Posted October 18, 2023 by egurney
This Devlog for Ghostware will focus on the following topics:
Ghostware now has five basic enemies:
Art for all the basic enemies (except the object ghost) was done by me, with an attempt to accentuate a spooky but cute look for all the ghosts. Only the mare is animated due to time constraints however since all the enemies are ghosts, they don’t need any animations to float.
All enemies have increasing difficulties alongside the number of bosses defeated as mentioned above to provide increasing challenge as the game continues and provide variety in gameplay.
All enemies except the technology ghost and object ghost also have health bars above their heads to communicate to the player how much health they have left, with the technology ghost not needing this due to its different attack strategy and the object ghost not having a health bar to help it blend in with its environment. Apart from these two enemies, standard enemies will also drop either a health or battery item that will increase Lumen's stats if they are below max.
Ghostware now has three bosses:
Defeating one of these enemies brings Lumen one step closer to escape and provides Lumen with a health and battery powerup. These enemies were originally supposed to drop new weapons for Lumen however due to time constraints this mechanic was joined with the upgrade mechanic, still providing a reward for defeated bosses.
The art for the Phantom Puppeteer and Weeping Wraith were both made using AI with touch-ups from me and the Mare was a reused model of the normal mare enemy scaled up.
Ghostware has a basic button puzzle for each area, with the player having to explore the environment to find buttons that will unlock the final boss of that area. Further implementations of Puzzles would have included a clock puzzle and an item collecting puzzle however these were cut short due to time constraints.
Whilst upgrades no longer exist, collectables are still a key part of the final score for the game and are scattered across the mansion for the player to collect, magnetically attracting to the player and making a little chime when collected.
For enemy implementation, the feedback was overall positive except for the technology ghost which had issues with registering the player pressing e to destroy it. One tester suggested being able to click on the enemy to ‘turn it off’ and this was the implementation that was ultimately chosen.
Before:
After:
AI Art - Dalle 3 -https://www.bing.com/images/create/?ref=hn
Button Sprite - BDragon1727, "Basic Pixel Health bar and Scroll bar", (2023) - https://bdragon1727.itch.io/basic-pixel-health-bar-and-scroll-bar
Mare Boss Fire effect - CodeManu, "Pixel Effects Pack", (2023), https://codemanu.itch.io/pixelart-effect-pack
Wraith boss water effect - NYKNCK, "Waterfall Sprite", (N.D) https://nyknck.itch.io/waterfall-sprite
Music and SFX
- Pixabay:
-"TV Static", https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/tv-static-7019/
- "Pokemon Cry Parody", https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/pokemon-cry-parody-46225/
-"Beast Roar", https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/beast-roar-100584/
- "8-Bit Moonlight Sonata Music Loop", https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/8-bit-moonlight-sonata-music-loop-20436/
- "Halloween 8-bit (forward reverse 13-13-13)", https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/halloween-8-bit-forward-reverse-13-13-13-19741...
- "Dead 8bit", https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/dead-8bit-41400/
- "Flashlight Clicking On", https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/flashlight-clicking-on-105809/
- UNIVERSFIELD - "Horse", https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/horse-123780/
- Lesiakower - "Coin Collect Retro 8-bit Sound Effect", https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/coin-collect-retro-8-bit-sound-effect-145251/
ののはらゆう- "09 - Creepy Forest「不気味な森」Royalty Free Chiptune 8bit Music", (2016),
- Danijel Zambo - "Friendly Ghost", https://uppbeat.io/track/danijel-zambo/friendly-ghost
Music Play code: Billy Man, "How to Play or Stop Music Through Scenes in Unity", (2022),