Posted August 07, 2018 by zachariah chandler
Summary:
This week I worked on my test level a bit more, tuned up the controller, tried to improve readability of certain actions/scenarios, and had some thoughts about what's next in terms of level design, progression (ew), and uhh... Lore I guess (LOL).
New Stuff:
This week I added several new things to improve the overall play experience (I noticed a great number of problems after just a small amount of time watching other people play so that's good), as well as a number of smaller bug-fixes etc., which I'll put down in the changes section.
Changes/Fixes:
As I mentioned: I fiddled around with the level design a little; I noticed that some objects were rendered hard to see (or hard to understand in relation to the rest of the scene) due to their colour, so I fixed a few instances of that. I also added a couple of new details to the opening waste area, just to make it slightly less barren and unreadable.
Oh and I added lots of scaffolding to my tower; I like the idea that you are encountering a thing [in a space] that is not quite finished (appropriate for this project) or is being repaired; it adds to that idea that there is (was?) some kind of social infrastructure present to which you are not privy.
Fixed a bug where sometimes UI elements would stop spinning after they were selected.
Fixed an issue where the ambient particles weren't following the player around the world properly.
Tweaked the max/min angles allowed on the far-third-person camera.
Oh yeah idk if this is a change or a new thing but for the demo I added a "safety net" script which checks for inputs from the player, and also checks their world position to make sure they haven't fallen off the map, and restarts the level if they have, or if they are still for too long (the latter will obviously not be in the final build, but it was very useful for environments where people are coming and going).
Coming Soon:
Uhhh... Well, I guess after the playtests this week I'll sit down and do some thinking about the world that I'm making and how things relate to things and whether or not I decide to include some kind of unearthly bus-system or an equivalent (trains/trams are nice too). I've also been considering adding "occupants": other people/creatures/??? that live ("live") in the world on a more permanent basis that you, O transient one. I've been thinking about how they would relate to the protagonist, whether or not they would be friendly, ambivalent or malicious, and how that would be communicated. It's all very up-in-the-air at the moment so I'm making no promises, but I like the idea a whole lot, and will explore it thoroughly before I make any sort of decision.
Thoughts:
Man, I thought I hadn't done much this week but I guess I just spent a long time fixing stuff and thinkin' about stuff, and that's ok I guess. :)
I'm really pleased with how the controller is turning out; it's starting to feel really solid, and less quirky and fiddly than before, whilst still maintaining that slightly obtuse, unfamiliar quality that I like (at least I think so, but uhh,,, I play this all the time so I'm not really the best measure (hence: playtests)). I'm really excited to actually sit down and make some decisions that aren't limited by my technical abilities. It's always been something that I've been at least a little bit aware of: the fact that so much of my work is influenced by what I can't do. It's nice to be able to just,, think about what I'd like to include, in the confidence that I can (probably) pull it off.
I'm also keen to get some feedback! It's nice to have confidence in my own ability, but I really want to know what others think, even if I ignore a lot of it; for once I feel really proud to show people what I've made (even if they don't personally like it), and that's a good [new] feeling. :)
I really hope I can stay this focused and driven throughout the rest of the semester; I know I'll have a lot of work to do but I'm excited about most of it, and really keen to prove to myself that I can make something really cool, that I can look back at in the future and still enjoy.
ok that's all bye!
(lol, as I was recording the footage for this log I found and fixed another first-person camera bug so get ready to hear about that next week!)