We started working on the changes that we decided to implement before Softs next week. We also got feedback on our playtest day build from our SME.
We also got a chance to get our level playtested by an ETC alumni, Göksu Uğur who is the Lead AI & Progression Systems Programmer at Santa Monica Studio and recevied suggestions and feedback on what we have achieved and things that we can improve.
What we did this week?
Programming:
- Gameplay:
- Enabled controllers as a kind of input device: updated some of the tip texts, added different instructions to the actions
- Added a new main menu before the whole game level.
- Fixed bugs: dash direction, camera lock, teleportation target.
- Refined the game UI: made the health & mana & vision bars much simpler, added new sprites to dash charges
- Polished all the checkpoints to make sure the player is always facing the right direction after respawning.
- Updated the level jumping function in the menu: players can choose to jump to any act they want.
- Added more sound effects.
- Added mouse sensitivity adjustment in the menu settings.
Level Design:
- We made changes to Act 1 and removed red cubes from it that we had placed earlier and improved the pathing of the waterfall in that area as players were not sure if they had to go down from it.
- We made the platforming near the balance scale a little easier because we observed that a lot of playtesters during the Playtest day were struggling to get up there.
- We created an end cinematic for the level that shows how the energy returns to the core once the boss is defeated and the energy core stabilizes.
Art and VFX:
- Added an option to reverse the direction of the magic flow effects
- Worked on the effect for the energy core. The energy core is the final destination in our level. In the narrative, it becomes unstable due to the explosion. The player’s mission is to restore and stabilize the core.
Material Graph
Blueprint for the States Transition
Unstable State
Unstable State
Production:
- We worked on the task list that we had decided last week and we also invited a few people to playtest and get more data and observations from the tests.
Some challenges we faced and their solutions
Level Design:
Problems –
- We found that the last Arena was a little small for the boss fight to happen in a satisfying way and also the enegy core seemed a little simple compared to the rest of the level.
Solutions-
- We decided to make the Arena area bigger and more open to give an epic feeling during the boss fight and to reimagine the energy core structure and make it into something more related to the theme of the game.
Things to do for next week:
- Prepare demo for softs
- Fix bugs and start preparation for final presentation
