Posted May 18, 2025 by Ooli Sands
#devlog #update
DevLog #5: Creating Immersion.
Welcome to DevLog #5, this weeks topic was Presentation and Graphics, because of my simple style in both game and art, I didn't have a lot to add this week, so the DevLog will be short. What I did add, however, changed the whole feel of the game.
With the wonderfully short intro over and done with, lets get started.
New Additions This Week:
Like I stated before, I didn't have a lot of graphics to change, so what I did instead was make a more immersive background.
This is done with a simple particle system with a size just slightly larger than the camera, and the transform of the particle effect is attached to the camera.
I also added some simple HUD elements.
A simple indication of dash cooldown, and also a second way to tell the player of jump. (player colour also changes)
Another addition was that of a timer and of stats.
Very simple, the timer starts when you start and finishes when you finish, not much to say.
Stats are as shown here.
Everything is calculated from the 'player states' isGround, isWallJumping, etc, the most complicated stat here is average life span which uses a simple equation ((Final Time - Idle Time)/Deaths) this was the simplest way to keep a realistic average life span the the player went AFK for a period of time.
I also added nice particles to the player for different movements.
Both a wall sliding effect and a jump effect have been added. Just simple emersion.
I also changed the placement of the checkpoints.
The intention of this is that players will have to take a slightly non optimal path to collect the checkpoint, and can avoid it for high risk high reward in the speed run.
Another change you may have noticed is the big 0/3 at the end. This is an additional little challenge I added to showcase different unique mechanics that came from how I designed the game. I will leave the secrete on how to complete them a secret however.
AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT!!
I have added background music, sound FX for jump, dash, wall jump, walking, wall sliding, and deaths/respawns. Sadly I can't display these in a gif.
Feedback From Testing:
This week there was a bit of a distraction from the regular play testing so no feedback was provided.
[Author Note: there was one bit of feedback and that was to freeze player movement for a fraction of a second after respawning, this will stop players from holding movement buttons and inevitably running into walls the instant they respawn. Great bit of feed back and I will definitely be implementing.]
Feedback Implemented:
"An easy way to compete" - Done!! Implemented the stats as I have shown.
The player "jumps remaining' colour system is confusing. It was 2 = orange, 1 = yellow, and 0 = red. Now it is 2 = yellow, 1 = orange, and 0 = red still.
What's Next?:
Next implementation should be majority, if not all, UI. I hope to add a second game mode captioned "Lindsay Mode" purely for the fact it sounds cool and no other reason, that has at least 100 + checkpoints.
I do also want to add a particle effect telling you if you got a checkpoint even though no one has mentioned it yet.
References:
Pixabay (n.d.). Pixabay. [online] Pixabay.com. Available at: https://pixabay.com/.