Posted October 20, 2021 by zorgonia
Hey all! This week we've focused on implementing all the mechanics we had planned out on the game design document, as well as making a short level to allow the player to use the mechanics.
We have uploaded a build, as well as a video for the first level. You can find the video attached (or if you don't want to download, here is a google drive link):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iiIgcieWJlnqMHws6QtdjD6lBEyhxJAP/view?usp=shari...
The abilities for each direction ended up being implemented (for now) as follows:
Originally we had aimed for making the mechanics at a slower pace, but we had realised based off feedback from last week's presentation that that would likely be a poor decision. After all, if we cannot show our game is fun after all our mechanics are implemented then we will have less time to rethink how to make our game fun. For this build we've implemented the basic functionality of each of the mechanics as well as a small first level. We're looking to improve this level and/or make more levels before alpha is release. In addition, we need to playtest more to make sure the values for each of the mechanics (how much meter you need to use each ability as an example) feel good to play.
Some other progress updates: we have implemented some basic sound effects for each of the ability, as well as dying (thank you music team). We have added a way to win the game, by defeating all the enemies. If the player gets hit by a bullet (while not rolling) or enemy, they die, which is the current lose condition of the game. We have also added a restart button (P on keyboard, options on PS4 controller), as well as a quit game button (ESC on keyboard, share on PS4 controller).
There are currently on instructions in the game right now, which should be part of the goal for alpha release, so the player knows how to play the game. I will list the controls below for clarity:
One thing that we have not fully made a decision on (that can be seen in the above controls) is whether or not we want to require the player to be holding down the corresponding direction while using the ability. We originally thought this would make more sense with the flavour. However, after play testing it a bit it may be unintuitive to the player for it to work that way, or just not fun to play. For example rolling is often associated with being able to roll multiple directions, while currently our game only allows a left roll. Again, this would make more sense given the flavour but would require some more specific level design. We're still figuring out whether we want this restriction and we'll try to make it consistent before alpha release.
A couple other notes about the current build:
Finally an update on the art side. We've received textures and some models for enemies from our art team, and we've been able to implement some of these (mine, walls) in game so far. The development team is still working on some of the other enemies, so hopefully the enemy models can be integrated when those are made.
That's all for this week's update! Have a great week!