Built with Unreal Engine 5.2, this project is a third-person platform puzzle game inspired by the aesthetic and spirit of Indiana Jones. The goal was to design a self-contained level made up of six sequential puzzles, each introducing a distinct gameplay mechanic — from enemy stealth and object manipulation to fire-based interaction chains. MetaHuman was used for both the main character and the enemy, Quixel Megascans assets dressed the environment, and Level Sequencers handled the cinematic pans that punctuate each puzzle transition.
🪨 Puzzle 1 — Lava rock crossing
- The opening challenge establishes the platforming baseline: the player must hop across a series of rocks over a lava pit, with no margin for error. Falling into the lava triggers a death condition, making precise timing and spatial reading the core skill being tested.
- This puzzle serves as a difficulty ramp-up gate, ensuring only players comfortable with the core movement mechanics proceed further into the level.
📦 Puzzle 2 — Object manipulation
- The player must identify and push or reposition heavy objects in the environment to build a climbable path to the other side of an obstacle. This introduces interaction mechanics on top of movement, requiring the player to think spatially about weight, placement, and vertical reach.
- The puzzle rewards exploration of the immediate space rather than relying on direct traversal, establishing the game’s expectation that the environment itself is a tool.
🔥 Puzzle 3 — Lava crossing with torch and spider web
- A layered challenge combining platforming from Puzzle 1 with a new fire interaction mechanic: a giant spider web blocks the exit to the next section, and the only way through is to find a torch hidden in the environment and use it to burn the web.
- This introduces the torch as a key gameplay object and teaches the player that fire is not just a hazard but also a solution — a design principle that recurs in later puzzles, building mechanical literacy progressively.
👁️ Puzzle 4 — Enemy patrol and stealth
- A MetaHuman enemy patrols the puzzle zone on a fixed path, blocking the exit during certain intervals. The player must observe the patrol cycle, find cover or a safe waiting position, and time their movement through the exit precisely.
- This is the only puzzle in the level that introduces an AI-driven actor, shifting the challenge from environmental reading to behavioral prediction — a deliberate tonal break from the physical puzzles surrounding it.
🔮 Puzzle 5 — Burning logs to release the fire ball
- A giant burning boulder is wedged in place by a set of wooden logs, blocking the exit. The player must locate a torch and burn the logs, which releases the boulder — but the boulder then becomes an active hazard that will kill the player on contact. Solving the puzzle and surviving it are two separate challenges.
- This is the most mechanically complex puzzle in the set: it introduces a cause-and-effect chain where the solution creates a new threat, requiring the player to plan their escape route before triggering the sequence.
💥 Puzzle 6 — Explosive barrel wall breach
- The final puzzle closes the loop on the fire interaction system: the player must find a torch, locate a fuel-filled barrel, and ignite it to detonate a wall that opens the path to the level’s exit. The explosion mechanic is satisfying as a level-ending payoff — it is louder, more destructive, and more final than anything that came before.
- The barrel’s positioning is intentionally non-obvious, encouraging one last pass of environmental exploration before the game concludes.
🎬 Level Sequencers and cinematic transitions
- Each puzzle transition is punctuated by a Level Sequencer-driven cinematic camera pan that reveals the next puzzle area. These sequences serve a dual purpose: they give the player a moment to orient themselves spatially before engaging, and they reinforce the Indiana Jones atmosphere through controlled, cinematic framing of the environment.
- Using Level Sequencers rather than Blueprint-driven camera logic keeps the cinematic direction data-driven and easily iterable inside the editor’s timeline, without touching gameplay code.
🧑 MetaHuman characters
- Both the playable character and the patrolling enemy were built using MetaHuman, Unreal’s character creator pipeline. This allowed high-fidelity facial and body geometry to be integrated directly into the project without custom modeling, while keeping full compatibility with standard UE5 skeletal mesh animation workflows.
🏛️ Environment — Quixel Megascans
- The entire level environment was dressed using Quixel Megascans assets, chosen for their photorealistic quality and thematic fit with an Indiana Jones-inspired archaeological aesthetic. Stone ruins, rocky terrain, torches, and atmospheric lighting work together to sell the setting without requiring custom asset production.
Nicolás Bertoa 
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