"Visual Countdown" | Rex Mejia |7-24-25

The Problem

During testing the Out of Bounds mechanic worked purely with a hidden timer. If the player left the designated map, a 5-second countdown would silently start, and if they didn’t return, they were killed instantly. While this was to keep the player in the map it lacked clear communication to the player. 

The Solution

We introduced a HUD widget that activates the moment the player crosses the boundary. The widget displays a message telling the player they are out of bounds, and a countdown starts. This UI feedback gives the player both awareness and urgency to quickly return back into the map. The system is tied directly to the BorderWall actor. When the player overlaps with a boundary trigger, the UI becomes visible and starts the countdown. If the timer reaches zero, damage is applied resulting in player death and triggering the Game Over screen.