag the new components so we can just drag it back where it needs to be; Flipbook Holder.
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Now let's change the Flipbook's Material to "NoPal_UnLit_Translucent_MI" and set its Translucency Sort Priority to 5. We will be having another Flipbook behind with value 0 later on.
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Next lets select the Stage in Framework Kickstarter to test it out.
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It is still not where we want it to be but we are getting there!
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Moving on, it is time to add our background Flipbook. To have a parallax movement on it, we can move it backwards in Y Axis and scale it up properly.
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You can edit the transform of the objects that are in your Stage runtime!
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Here we are adding the Flipbook we previously added onto the older one so that we can change their scale together.
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After feeling comfortable about the scale, we can also edit the Flipbook's material to "NoPal_UnLit" just like we did before.
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Now that we have the Flipbooks in an acceptable transform, we can edit the Stage and Camera Limits.
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Lets first make the Stage Limits visible and get them to positions were Fighters can't move too far away of the Flipbooks.
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Next do the same for Camera Limits. It is strongly suggested to have them at the back of the Stage Limits for a very small amount.
3- Platforms
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Adding Platform is also very easy! Here we fetch the Template for Platform and copy it into our own Stage's folder.
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We will talk through about how to edit them next!
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PS: We did not copy the State Module because most Platforms act the same way.
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We can easily change its Collision Box and Visual Flipbook directly in it!
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Here we will be converting it into a flying barrel for no reason at all!
4- Adding Static Meshes
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Adding Static Meshes is no different than adding Flipbooks. First though lets see how we can add a simple one such as a Plane!
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Here we just select "Add" from the Components tab! However you will see that the Plane we added is invisible in game.
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The reason is the basic Material of Unreal Engine demands a Light Source. We fix it by using our own Template Material for the plane!
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Lets make a copy of our Material and see how it works! In it there is a Texture that we are using which got 3 colors, pure Red, Blue and Green.
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They are linked to parameters that we use to change their colors to anything we want. That's also the reason the colors on the Plane is colors of Grey and Cyan!
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The most important is that we should NEVER forget to include "Basic Stage Parameters" material function in our material which we mentioned in our previous section about Stages.
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It contains important parameters such as "Emissive Amount" which allows us to see the 3D Mesh even if there is no light source around.
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Now let's create a Material Instance of it so that we can change its parameters easily!
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Now lets add two more planes to the sides of our Plane by selecting it and pressing Ctrl + D combination.
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After the duplication lets change their position and also the texture by duplicating the Material Instance itself too.
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Feel free to add the walls and such yourself. Our 3D Template Stage is what you can check if you prefer!
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Now lets adan actual 3D Mesh! For tutorial purposes we will be adding a Cube that is ready with a very simple material.
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We will make a duplicate both of them and then create a Material Instance to change its color.
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The Cube will look bland as there is no Light Source to we will fix that next!
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Before we add a Light Source, I decided to make the cube's color darker so Light affects it better.
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Now here we can add a Point Light and position it nicely to make the box stand out.
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Note that this is not a must to do. This is just to show that you should not fear using Light Sources!
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Finally lets create a Fake Reflection below the Cube. Of course you don't need to do it yourself if it is not fitting to your Stage.
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For that we need to duplicate the Material Instance and change its Blend Mode to Translucent so it can have its Alpha value changed.
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Finally we duplicate the Cube and make sure its Translucency Sort Priority to 5 (any higher number than 0 because Ground Planes have that value).
So far we have made a Stage with most basic elements. We will eventually have more advanced ones such as expanding Stage Limits and whatnot. But for now I hope these are enough to get you to an acceptable degree with your Stages!
Thanks for your time and reading!