Week 5: Feb. 15-21, 2025

Summary

We spent most of this week working in our respective subteams to prepare for the playtest feedback and the game alpha demo.    

Timeline

1. February 19: Held a CS team meeting to share updates, current statuses, and discuss implementation plans/details for pet actions (front paw use, tail use) and the procedural animation for the pet. 
2. February 20: Met up with the TA and recieved feedback through playtest. Discussed feedback as a team and re-assigned priorities accordingly. 

Progress

• Finished more assets required for levels 0 and 1 (kettle, lamp, etc.) and updated the pet models to be fully rigged.
• Set up new pet models and are currently working on animating the pet with its rigs through procedural animation
• Created a playerManager to manage gameplay and components of individual player. 
• Created instruction floating text for Attic (to guide players through the level) + prompt players to explore and see what else they can interact with. 
• Finished actions - jump, charged jump, and grab. Implemented preliminary switching mechanic.
• Set up attic with more interactive items.
• Set up camera tracking to handle when the pet is connected vs separated. 
• Fixed bugs: gravity inconsistency, game crashing when attemping to separate pet, back half not moving whole pet, model falling over

Challenges

• Faced issues with procedural animation. Setting up the walking motion for the pet was more difficult than anticipated.
• Based on playtest feedback, game requires a way to incentivize the co-op element, additionally more focus is needed on populating world with fun things to do rather than realism. 
• Tasks were confusing to understand, needed a way for the user to learn what they need to do. Our solution to this was adding instruction floating text. 

Next Steps 

• Fix Bugs:
  • Switching mechanic bug: the catFront + dogBack will not be connected after a switch
  • Splitting mechanic: should it also work when players pull apart in other directions (i.e., not just W & downArrow, but also A & rightArrow, D & leftArrow, S & upArrow)
  • Fix climbing orientation
• Polish Attic Demo: Refine task pacing and set up attic with more interactable elements. 
• Start building out the Living Room Level.
• Integrate sound effects into all elements of the attic level.  
• Continue with procedural animations for movement.
• Finish actions for pet (front paw use, tail use)

Links & Resources

GitHub:  https://github.com/annechoww/Frankenpets