Programming

Hi everyone, we're back with another week of programming. We have entered the polishing stage, so our focus has shifted to enhancing player feedback and experience.

Haptic feedback

Controllers now provide haptic feedback, adding an immersive experience. For instance, you'll feel vibrations when the ball breaks or when you collide with another player. Even when you are defeated, the controller will vibrate to simulate the impact. Additionally, there is a noticeable vibration when your energy is depleted, eliminating the need to constantly check your energy bar.

Death mechanic

The diaper is now visually represented on the screen when it's not in use. It disappears when it's used and reappears when it's ready to be used again.

Furthermore, the crosshair's artwork changes its material based on the player's color. This means that you can now identify which player is knocking you off the map with diapers by observing the modified crosshair.

Hazards

The trampoline's logic has been improved, resulting in increased bouncing on the inside. This enhancement ensures a more dynamic and enjoyable gameplay experience.

Furthermore, to enhance fairness and balance, jump/trampoline hazards will no longer spawn after the vortex or in a hard curve. This adjustment prevents potential instances of unfair obstacles and promotes a more consistent and strategic gameplay environment.

Bugs

The baby animation has been fixed (No longer goes out of the ball and baby stays the same size).

When experiencing low FPS and falling off the map, a glitch occurred that caused the player to repeatedly land with a loud sound and a visual landing effect.

The wheel was invisible last version, this issue has also been resolved.

Art

Modeling

Simple buildings

During the last sprint, we encountered difficulties with the Level of Detail (LOD) for the background buildings. To address this, we decided to minimize our dependence on the LODs by reducing the number of buildings that require them. In order to prevent an empty void behind these remaining complex buildings, we created a few simpler models. These models consist of basic boxes with roofs added on top. The materials applied to these models are designed to mimic the appearance of the complex buildings. It's important to note that these buildings will only be visible from a far distance, so they do not need to be overly detailed.

Crosshair

Currently, the dead players were provided with a red ball that served as a visual guide for targeting the diaper bomb. However, this feature has been recently enhanced to incorporate a genuine crosshair, as shown in the following image:

VFX

Sparkle effect

To enhance the bomb diaper, we sought to add an extra touch of flair by simulating ignited the dynamite sticks. To achieve this, we devised a particle specifically designed for the purpose. The particle is composed of the following material that uses a specific texture.

we spawned a few of these with some emitting colors and the following look was achieved.

Sprinting effect

After receiving feedback regarding the sprinting effect, we made adjustments to the ball by incorporating two trails instead of just one. This change was made to enhance the visibility of the effect. Additionally, we introduced four distinct colors that correspond to the color of each player's ball.

Houdini

Previously, the chains responsible for supporting the track encountered a significant challenge: a sudden, jarring halt. This abrupt cessation drew attention to their singularity in a rather conspicuous manner. However, a transformative development has taken place. Presently, these chains employ a novel utility material that possesses the ability to gradually fade out materials based on the relative height of objects. As a result, the chains' hard stop is effectively concealed, rendering it far less noticeable. The previous surroundings within the game exhibited a number of shortcomings. They were burdened by an excessive weight and density that simply did not align with the desired dream-like atmosphere we aimed to create. Consequently, our pursuit of that ethereal quality remained elusive. This realization prompted a comprehensive overhaul of the surroundings. The new environment embraces a complete paradigm shift. The models employed for its construction are remarkably low-polygonal (as exemplified by the Simple Buildings), and they are dispersed throughout a voluminous cloud, revealing only the peaks of these structures, as if they were gently emerging from their airy cover. Significant strides have been made in enhancing the track collision mechanism, resulting in a noticeable reduction of random bumps and irregularities. While certain locations may still exhibit anomalous behavior, we are actively addressing these issues by undertaking a thorough revamp of the track's automatic unwrapping process.

Ending

Challenges and solutions where much of the tasks layed out this week, Textures fixed and added to: The Candy store was updated with a see through glass with candy designs layered on top on it to add more depth. Clouds were made to add dimension to the area, the initial design made up of transparent planes did not end up fitting into the scene, although in other engines the design seemed feasible, it failed to look good in Unity. The 2D finishing artwork is in process as well. The plan is to make 3 pages for the beginning of the game to illustrate the theme and the entering into the 'fantasy' world of the game and 3 to the end, signifying the exit from it. Adding to this Artwork for the Start screen as well.

Sound

Hey all! Just a bit longer until we’ve reached the end of this project, we’re in the polishing phase, while the rest of the team refines and fixes things in the game, I’ll be wrapping up the remaining sounds I’ve had laying on the backlog and putting them in the game. Although I do have to juggle my workload between 2 projects I’m split between. I’ve been working on the remaining hazards that are still missing their sounds. And looking into making some simple UI sounds for the starting menu. That’s all I’ve been able to get done this week, next week will be the final stretch of this project and I the end result will be satisfying!