I found a bunch of assets in the Marketplace called fantasy asset, and I really like magical fantasy style, so I downloaded it and added to my project. I scanned through the assets and decided to build a little house myself. (On hintsight it was a bit too small for the plot to thicken/ episodes to take place, next time I would draw a map of events in my mind first then place the objects. I got a little bit too excited to try new stuffs!)
Then I started fiddling with the animation — called sequences in Unreal Engine. I must say the render effect in Unreal is so much better then Unity! I am very impressed. I experimented with the lamp light&transform animation first, then proceeded into some character animations. I found some STUNNING ones for free in the marketplace! Almost too good to believe. Then I learned to trigger them with blueprint and added them in my cozy little house. Because of the lack of space things got a little crazy, but not the bad kind.
I controlled the story pacing by controlling where the player looks. I would say my story arch falls into the style of the Cresendo — smaller pieces first and the biggest one at the end.
I am literally so looking forward to making a ride out of these amazing assets! A self reminder to plan out the map first next time.
The POV video I found is of Pirates of the Caribbean in Shanghai — the best ride I have experienced so far. I think it is arranged almost perfectly to the hero’s journey. It tells quite a coherant story. At the entrance there are some set design that lures the adventures into finding treasure, then Captain Jack appears and briefly points out the way, and down the players go into the sea — which is a really grand and impressive scene! There we meet Captain Octopus and a fierce fight takes place, with the booming of cannons. At the end the treasure is found and sailors sing celebration, and players are sent happily back home.
I found myself attracted to this style of story-telling often. I think it is the most complete and satisfying arrangment. I will think about how to implement that in my ride design.
