Deadeye Gold: Production Blog 3

Hello everyone, once again this is Austin Moore with an update on the progress of Deadeye Desperado's development. Over the course of the past sprint, we got a lot of good work done. So, let's jump right into it.

Programming

A lot of the programming done in this sprint was more behind the scenes work, with adjustments to the player's aiming being the first of these. Before, the ability to aim down sights was really close to how you shoot normally, but now the sensitivity has been changed so it's a little different, to make precise aiming easier. In addition, the old combo system has been overhauled, now providing stronger effects when the colors are matched, rather than building it up. This will provide more immediate feedback and benefits to the player for matching the colors. And some new vfx have been brought into the game, and are being bound to the bullet types.

We also got a lot of work done on the enemy types, with adjustments to the current enemy behaviors to make them more fun and challenging, as well as the initial version of a new enemy type, seen above. This will be an enemy that floats around and shoots at you, and that teleports to some pre determined locations to get a better shot at you. This will add to the potential variety of the game, as we work on expanding this basis into the full enemy.

Level Design

We had a lot of work done in level design this sprint, but to begin we have 2 annotated maps in progress, one for the heal bullet combat areas and one for the shock bullet combat areas.

Beginning with the heal area, the current plan for this one is to have it be layered, with the player rising through each of these rooms in a cave until they reach the top and escape. The player will use the heal bullets ability to repair objects to create cover and repair bridges, and use the ladders to go up further.

Next, we got an initial layout of the shock level's combat area, with the gimmick of this one being machines that activate when you shoot the crystals with the shock bullet, doing things like opening doors and paths, moving platforms and the like. This one is still in progress, but so far we are happy with how it looks so far.

Next, we got a completed blockout of the blast areas combat rooms. In addition, however, we also got this area filled with the assets we have ready at the moment, to provide an initial layout for players to test in our playtest. So we have a first iteration of the level ready, though we do not have the specific assets for it ready yet. Even without that, we have the general layout and path the player will take in and able to be completed.

We have done a similar pass to the tutorial blockout, getting the geometry of the level ready and in the scene. Though this is still an initial version, we still have to add the decorative assets and lights. 

3D Modeling

Our 3D modelers have been hard at work this sprint, with work being done on the player character themselves and some modular and small assets.

As we can see in this image, we have the players arms and legs modeled and textured, and one of the UV sheets for the upper body. It matches the concept art really closely, and looks quite good too. Due to this being the part you'd see the most except for the gun, we needed these to be high quality.

Next, we have the pistol in progress. Like what we saw in the concept art, we have the knife on it attached at the moment, but that can be removed easily. We still have some touch ups to do to make it have the final design, but so far it's progressing smoothly.

We got a number of small assets done too, that will be used to populate these levels as well as provide some intractable objects for the player. Like this one, which will be used to replace the current barriers and will also show how many of the crystal locks you've dealt with.

We have a number of these that were done, so look forward to seeing them in game.

2D Art

Our 2D artists this sprint continued work on environmental concepts, and put a lot of work on the UI and menus that will be in game.

Beginning with environmental concepts, here we have some concept art for objects we could have to decorate the blast area. For these, we went with a theme of primarily explosives and mining, since those felt the most fitting. It is a level built around explosives after all.

Next, we have the assets for the upgrade menu completed. Here, we can see the icons for the 2 different upgrade materials, and backgrounds to show the rank of each upgrade. Going from stone to gold, this will let the player tell at a glance what rank they're at. In addition, we have some plates that will be used to show what the upgrade is, as well as how much of the material is needed for the upgrade.

Next, here we can see an updated UI for the player that will show several new parts that we're adding to the game. In the top, we see that in addition to the players health and the deadeye bar, we have several pips of armor. This will be an upgrade that lets you take a hit per pip before your health decreases. In the upper left, we can see a resource counter that will come onscreen when you collect one, and will then go back up momentarily. In the bottom left, we see what the bandolier menu does, which is several predetermined loadouts. The bigger one on the upper right is the one currently selected, and when you hold reload you'll quickly put in those bullets in that order. And the number on the bottom is how many speed reloads you have, which will instantly fill the magazine when you do the bandolier reload.

And lastly, we are working on a backplate for the buttons for the menus. This will unify their appearance across the menus.

Conclusion

While the number of tasks we got done this sprint is lower than before, what we did get done were each substantial, and have advanced our game even closer to what we want it to be by the end of the semester. And with our first steps into implementing the new levels, we should be able to proceed with the extra knowledge of about how long these take. So feel free to follow our progress as we proceed closer to our game's completion, and we hope you will enjoy the final product at the end of the semester.