Preparation for Halves Presentation

This week, our goal was to implement all the assets and designs we have created, organize our progress, and prepare for the Halves presentation that will take place the following Monday.

This week, our team focused on preparing for the Halves presentation while continuing development on character design, VFX, and environment assets. A large portion of the week was spent refining slides, scheduling practice sessions, and ensuring that our presentation was clear, engaging, and consistent.

In parallel, we continued developing the third team’s character, working to make it visually distinct through shape language and color choices while maintaining coherence with the existing two teams. On the art side, we created textures for the pit stop and torch, iterated on character VFX including flame and trail effects, and polished environmental assets to improve readability and cohesion. Challenges included achieving motion and depth in shaders for the car trail effect, maintaining a consistent visual style across all assets, and stabilizing camera perspectives using Cinemachine, which caused slight delays due to damping. Throughout the week, the team also tested gameplay systems to ensure that visual effects integrated smoothly and reinforced player feedback.

In addition to art and design improvements, we continued refining the VFX systems to enhance gameplay clarity and immersion. Flame particle systems were adjusted for emission rate and velocity to create a more dynamic and responsive effect, and new visual approaches for cheering interactions were explored.

The team also focused on polishing environment layouts and audience assets to ensure the arena felt complete and visually engaging. Preparing for the presentation allowed us to identify remaining challenges and prioritize next steps, such as expanding the VFX library with explosions and fireworks, finalizing character effects, and optimizing flame and particle systems for consistency across different gameplay scenarios. These improvements will help the game feel more cohesive, immersive, and ready for further playtesting.