CAGD 370 - Sprint 3

 CAGD 370 - Sprint 3

Work Completed

Tech Demo Level

For this sprint, I created the level for the tech demo. This level was created during a time before the player could shoot gels where they please. I had initially placed the actual pads themselves onto the floor of the level. As a result, when the pads were removed, there was a lack of utility for certain gels and the level could be completed far sooner than anticipated. Most players could get through the level solely through the bounce gel which created a lack of interest in other gels. In the future, levels will be far more refined since the base mechanics are now in place.

Another goal reached during this sprint was the completion of new obstacles that will encourage or even force the player to diversify their use of gels. The first obstacle created is a wall that moves back and forth between two points. This is intended to be used in scenarios where there is no ground to rely on, so the player will need to stick to the wall in order to move forward.

Blueprint for Moving Wall

The second obstacle is a massive hammer that swings very quickly at its peak. I imagine the level designer can use this to force the player into a situation in which the speed gel is necessary to use to avoid being hit.

Blueprint for Hammer Obstacle

Another aspect of the game I worked on this sprint was the sticky gel. It is now functioning as I want. It slows the player's walk and fall speed to a point that feels natural. The only thing left to make it working perfectly is to have it so that the player can jump from the gel and have it boost them up. This shouldn't be as hard since I can make it so the gel is destroyed when the player wants to jump as well as utilize some functionality from the bounce gel to boost them when they leave the overlap event.

Blueprint for Sticky Gel

Overall, there were a lot of necessary mechanics that were developed over the course of this sprint.

Testing New Features Added

Development Experience

I believe now that we have the core parts of our game implemented that we will now be able to refine the game and make much more progress with our game than we have in the previous sprints. This process has made me realize how important it is to get the core parts of the game done early so that you can have more time to refine those systems. It also lets you get more quality feedback from playtesting since, if the core mechanics are not fully implemented, you most likely already know what needs to be changed. This sprint has been different in that we were able to get much more done because we have our core systems down.

Problems

One of the problems I encountered was finding a way to have the sticky gel have more functionality. In the tech demo, there was absolutely no point to it and it confused most play testers. The level itself did not do much to promote its use even if it was properly implemented regardless.

Another problem was making the sticky gel slow the player down without it having the player be in practically zero gravity when they leave the gel. Setting the gravity scale to something different was what seemed like the best solution to getting the player to fall slowly, but it came with the aforementioned drawback.

Solutions

To solve these problems, I took out a few nodes that adjusted the player's max fall speed and opted to switch it out for the gravity scale alone. This was a good idea as it created the desired effect, but the problem was the character would be able to jump extremely high and fall slowly afterwards. To solve this, I set the velocity of the player to zero before and after they overlap with the gel.

Current Work

I'm currently working on a checkpoint system that will allow the player to spawn at newly assigned positions in the level. After that I will be working on getting the gels to be decals instead of boxes and having them be able to be tracked properly on moving walls. I will also be working on the effects for when the gel is sprayed onto a surface.