This week, in addition to contributing to the proposal slides, I have started work on the game project in Unity (Github link here). There has been some progress on programming game mechanics as well as some team discussion of the art direction of the game and the interface between the controllers and the game. Progress on the game is on schedule.
Programming Progress
Most of the gameplay related to module input has been implemented:
- Harpoon and net guns aim by rotating clock / counterclockwise according to input
- Shield rotates according to input
- Submarine moves left/right based on steering input and motor rotates accordingly
- Speed of submarine descent can be increased / decreased according to input
- Harpoon gun shoots projectiles and reloads
- Net gun does not shoot / reload yet (will come back to this once more art is done)
- No battery / charging (will come back to this when it comes time for UI implementation)
- Camera follows submarine
- Offscreen projectiles are destroyed
For the sake of playtesting and making things more convenient for the user, the game should be playable using either the custom-made controllers or standard controllers or keyboard, so inputs to submarine behavior need to be standardized in order to accept information from any of the controller options. For next week, my main goal is to finish setting this up, including a controller selection system, varying input processing methods depending on what kind of controller the player is using, and a module availability tracking system (for standard controller / keyboard only), as well as some basic UI.
Art Direction Progress
Did some thumbnailing to determine the general vibe of the art we will go for. We had a discussion as a group regarding potential art styles inspired by other games, and in the end I have decided to go for something similar to Night In the Woods or Later Alligator, although this may evolve as we work on it more.
Each “level” is planned to be themed around different zones of the ocean, with MVP being one level corresponding to the Epipelagic Zone with 3 enemy types. Art is not a focus for the next week, but depending on the progress made on programming goals, I will also try to make some progress on finalizing and implementing background colors and the sprites for the submarine.