Work Preparation:

This week, we delved into the insights gained from our second Playtest Night at the Hunt Library, where players shared valuable feedback on various aspects of our game. Notably, players expressed a desire for more interaction with Hum, our companion character, prompting us to give it more verbs and devise an upgrade system to enhance its abilities. This system introduces a new light power for Hum, allowing players to stun enemies in combat and solve puzzles more dynamically. Additionally, we addressed player feedback regarding puzzle difficulty and interaction mechanics, aiming to refine the gameplay experience.

In parallel, our artists have been diligently crafting in-game assets, leveraging tools like Spyrtile to enhance visual depth and detail.Furthermore, we implemented some smaller assets into the game world, ensuring scale and color consistency to enrich player immersion.

Second Playtest Night:

We had our second Playtest Night at the Hunt Library this Tuesday! It was very exciting to hear more about people’s thoughts on the shadow puzzle, as we didn’t get to playtest it last week due to some technical issues. Here are some key feedback points that stood out to the team during the playtest:

• want to climb/jump on things
• more stuff to do with Hum, want Hum to have more verbs
• ignored the puzzle when walked by the first time
• had difficulty solving the puzzle using mouse and keyboard, someone wanted to make a big shadow to turn all lights off at once, someone thought the puzzle mechanic hard to get, thought the goal was to light all blocks
• like plant interactions
• like physics interactions but don’t know what they are for yet
• like to control two things
• want light and shadow in combat as well
• still can’t see the scale

We’re also swiftly responding to the feedback we received. We held a meeting to discuss which feedback and changes to prioritize, and devised a plan for addressing some of the issues and implementing new systems desired by players.

Poster and Half-sheet:

We wanted the process of creating the poster to also serve as an opportunity to explore some key art. With this in mind, Derek sketched two scenes, one illustrating the main character discovering one of the giant’s remains, the other picturing the nomadic group playing their instruments together around a bonfire. We decided that the discovery of a skull is more provocative, but reused the bonfire version for the back of our half sheet.

Testing assets with Spyrtile and Smaller Assets Made:

This week, artists proceed creating additional in-game assets for player interaction. The design of a small asset, the inkwell, has been finalized and tested in Unity to ensure accurate scale and color consistency within the overall scene. Furthermore, artists have successfully implemented Sprytile to achieve a 3D view of the red book, allowing for future rotation capabilities. This technique will be broadly applied to similar small assets with boxy shapes. The team will continue to produce more small assets characterized by cube and boxy shapes, facilitating movement and rotation within the game environment.

An Upgrade System for Hum

From the Playtest Night, we received feedback from playtesters expressing a desire for more activities involving Hum. Additionally, people expressed the hope for more puzzles or combat scenarios that utilize Hum’s abilities, which would encourage separate control of Hum. In response to this feedback, the designers on the team held a brainstorming session. We decided to grant Hum a new light power, allowing it to emit energy bursts that stun enemies in combat and can also be used in puzzles. While many objects in the environment will react to Hum’s light, some will require a greater intensity of light. For these objects, Hum’s light bursts will be particularly useful.

Based on this new mechanic, Annie designed a Hum upgrade system. Initially, Hum possesses only one major power, the light power. Within this power, players can use a currency earned by lighting candles and repairing the house to unlock various power-ups, such as extending the duration of the light or increasing the duration of enemy stun. Upon clearing an area and completing significant repairs to the house, Hum becomes stronger and gains a new power, such as fire.

We hope this new system will provide players with more rewards for exploration and encourage them to explore the house more thoroughly.

Progress Report:

• Merged systems together and make a build for the Tuesday Playtest Night
• Improved the level layout
• Iterated on the level greybox
• F-mod for adding audios in game
• Planned for small assets for the level
• Finished some small objects in game
• React to the playtest night feedback
• Hum controller polished, supported tilted control
• Weekly blogs
• Website polished

Plan for next week:

• Make a build for the Tuesday Playtest Night
• Add more shadow puzzle 1,2,3
• Hum burst implementation
• Hum upgrade system
• Ranged enemy prototyped
• Slime enemy prototyped
• IP form signed
• Level design and reward design meetings
• Iterated on the level greybox
• Draw more smaller assets for the level
• React to the playtest night feedback
• Weekly blogs

Challenge:

• Need to explore the design possibilities and get feedback from playtesters
• Need to prioritize the feedback we got and set goals for halves
• Prepare for the halves presentation
• Need to think about creative ways to implement light and shadow into mechanics