When trying to create new gameplay blueprints or implementing new functionality for existing blueprints, I work in multiple simple sandbox environments in Unreal Engine 5. There are numerous approaches to coming up with exciting new ideas for the game, but I enjoy creating random hypothetical scenarios to play test and I determine what gameplay would enhance the player experience. In this particular video, I take my teams' existing blueprints which are a small door, an interactable button, and an explosive barrel and combine them to have an interactable environment that can change the tide of battle in the player's favor.

Then I came up with the idea to have a different interactable button that is not manually triggered by walking up to it and pressing a button. Instead, I brainstormed a button that could be activated on impact. This means that the player can throw the axe at the button (like I did) or they can grapple onto it and hit it with the axe from close quarters. The button changes colors from red to green to indicate that it was hit. Lastly, there might be certain situations where the player would want to calculate when to blow up the explosive barrel after it had been deployed, which is why the first implementation of this idea (on the left) has the barrel plop down to be blown up later. At other times, the player might want an immediate explosion which is why I made sure that the barrels could explode on impact when at higher velocities, which is why the feature on the right side drops the barrel from higher up. With this added gameplay mechanic, there are now two different implementations of this new idea that allow for more fun opportunities during combat!