Teleportation

In large-scale games like World of Warcraft, players can use teleporters to navigate massive worlds, and I wanted to incorporate a similar system to allow players to travel between the hub and The Cosmic Vale. However, what started as a straightforward task became one of the project's most challenging parts.

The Initial Setup 

 Initially, I used the ARPG starter kit’s built-in teleporter. It seemed simple—just plug in the destination level, and once the player walked into the trigger, they would be teleported to The Cosmic Vale. In my single-player tests, this setup worked great. I walked through the portal, and BAM—I was instantly transported to the new zone with only a few minor crashes here and there.

Everything seemed fine, that is until I tried multiplayer.

Multiplayer Testing Woes 

 During my first multiplayer test with my roommate, things quickly took a turn for the worse. While I could teleport with only minor hiccups, my roommate’s experience was disastrous. Each time he stepped into the teleporter, my character was suddenly jolted back to The Vale’s teleport endpoint, while he got stuck in an endless void—or worse, his game would crash entirely.

The initial excitement over the functioning multiplayer server was immediately dampened by the teleporter issue. My first playtest was filled with hope, but it ended in frustration. I knew I had to rethink the system.

Trial and Error 

 I spent quite some time trying to fix the original teleporter. I tried tweaking the blueprint, searching for bugs, and modifying parameters. But the more I dug into it, the more time I realized I was wasting. So, I decided to look for alternatives.

I found a few YouTube tutorials that introduced me to a different teleportation system. These guides were easy to follow, and soon, I had a functioning position-to-position teleporter. But there was a catch—it only worked within the same level, not across different levels, which was a crucial feature for my game.

Finding the Solution 

 It was then I realized the issue might be due to the crashes that occurred during the level-loading process. That’s when I came up with a new approach: rather than teleporting players from level to level, why not move them from one position to another within the same level?

To make this work, I copied all of the assets from the player hub—terrain, lighting, meshes—into The Cosmic Vale. My PC struggled with the workload, but the effort was worth it. Once everything was in place, I reprioritized the post-processing layers, adjusted the skybox lighting, and integrated the new teleporter blueprint.

The Breakthrough 

 And then... it worked! Not only was I able to successfully teleport from the hub to The Vale, but my roommate could now do the same, with no crashes or glitches.

I immediately set up another playtest with a few more friends. For the next hour, we explored the world, battled mobs, and even tried to break the map to find bugs. It was incredibly satisfying to watch them enjoy the teleporters and interact with the world I had created.

Conclusion 

 Implementing teleporters in The Cosmic Vale was one of the project's most challenging but rewarding aspects. It took a lot of trial and error, but in the end, the solution not only solved the problem but also improved the gameplay experience. Looking back, this experience taught me a lot about troubleshooting, the importance of flexible design, and how to handle unexpected technical issues.