The First Devlog

Introduction

Hello players, playtesters, and passers-by! This first official dev-log is to introduce everyone to the game and explain what we're doing here. This project began in July 1st (the summer) of 2020 in preparation for the upcoming school year. Isaac Taylor, a senior at Hampshire College, proposed Iaijutsu Project as "a side scrolling action platformer that combines the precise combat of Hyper Light Drifter with the acrobatics of Super Meat Boy". Isaac is now the creative director (or vision holder) for the project and its lead designer. Tom Nicholson is also a Hampshire student and our lead programmer. I, Armon Walker, joined the team as the lead producer and Isaac and myself will be submitting this project as our Division III (or senior thesis). We have also been fortunate to work with Phil Snowbarger, an artist and animator from Maryville University and Jeffrey Taylor, a music composer from Itchaca College who have both contributed much to the project. Our most recent addition to the team has been a 2nd artist and another Hampshire student, Jack Deford, to help carry development through its last weeks until project submission and beyond that as Isaac continues to develop and finetune this game. 

The project has come a long way since its conception and everyone has learned a lot about both their designated discipline and the methods, mindsets, and tools from the other parts of the pipeline. With our lead artist being the only exception as a recent graduate, we are all students. That is why one of our largest goals has been growing as professionals and emphasizing what we have learned throughout development. Below are some of the many things we have accomplished throughout our milestones, focusing on visible in-game features. In another post, we may share details about the process of building our GDD, structuring an agile-development development cycle, and developing concept art. This shall be the first post of many as we work to improve this game and ourselves. Thank you for reading.

Changelog

• Rough player movement implemented
• Player attack and parry implemented
• Player movement and jump is implemented
• Skeleton AI developed with the ability to jump, detect player, approach player, attack, and receive damage
• Player animations completed
• Wounded Samurai animations completed
• Existing animations improved with blood splatter, and sword sparks
• Two boss tracks created
• Three total level tracks created
• Laid the groundwork for parry functionality in the player and NPC’s
• Implemented A* to create functional AI
• Compiled and implemented sound effects into FMOD for movement, combat, and ambient sfx
• Created a new music track
• Implemented foundational save/load functionality
• Created 5 levels in-engine
• Created follow camera functionality
• Implemented jump-through platforms
• Added/modified multiple sfx for the Player, Oni, and Wounded Samurai including:
  • Enemy groans, taking damage noises, and attack sfx
  • Oni Walk
  • Fix Jump and landing SFX Glitch
  • Implement Death sfx
• Bug fixes:
  • Dash Attack Disables Player Attack
  • Dash Attack Sliding
  • Enemy Movement is Disrupted when Overlapping Player
  • Infinite Dash Attack
  • Dead Enemies Float
• Created the player’s dash attack
• Implemented the player wall slide/jump
• Refined follow camera functionality
• Created pause functionality
• Created menu screens
• Created player health bar
• Implemented level geometry for 14 levels
• Got level transitions working