Work Preparation:

This week, we were occupied with preparations for the half presentation. We were delighted to receive significantly more positive feedback from the Playtest Night this Tuesday, which reinforced our confidence in the direction we’re heading.

As we aim for our next milestone, the Game Developer Conference on Mar 18th, we’ve set some rather ambitious goals. We intend to introduce another enemy type, develop some combat animations, implement a dialogue system, establish a Hum upgrade system, and iterate on shadow puzzles while expanding environmental interactions. Although this scope presents a challenge, we are determined to showcase something good to players at GDC.

Playtest Night 2/20:

We returned to the Hunt Library for another playtest this Tuesday. This time, we introduced a ranged enemy into the map, updated our level, and incorporated additional visual guidance to help players understand where to go. Additionally, we provided players with a paper map outlining goals. The feedback we received this time was much more positive, indicating that players are enjoying the changes we made, both to the technical aspects and the level design. Here are some key points of feedback that stood out to the team during the playtest:

• Start to see scale when they are near book piles or shelf or furnace -> maybe never a full screen w/o scale insight 
• Control feel way better now, esp the tilt control 
• Want more feedback on enemies, when will they attack 
• Want the map fills in after explored 
• Want to increase the attack range 
• Make enemies knock back and escape & dodge instead of having to kill them all 
• After light goes out, going through all the darkness and reach bonfire feels good 
• Can player still move/ attack while in Hum mode 
• need metrics / heat map to record data better 
• Trying to solve the shadow puzzle in Hum follow mode is almost impossible

New In-game Asset the Thematic Map:

Over this week preparing for the halves presentation, the team became aware of the importance of integrating level design with themes of the map in order to generate an immersive gameplay experience. Lutong, the environment artist of the team, came up with art direction solutions to the map and sketched out the concept design based on the current level map. This helped artists to get a better sense of the asset plan, objects that serve as indirect controls during the game loop, and the relationship with the overarching narratives.

Enemy State Machine:

The designs we put in place for enemy AI and attacks made the implementation of this ranged enemy a breeze. We needed to adapt the EnemyAgro state into a ranged version; instead of moving towards the player, the state causes enemies with ranged attacks to shoot at their target. The actual projectile attack is essentially just a hitbox on wheels – it functions the same as any other attack. Enemy behavior is still not at all sophisticated; they are limited to running at you forever or standing still and trying to shoot at you. Next steps for enemy AI will include establishing more complex patterns of behavior.

The Project Development Timeline:

As we approach the Halves milestone and actively seek feedback from players, we are gaining clarity on the systems we desire and the design directions we wish to pursue. Now is an opportune moment for us to solidify clearer plans and goals for the final stretch. As a team, we made a plan that is applicable to our team and appears feasible.

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
• Shader and graphics improved
• Ranged enemy prototyped
• Mite done 50%
• Finished some small assets in game
• React to the playtest night feedback
• Weekly blog

Plan for next week:

• Make a build for the Tuesday Playtest Night
• Add more shadow puzzle 1,2,3
• Hum burst implementation
• Finish mite (slime enemy) implementation
• More mite(slime enemy) animation
• Level design polished
• Iterate on the level greybox
• Draw more smaller assets for the level
• React to the playtest night feedback
• React to the half presentation 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 the next milestone – GDC
• Need to make sure systems are in scope
• Need to think about creative ways to implement light and shadow into mechanics