Week 1 - Enter Sack

I have begun to develop a new project, titled for the time being "Sack Investigation". The project is designed to start small and for more features to be added as development continues to prevent burnout. Currently the initial setup for the project is done and now in future weeks I can focus on specific aspects such as style or gameplay.

Block out Level

It was very important to me to create a space that could help me envision the end product my project may take shape to. Therefore I created a simple block out with objects that could stimulate imagination. Its a similar concept to giving a kid Lego and letting their creativity take over. It gives you something to work with without a concrete definition of what it should be.

I prefer to work in passes and try to save my work in increments. It gives me great perspective on the evolution of my work and gives me the opportunity to step back if need be. The first pass is about the shaping of the level layout, how much space I want for each area. The second pass started to fill in on the details of the environment with trims or generic objects. The final pass was used to ensure the models were properly UV unwrapped and trialling potential colour palettes. 

Prototype Animation

I do want this project to be animation heavy however I wanted to keep it basic for the moment for a few reasons. Firstly, I needed to make sure other aspects of the game were ready first before I could introduce animations. I am also not entirely sure if I want to continue to keep using the current rig. By making my own rig for a sack, it would help with legality issues, give me a deeper understanding of the rig I am using and just all around a better sense of accomplishment. I still believe that game developers should feel more comfortable using other peoples work because it can be extremely helpful and allow us to focus on what we want.

Multiplayer Functionality

The current build I am using for prototyping is not multiplayer but this doesn't mean I don't plan to make a multiplayer release. I chose to revert the project back to single player because I want as much feed back as possible and I want the game to be accessible. By not making it multiplayer, I can post the game in the HTML stopping the need for people to download my game just to play it. Converting the game back to server based multiplayer wont be too difficult as all of the functionality is still in project but not currently active.

I want to prioritise fluent movement in my project to open levels up to platforming and precision movement. Therefore I have started to pick apart the Unity inbuilt character controller with the combine functions of Cinemachine. I do want to investigate more on what makes movement feel good to players and see how I can emulate it in my own work. One of the features I have already programmed into my project is "Coyote Timing". Essentially it gives the player a brief time period after they left the ground to still jump. It makes the game feel more forgiving and stops disruption to the fluency to the players gameplay.