BLOG ENTRY 33 - 07.29.2021

DEV STATUS

It’s been quite a month. I haven’t blogged since the beginning of the month due to life stuff, dentist, home maintenance etc. I have however been working hard on Prototype 4, and am happy to report good stuff has been done. I am very excited because I’m finally tackling the cover mechanic, It’s still buggy but It’s going somewhere great.

COVER SYSTEM

Cover Volumes and spline path prototypes.

Cover has been the mechanic I have had most problems with, considering there are very few comprehensive tutorials out there. Many skip on details or simply make it hacky. Working with the tutorials by Ryan Laley, I have managed to get the base of the cover system working. and I am working on bug fixes and will work on animations and polish as soon as I’m convinced that it feels mechanically correct, as in, not getting stuck IN the cover (current issue), bullets not colliding with the invisible volumes, etc.

I should have a better look at it by the end of next week, possibly with a slide animation, I know I have some, somewhere. I’m just not that good with animations yet, so It’ll be tough to get done for me, but I should be able to get something decent enough for it to look cool.

CLASS HUD PROTOTYPES

I have the idea of making most of the HUD custom to each class, while trying to keep consistency in how things are presented to the player. So far I’ve been working on some things in order to get the hud looking as distinct as possible without committing too much right now as these are marketplace assets and don’t have a coherent visual language. So eventually they will all need to be changed. For now I’m happy that they’re all working properly.

I have also relocated the equipment tab as well as the pause/exit menu. If I had them all active at once it was a mess, it didn’t look good at all. So I’m shifting some things around. and this is still very much a WIP as I still need to make room for the inventory system below the equipment. I feel I need to make some more decisions on where things are going to be placed in order for everything to make sense. Right now I’m more focused on the systems working properly, I’ll worry about style and polish when I get to it.

NEXT STEPS

I am at the point where I have all the pieces of my game, not counting art assets and 3d models, all systems and mechanics are available to me in some shape or form. So now it’s only a matter of making each piece, and making sure I can assemble the prototype in a way that works and is fun. I will finish the cover to make sure navigation and movement are complete, and then I will start working on the inventory and loot system. I also have some skills I need to work with and complete in all classes, so that’s another bit of work as well.

I’m still not sure whether or not to launch a patreon this soon in development. as I have no guarantee that I won’t get stuck and be unable to deliver. but I have already filmed an intro video, where I look very awkward, I’m always nervous on camera. once I skim through the footage and see where the game is as far as being patreon worthy, I’ll start making plans to launch that. In the meantime, gotta keep working on what I’ve got.

Getting Closer to the Beginning.

Daniel “Freaky” Aguilar

Game Designer

Plasmapunk Studios

Putting the Pieces together