Week 9

On Week 9, the team went to their third Playtest Night. They also made significant progress on gameplay programming and main level.

Playtest Night #3

On Tuesday, we went to our third Playtest Night and received valuable feedback regarding the main level block-out and gameplay. We were excited to see that people were excited to try our game and were lining up for a chance to play. In addition, we observed that players enjoyed the game and had an average playtime around 15-20 minutes, even without majority of the game content implemented. They highly enjoyed bouncing around in the world with the current mechanics.

One of the most valuable feedback we gained was that player had the instinct that basic tricks fuels up double jump bar, and then advanced tricks would add points. This perfectly solves our previous issue of logically integrating tricks into gameplay, and we immediately decided to adopt this feature. In addition, based on player reaction, we decided that the most important next steps would be:

  • Front and back flip feature
  • Basic tricks for fueling the double jump
  • Advance tricks add points/claps/cheers
  • Add points for tricks by next week
  • Pause menu with controls

We also received feedback on some existing features that can be improved:

  • Game Programming
    • Change the boost to trigger, so that player can orient camera while boosting
    • More tilt angle to enable wall jump
      • Wall jump inconsistent
    • Freeze the boost bar after a boost until the next jump
  • VFX/Art
    • Double jump animation or fire vfx for double jump
  • Environment
    • Remove the arrow that looks like slider
    • Higher wall indication between tutorial and main level

Gameplay Update

By the end of the week, we’ve updated the following gameplay content:

New Game Mechanics:

  • Front and Backflip
  • Basics Tricks -> Fill up double jump bar
  • Double Jump -> Enables advanced trick
  • Advanced trick -> Add “Cheers”

Game Flow:

  • Coins collected can unlock props (4 props in total)
  • Cheers collected can unlock outfits (4 outfit pieces in total)

Others:

  • Pause menu with controls
  • Main UI integrated
  • Tutorial hints in progress

Art Update

We finished modeling and texturing the main props required in game.

We also started on the “Performance Outfit” re-texturing.

Level and Environment Update

We updated the main level map and lighting. In addition, we also finished the toon shaded skybox and integrated into the map.

UI Update

We also had major UI update that fits our current version of the gameplay. The main game UIs are integrated into the game. We also integrated a controls image into pause menu so that player can be reminded of the controls. We also started developing tutorial hints to guide the players.

VFX Update

We developed a tracking spotlight that follows the character around.

Camera Clipping Solution

Previously, we’ve run into the problem of camera clipping into the character occasionally. We worked around this issue by making the character temporarily transparent when the character gets too close to the camera. This solution was inspired by similar games.

Our next big milestone would be the Playtest Saturday on Week 10. Before then, our goals are:

  • Game content from Start -> Performance fully finished
  • Playtest Goals for next Saturday:
    • If tutorial hints intuitive enough
    • If player can progress through the game
    • Player engagement
    • If mechanics are too easy or too frustrating