Presentation and Graphics

Presentation and Graphics

This week I further developed the script for the Enemies, as I mentioned in last week's Devlog they were not moving at correct speed when uploading to itch.io, although many changes were made, I believe that some pursuit and attack functions may have been moved to make sure they were under Update methods rather than FixedUpdate method. It resulted in the correct speeds when the game was played on itch.io.

Based on some feedback I received, I decided to implement a crosshair into the game to assist with aiming when shooting. I drew a simple crosshair in GIMP and exported it as a (.png file) into my assets for the game. I also attached a CrosshairController script to change the mouse cursor to the crosshair sprite for when in the main scene.

I also drew a first aid kit sprite in GIMP and exported it to my game assets. I set this up by scripting on the Enemy health script so that when they die, they drop a first aid kit at a certain percentage, which is adjustable in the inspector. When the player runs into the first aid kit, it completely restores the player's health bar.

I started my UI scoreboard system and menu buttons. The scoreboard is a scoreboard which will display your time to finish the level and then tell you what the best time is, and if you have the best time, you can enter your initials and have it saved.

The overall process of initially creating what was needed was a reasonably smooth process, however when it came to get the scripting correct and getting it all to work together, with the scene change, sounds, music, and even first aid kits interfered with it at one point, causing errors in the console. At the same time, I was setting up the Escape Cave feature which pops up once you have found the three explorers. This all had to be tied in with scripting for the scoreboard to record the correct time for completing the game level.

It took a significant amount of time to get things to work and then where I could test it and finish the game level, and then be able to enter my initials which would then be displayed as the fastest score if applicable.

Problems encountered with setting up the scoreboard were numerous, from music overlapping and running multiple instances when switching between scenes, to first aid kits causing it to freeze in unity due to them not being destroyed on scene change. These problems were likely amplified by working on multiple ideas and scripts during the same session. After a long time working on it, the very next day after a short amount of time I was able to fix the scoreboard completely and the initials were finally being stored and saved. The initials problem was probably in the end a small oversight, with the script not allowing it to save correctly when input via the input field and the submit button pushed. At this time, the scoreboard is in reasonably good working order for the game. 

Feedback

I asked for and received some feedback on the game.  The music was set at a high volume initially so received some comments about it being a bit too loud.  Comments regarding the UI, that it wasn't scaling for itch.io.  Also, that a hold to shoot functionality would be nice for the game, however that it was still satisfying to eliminate the enemies.

Feedback on the newly created explorers was positive. One tester commented they had felt lost in the level but assumed that was the point of it. They also commented that some sprites/tiles were bleeding and that I could fix it by adding padding to the tiles.

Additional

During the feedback, I was shown how to make the minimap, and a minimap was created. Fog of war for the minimap is still a work in progress. However, the minimap itself is looking fine at the moment, and I find it useful to the game play. I've now changed the volume of the music and sounds to a good level. The UI scoreboard and buttons are now anchored and they scale correctly with itch.io. I looked into adding more padding to the tiles and sprites, at this time no changes have been made to those. The game still requires decorations and hazardous environment features, as well as the flood system to be setup. Sound and music will likely be refined, changed, and updated in the coming weeks.