Project Trigram
Project Trigram is an atmospheric first-person prototype built in Unreal Engine 4.27, centred around a manual revolver system where players load elemental bullets in sequence, creating deliberate combinations to exploit enemy weaknesses in resource-constrained encounters.
Overview
Trigram is a singleplayer vertical slice developed in Unreal Engine 4.27, designed around immersive and suspense-driven gameplay. The core mechanic revolves around special bullets infused with elemental essences, including water, fire, and energy.
The core mechanic allows players to manually load bullets into a revolver chamber, controlling both the type and order of elements used. This transforms combat into a planning process, where outcomes depend on how elements are combined rather than individual actions.
Goals
The primary goal was to design a combat system built around elemental interactions, allowing a small set of mechanics to produce more complex gameplay behaviour through elemental interaction and sequencing.
This also involved supporting player understanding through clear feedback, tutorials, and interface systems, ensuring that interactions remained readable despite their combinatorial nature.
My Contribution
- Designed and implemented elemental synergy systems
- Developed menus and tutorial systems for player onboarding
- Contributed to gameplay system integration using Blueprint and C++
- Collaborated on level layout and encounter design
Core Systems
Revolver System
Players manually load bullets into a revolver chamber, controlling both sequence and composition, directly influencing combat outcomes.
Elemental Combinations
Different elemental bullets interact when fired in sequence, allowing players to construct deliberate combinations that affect enemies in predictable ways.
Player Guidance
Tutorial and menu systems were implemented to introduce mechanics progressively, ensuring that complex interactions remained understandable to the player.
Level Design Integration
Levels were structured to support the use of elemental interactions, reinforcing gameplay systems through encounter layout and environmental design.
Technical Notes
Blueprint and C++ Integration
The project was developed in Unreal Engine 4.27 using a combination of Blueprint scripting and C++ to implement gameplay systems and interactions.
Extensible Interaction Design
Systems were structured to allow flexible interaction between elements, supporting extensibility for additional behaviours and combinations.
Challenges and Solutions
System Complexity
Designing elemental interactions required balancing depth with clarity, ensuring that combinations remained understandable and usable during moment-to-moment gameplay.
Player Readability
Ensuring players understood the effects of elemental combinations required clear feedback and structured tutorials to communicate system behaviour effectively.
Results
The project demonstrates how a small set of core mechanics can scale into a wider gameplay space through interaction and synergy, supporting both experimentation and player-driven strategies.
Future Improvements
- Expand the range of elemental interactions and combinations
- Enhance visual and audio feedback for combat clarity
- Refine level design to further support emergent gameplay