A Novel In-Game Scripting Mechanic -EOS

In the final year of my Bachelors of Science degree in Games Technology, I chose to pursue one of my favourite topics (in-game scripting) by developing the basis of an in-game scripting mechanic/system. The project was developed in Unreal Engine 4 as the main front-end and NodeJS as the back-end handling the execution and organisation of code. Throughout the project, I learnt a lot about multiplayer blueprints within UE4 and optimisations for running concurrent scripts in NodeJS. The demo created allowed players to create JavaScript files on in-game servers that could interact with other in-game servers and scripts.

Main aspects of the project include:

• Real-time updates of files – Allow in-game collaboration or deception (enemies spying on others to see what they are doing)
• Separate NodeJS Backend – Allows the scripting backend to be on a dedicated server separate to the UE4 host application
• Socket.IO for communication – Uses Socket.IO for communication between UE4 and the NodeJS backend enabling the front-end application to change without changing the backend configuration.