02 / DRIVING / ENVIRONMENTWork in progress · v0.1

Velocity Rivals

Off the road. Into the sandbox.

An off-road driving prototype set in a sculpted desert. Vehicle gameplay, boost feedback, procedural scenery and Blueprint-triggered VFX.

MY ROLEGameplay & environment integration

ENGINEUnreal Engine 5

FOCUSDriving, PCG, Landscape, Niagara

PROJECT TYPEIndependent portfolio project

Watch gameplayACTUAL PROJECT SCREENSHOT / Unreal Engine 5

THE PROJECT

The idea. The work. The result.

The challenge

Create a drivable desert route with readable navigation, vehicle feedback and a reusable approach to scenery placement.

The approach

Landscape sculpting and splines define the route. PCG scatters rocks and vegetation. Blueprint connects the driving UI, boost feedback and Niagara overlap interaction.

The outcome

A playable free-driving v0.1 prototype demonstrating systems integration. Checkpoints, laps and a finished race mode remain planned work.

MY CONTRIBUTION

I assembled and iterated on the driving prototype, sculpted terrain, designed routes, configured PCG, placed directional markers and set up the mud/water interaction. Vehicle and scenery art use external assets.

SEE IT PLAY

In motion. In engine.

Download video

ABOUT THE FOOTAGE

A silent 71-second highlight reel of the playable prototype: driving, desert routes, navigation markers and the vehicle HUD. The mud splash is documented in Blueprint and is not clearly visible in this reel.

TECHNICAL BREAKDOWN

How the pieces connect.

Vehicle feedback

Blueprints / UMG / Boost

A playable buggy is paired with speed and gear information, boost charge, engine temperature and overheat feedback. Keyboard input and an on-screen control interface are part of the prototype. Physical mobile touch and multitouch testing are not claimed.

Terrain & route design

Landscape / Sculpt / Splines

I sculpted and smoothed the desert terrain and used Landscape Splines to establish routes. Elevation, obstacles and their scale were adjusted during playtesting to improve readability from the third-person vehicle camera.

Procedural scenery

Landscape Data → Surface Sampler → Mesh Spawner

PCG graphs sample the Landscape, transform points and spawn meshes. Density, rotation and scale variation control rock and plant distribution. This demonstrates procedural placement configuration with third-party art.

Mud / water interaction

BP_MudPuddle → NS_MudSplash

A reusable Actor combines a water-surface mesh and WaterTrigger overlap volume. Blueprint checks the overlapping player Pawn and spawns the Niagara splash. The implementation is shown in the technical gallery.

Route guidance

Reusable 3D arrow markers

Directional markers help the player read the intended route through the desert. They provide visual guidance only; they are not a checkpoint, lap-counting or race-completion system.

CAPTURED IN UNREAL

A closer look.

Select any image to explore.

01The playable buggy in the desert environment.

02Directional markers guide the driving route.

03Boost and vehicle HUD feedback during gameplay.

04Landscape sculpting and route layout in the editor.

05Rock distribution configured with PCG.

06Procedural placement of desert vegetation.

07Blueprint implementation of the Niagara mud trigger.

08Route planning and arrow placement in Unreal Editor.

09Driving through the canyon from the vehicle camera.

10Vehicle presentation from the third-person camera.

STATUS & NEXT STEPS

Still building.

Planned: checkpoints, lap tracking, race completion, boundary and collision refinements, sound, surface response and performance profiling. The current public repository is a media and documentation showcase.

AUTHORSHIP & ASSETS

Clear contributions. Proper credit.

Gameplay, level design, PCG configuration and effect setup by Lucas Hoelzle. External content includes RealisticDesertPack, off-road vehicle/sample assets and the cc0_arrow_5 directional marker. Original models and textures belong to their respective creators; exact Fab credits remain to be completed.

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