Devlog #10

As we near the end of the CSC404 course, we wrap things up and aim to finalize all pending features for the game. See how it's all going to unfold below 😎

Technical Accomplishments

Predicting Shadow Trajectory

💡 We are still looking into the best and most efficient ways to predict how objects being held by a player will fall when dropped so that the player has a good indicator of where the shadows will end up.

Updates

Level 1

💡 The first level end section has been extended with additional puzzles.

• The end of level 1 now features 2 interactable puzzles to help introduce players to interactions such as opening car hoods and turning on/off lights.
• Tweaked the alleyway dumpster to exit on the left side instead of the right.
  • Hopefully, this will help bring more players’ attention to the first collectible.

Level 2

💡 The second level has now become our “challenge” level.

• Our initial design of level 2 turned out to be far too challenging for most players.
  • We simplified some of the puzzles for level 2.
  • Added more posters with additional hints.

Sound System

💡 Player sounds now more closely match the actions being triggered by the player

• Instead of analyzing the behavior of the player in order to trigger sounds, sounds are now automatically queued when the player themselves triggers an action.

Other Miscellaneous Changes

• Updated the animation controller for the player, making certain animations look more realistic to match what is happening on the screen better.
• Player sound effects while moving (steps) now matches their respective animation for the 3D mode.
• Fixed a bug where the new jumping system would cause players to go straight through objects if they pressed the jump key while standing under them.
• Implemented auto camera switch for when the player holds an object when there is another object underneath (for stacking purposes).
• Optimized shadow system with directional light.
• Fixed performance issue when player dropping objects.

Next Steps

• Keep adding to level 1.
• Finishing touches for level 2.
• Integrate the poster-viewing mechanic into the game.
• Keep looking into how to predict the motion of objects as a player drops them.
• Trigger Overlook when player exits area, instead of playing it when the game starts, added option in the pause menu to replay overlook.
• Have an option to disable shadow volume for spotlights.
• Wrap up ⁉️