We worked on adding more gameplay elements and enemies to our level as per the feedback from our SME and added cinematic sequences to the level.
We also worked on remaking the gym level for a better player tutorial experience and to incorporate the changes that we made in other parts of the level.
What we did this week?
Programming:
- Gameplay:
- Added cinematic sequences to levels.
- Updated dialogue system: auto-playing dialogues.
- Added level control: record some data between levels.
- Updated vision change: add vision mana bar, improve light change.
- Fixed gameplay bugs
- Combat and Enemy Design:
- Made various enemy spawners for level designers to use.(faced a very challenging obstacle here due to the enemies will lose their AI controller when spawned in the world rather than placing them in, took very long time to account for this)
- Worked with level designers to change the combat of the falling bridge level.
- Fixed a good number of bugs that caused the enemies to attack each other and sometimes cannot hit the player correctly.
- Adjusted the hitbox for various abilities for the enemies, making their attacks align with the VFX so player will not be surprised they are hit when the VFX do not indicate this.
Level Design:
- We finished blocking out the Arena area
- We finished blocking out Act 2 and implemented a position switch puzzle with a giant balance scale to lift up the door that blocks the player from moving forward.
- We started to refine Act 4 after the vision change as players found it difficult to find the correct direction to go and how to reach there.ย
- We also remade the gym level to include the position switch ability, the fall damage prevention in water as well as the enemies and made it into a coherent flow.
Art and VFX:
- Worked on Magical Mist effects
Assets List
Flipboos Textures are Created using Niagara
Magical Mist Lingering in the Air
- We worked on Magic flow effects. Energy flow is magic channeled from the city’s energy core. Recognizing its importance as both a visual effect and a player guide, we developed it into a spline tool for our designer to use easily.
Assets List
Easy to Implement by designers
Magic Flow in the Level
- We worked on Distortion effects. This effect is applied to objects that are influenced by the residual abnormal energy in the city, enhancing the environmental storytelling with additional detail.
Assets List
Distortion Effects Applied on Assets
Production:
- We started prioritizing tasks that can help us achieve a fully playable level from start to finish by Playtest day.
- We found out areas where players were getting confused and with the help of the VFX team, gameplay programmer and enemy programmer.
Some challenges we faced and their solutions
Level Design:
Problems –
- We found that players did not notice there there was a huge scale that needed to be lowered to lift the door up.
- Some players were not able to remember in Act 4 about the red cubes which confused them when they try to solve the puzzle.
- The narrative goal of the level was not clear to the players in addition to the sequence of events.
Solutions-
- We decided to frame the scale better so that it is visible from a distance and also added a dialogue when the player first sees it so that they know that it is a scale. We also added dialogue near the door as well as the other side of scale to make the player think about the puzzle.
- We added the red cube puzzle with the scale in Act 2 which made players remember the function of the position switching cubes and now they were able to remember how and when to use those cubes.
- We added cinematic sequences to the beginning in act 1 to show some part of the level, another one when the scale lifts up so that the sequence of events is more clear for the players.
- Also, we added an interaction after the balance where the player has to interact with a statue and after doing so, it triggers an enemy attack which summons a few more enemies. This helped in clearing the sequence of events further.
Things to do for next week:
- Prepare the level for playtest day
- Make the whole environment consistent.
- Make a questionnaire survey for playtesters.
- Find a way to catch-up players with the backstory of the game before the level.
