Technical Breakdown

Systems

The site tracks the C++ and content systems that make the maze project testable: map definitions, run state, save data, door progression, validation, and materials.

Deterministic Map Definitions

Each ranked map is represented by a data asset with MapId, DisplayName, CampaignOrder, RankedSeed, MapVersion, level reference, and progression metadata.

Run State and Timing

The run subsystem manages normal, hardcore, and practice starts, level transitions, elapsed time, deaths, validation tags, splits, and run completion.

Hub Door Progression

A reusable C++ door actor calculates locked, unlocked, and completed states, then leaves visual treatment to Blueprint presentation.

Save and Leaderboard Path

Local progress, local bests, and pending leaderboard submissions are tracked before the online path is hardened.

Procedural Material Pipeline

Houdini outputs are being shaped into modular wall pieces, packed masks, shared tiling textures, and Unreal texture maps.

Edge-Aware Vegetation Scatter

Houdini separates inner and outer maze edges, uses distance-from-edge falloff to push vegetation away from walls, and exports test branches for Unreal review.

Vegetation Material Migration

Grass and foliage assets are moving onto shared virtual-texture masters with BaseColor, Normal, and ARO mask slots plus optional WPO controls.

Production Workflow

From maze edges to playable space.

Six traceable stages connect Houdini setup, material work, Unreal review, and the hub gameplay loop.

Houdini viewport and network showing maze edge lines selected for an outer edge vegetation scatter setup.

01Houdini edge setup

Separate maze edges into scatter zones

The current Houdini graph extracts outer and inner maze edges so vegetation can be driven by the maze layout instead of placed as a flat paint pass.

Houdini node graph and viewport showing point density controlled by distance from maze edges.

02Distance falloff

Use edge distance to control density

A distance-from-edge attribute and falloff ramp control how tightly plants hug the walls, keeping scatter useful without creating a hard outline.

Houdini network showing noise, orientation, scale randomisation, and cleanup nodes for vegetation scatter points.

03Scatter variation

Push, scale, and rotate the plant points

Noise, orientation, scale, and cleanup steps create separate export branches for edge plants and inner plants before the data moves to Unreal.

Unreal Engine viewport showing a stone maze beside water with grass and scattered blockout vegetation along the wall edges.

04Unreal preview

Check the scatter against the maze scene

The stone walls, water, grass, and blockout scatter are reviewed together in Unreal so the workflow is judged in the actual play space.

Unreal Engine material editor showing a two-sided foliage master material node graph.

05Foliage material setup

Keep vegetation on shared masters

Foliage assets use virtual texture inputs, ARO masks, and optional WPO controls so grass and shrub materials stay predictable as the library grows.

Houdini viewport and node graph showing a blockout hub door frame asset.

06Hub and gameplay loop

Fold art tests back into the playable slice

The HubDoor and maze material work support the larger target loop: hub doors, level travel, finish triggers, return to hub, and progression.