Posted November 30, 2022 by Eryngii01
This week, the focus of the development was on polishing the game based on the feedback from the Beta release and the data analyzed within the Feedback Analysis document, as well as importing the final assets to be produced for the project.
A major point of focus for the art team this week consisted of finalizing the UI icons for the inventory power ups to come with the final release of the game, such as the construction site (blockade/enemy trap), freeze time effect (enemy and streetcar slowdown), super car (temporary invincibility and destruction of enemies), and the broadcast beacon (decoy too alter enemy path):
New models to accompany the inventory power up UI elements such as the hourglass (freeze time) and cell tower (broadcast beacon) were also added to the assets list, as well as a new player death animation for when the game ends.
Some final assets for the music production were completed for the game over event and super car power up to add to the experience of the game, especially in making the player feel empowered when the super car power up is utilized.
In preparation for the final build, the following adaptations were made to the project:
Some challenges were faced in tackling ways to adjust the game to make it less punishing. Currently, the game ends when the player first touches an enemy or a streetcar; however, with the current wave designs and gameplay loop, the game is so challenging that the developers cannot play past wave 5. Therefore, further discussion is due to determine final design choices to make the game more balanced, especially for new players.
Feedback received during the Beta found the game to be extremely slow or uneventful when a wave is "solved", especially since the player must wait a certain period of time before the enemies are destroyed for the next wave to come. Therefore, a function to fast-forward the game and increase the play speed was implemented to solve this issue. This implementation allows the player to adjust the in-game speed in three modes: 1) normal speed, 2) 2x the speed, and 3) 3x the speed. When a wave ends, the speed will be reset to the regular playback speed and the UI will be adjusted accordingly.
Further discussion about the choice to keep the fast-forward feature or instead implement cycle detection will ensue, since the fast-forward feature does alleviate the issue of wait time, especially when replaying waves that had already been "solved" in previous game loops. However, feedback was received during the Beta presentation to find a way to keep the player thinking and moving constantly to prevent them from staying in a single corner during the entire game.
In addition, the final assets will be received and completely incorporated into the game to complete the final build, as well as final polishes to the ambiance, UI, title screen, controls, and mechanics. Playtesting will be conducted as well as a means of receiving more feedback for the polished changes and discovery of bugs to fix before the final project release.