Continuing with UI work I reworked the HUD a bit, mainly for the Objectives System which now has a main objective and optional/side objective UI marker and basic implementation. The system is programmed to first set then mark objectives as complete after being finished. In a multi-step objective technically each step can be considered a quest, which still sets the the UI to update and communicate to the player that they're making progress.
As of now only the item objectives are implemented since I want to rework the AI a bit before I add NPC objectives. After some experimenting I've also decided to swap the possession ability with a slow time ability which meshes better with the other abilities and will probably help create a more interesting sandbox for players to experiment with.
The slow time ability took some research to figure out but the easiest method is to set the global time dilation (which is a pretty useful Unreal tool) to a low decimal for everything to slow down, then use that number as a denominator of 1 to keep the player in real time. I tried using a delay to reset time to normal after X seconds so the player could upgrade how long time is slowed but unfortunately the global time scale seemed to mess with that system so timelines are a more reliable solution. An interesting bug is physics that's initiated in slow motion exponentially speed up when time returns to normal, which for bodies might be an issue.
So far I'm on track to complete the core loop goals by the end of June or early July. The next branch I'll be focusing on will be the Lore Diagetics with a focus on making them modular for easier implementation for the level design phase. After that I'll be building the ranged damage system for the Pistol and Crossbow. The NPC objectives (people to kill/move) and Detective Vision (think Arkham Knight) will likely be pushed to later when I finish the circle back to the AI.
