Robot Factory Prototype v0.1.5

Hi Everyone!

It's been a busy couple of weeks, so no major changes or additions just yet. I promised myself I'd do one of these every couple of weeks though, so I at least have something!

In version 0.1 in the save and load menus, there were these little white squares where level screenshots were supposed to appear. It was a fun little challenge getting those to work, but in this version they now do. Doing so involved re-positioning a secondary camera by figuring out where the extremities of the level were and using the FOV of the camera in order to calculate where the camera would have to be to have the entire level in view. From there, the camera can be used to get a screenshot.

Otherwise, the thing I've been working on is a more consistent control scheme for the camera and placing things in the level. I've been doing research by checking out other games that try to do something similar (Portal 2's level editor, The Sims 3) and trying to figure out what does and doesn't work for me. They have a much bigger UX budget than I do, so I think borrowing some ideas is justified. In the end I've settled for a slightly modified control scheme that I think is less cumbersome.

The main differences are:

• Left clicking on an obstacle in the toolbox  now selects it. Previously, you had to click and drag it onto the level. This was cumbersome.
• As above, you now left click as much as you like (or hold left click and just paint) in order to place the selected obstacle.
• Escape will deselect an obstacle
• I've added camera zoom on the scroll wheel. This was not previously supported.

Other than that, it ended up remaining largely the same. WASD/Arrow Keys will pan the camera around, Space will reset the camera to its default position, and holding right click and moving the mouse will rotate the camera.

Very soon I intend to begin on the actual game portion of this game. As always, any feedback or thoughts are absolutely welcome.

Known Issues:

• Default camera position never changes (and makes very little sense, should probably be the centre of the current level dimensions)
• Similar to above, default camera position doesn't change when loading a level. This means that when you're at the far end of a large level and you load a small level, you are left with darkness. The darkness is all encompassing. You can just press space to find your level again though.