Welcome back! 

This week we got a green light to start on the production fase 01 for our project! We're excited to show what we've been working on, and tell you guys what we still are going to do in the next production weeks. 

This week we started with a brainstorm session again, to look if the game was still possible. We sadly lost a developer 3 weeks ago but with good news we could use blueprinting instead of c++.  Because of this we thought that it still was possible to work on our project but our scope was too big for one developer(Sintjia) and an artist(Leon, who now helps in the blueprinting coding).

Programming:

On the programming side we moved the current mechanics from the prototype file the a developing file. This gave us the opportunity to structure and refine our existing blueprints. We changed from a free for all to a two versus two type of game. We now have multiple button linked with multiple door. Furthermore we implemented a throw mechanic. The main mechanics in our game are as follows:

The first one is the dash mechanic. A dash gives the player a speed boost. Connected with the ability to dash is an energy meter. The meter makes sure the player can’t dash around the map constantly. A full energy meter gives the player three dash. So one dash costs one thirds of the meter. The meter replenishes over time. If the player dashed into an enemy character the enemy player will be stunned and if he is holding a scrap, it will be dropped. The player gets also stunned if he dashes into the wall and if he is holding the scrap, it will respawn at the scrap spawn location. The final feature of dashing is when a player uses all three dashes into another player, then the other player dies and respawn at the furnace.

Secondly, the player can throw the scrap. the scrap is thrown the direction in which the character is looking. The scrap is physics based so it can bounce of a wall. We also implemented that the players can score with a throw. This feature is mainly for a possible other direction we will take for the game. More about this later in the devlog.

Thirdly the buttons and the doors. We change this mechanics so we have multiple buttons linked with multiple door inside the level. We hoped this would make the level and teamplay more interesting. At last he conveyor belts. Now the conveyor belt are not linked to a button anymore. So the belt have only one direction.

Art:

A big thing that was changed for this week is the level map itself. Our first map was not that fun to play in so, Tamy took over this task. She started with making some designs on paper. This was the quickest way to get many different designs. 

Out of those designs we play tested which ones where the most fun. We had four favourite designs. So, these designs Tamy made them in a block-out in unreal to really test them with the mechanics we already had. 

After play testing these four block-outs we chose one to develop further. We thought that that level was the most fun because it looked and felt the most as an arena type level. Of course we did some small changes in this level. There were too much doors and buttons in one level. So, we removed the middle doors and a lot of buttons around it. With this we were happy with so we started play testing the mechanics in this level.

Assets:

Assets was the next big step for our artists. 

Jasper designed and modelled our scrap asset this week. Next to the character robot and furnace is the scrap an important asset in our game.  

Sound:

Jake have been assisting the team in testing and designing our level to figure out how we can take advantage of our mechanics through level design to create the best gameplay experience possible. 

As well as this he have been starting creation of our audio assets and have completed first versions for Scrap deposit, Pick up scrap, Player stun and Dashing, now ready for feedback from the team. He have also started work on the SFX for Scrap spawning and the furnace roar after scoring.

conclusion:

After the weekend we could finally playtest our game with more than two people. Unfortunately we  to the conclusion that this type of gameplay is not fun at all and even with the updated map, new door and button and the throw mechanic. So we’re thinking about change the type of game but simultaneously not throwing away too much work. This change will need to be discussed with our mentors to see what is possible it the limited timespan. 

For next week:

We are going to start this week with having a meeting with our mentors to see how we can iterate and change our project to have a fun result. From this we will see what is possible in the short period of time we have. When a solution is found we’ll work hard to realize the project and have a fun result. We will post very soon with the updates of our project!

and see from there what we all still can do in this short period of time.