This student project comes from a beginner Unreal Engine course at LSU, where students are introduced to real-time game development fundamentals. Ryder Krivan attemped this for her final project, and chose to take on an ambitious challenge: creating a 2D game inside Unreal Engine using the PaperZD plugin, rather than working in a more typical 3D workflow. PaperZD extends Unreal’s native 2D tools by providing a robust animation system for sprite-based games. Learning and implementing this plugin added an extra layer of complexity to the project, especially for a student new to Unreal Engine. Despite this, she successfully navigated the technical hurdles and committed to seeing the project through. Over the course of just over three weeks, Ryder built a complete playable level, managing character animation, level layout, and core gameplay systems and audio. The project required problem-solving, persistence, and many late nights debugging animation states and gameplay logic—challenges that are common in real-world game development. What makes this project stand out is not just the final result, but the process behind it. Choosing a 2D pipeline in Unreal encouraged Ryder to deeply understand the engine’s systems while working outside the most common beginner path. The experience helped reinforce foundational skills such as iteration, asset organization, and troubleshooting complex toolchains. This project is a strong example of how students can push beyond course requirements to explore creative and technical interests. It demonstrates both the flexibility of Unreal Engine and the value of perseverance when learning new development tools. We’re proud of the dedication and growth shown in this work and look forward to seeing how these skills continue to develop in future projects.
