The beginning of production started off with a bit of time lost due to scheduling complications, but despite this the team has gotten some great first steps towards our game! 

Programming

Our programmers got some great work and started setting up the UI / player inventory, the player controls, and the enemy AI. The inventory system is set up to be modular in order to allow space for future upgrades that will allow the player to add in more inventory space. In addition, the player is able to pick up items from the floor and add them to the inventory, the items are stackable as well so multiple of the same type can be picked up without taking up extra space. 

The player controls have been set up to allow the player to smoothly move, jump, dash, and pick up / drop items. The ability to pick up items in front of the player rather than having them go into the inventory will be a mechanic specifically for the robots the player builds. After the player builds a robot, they will be able to pick it up and drop it anywhere in the workshop and the robot will scamper around once dropped. This mechanic also comes into play when completing contracts, as the player will need to drop the robot into the selling bin. 

There are 5 different enemy types in the game: Rogue Bot 1, Rogue Bot 2, Scavenger 1, Scavenger 2, and the Attack Bots. An idle wandering system has been set up so the enemies will seem to move around a space when they are not aggro’d onto the player. The enemies are able to avoid colliding with objects, so as they’re wondering they feel sentient and can walk around an object rather than smashing into it. 

When and enemy is aggro’d, it will chase the player until the player runs outside of it’s detection radius. When the player leaves this radius, the enemy will “give up” and go back to it’s original location to start wandering around again. The enemies have both an individual detection radius and a zone detection. This is because there will be combat zones throughout the map where enemies will lock onto the player the entire time they are within the zone, and only stop when the player leaves. There will also be enemies scattered outside of these zones, however, so they will need their own detection radius. 

For the Rogue Bot enemy, a melee attack has been set up so the player will be damaged when they come into contact with this enemy. It is timed to mimic a punch, so the player will not take continuous damage the second the enemy touches them, and will instead take damage timed with the melee attack. 

3D Modeling

There were many models in progress during this sprint, but due to the time constraints not all of them were completed. There were, however, some amazing player props modeled and textured that perfectly fit the desired future funk theme of the game. For those who may be unaware, future funk is 90’s style technology mixed with pastel colors and neon lights. 

A futuristic wrench was modeled, and will be one of the handheld items. The player can switch to the wrench to smack items in the scrapyard to look for parts, or it can be used in the workshop to build robots. 

The dark web PC was modeled as well, and will be used by the player in the workshop to make various upgrades. 

Level Design

The level design has been kicked off with some annotated maps of the planned areas in the game. Our game designer, Bradley, created a world map detailing what the paths through the scrapyard are going to look like and where the combat zones will be. With this information, our level designer has made some annotated maps of the more specific zones and made a simple level blockout of one of them. 

Concept Art

To help give the team a strong idea of the style desired for the characters / items found in the game our artists made some great concept designs. There were various sketches made of the different robots and enemies that will be in the game, and multiple colored pieces that will give the modelers ideas on how to make scrapyard items with a future funk look. One of these pieces is a compacted trash cube, which will be relied on to fill up space within the scrapyard without muddying up the game with polys. Custom textures for these cubes will be made so we can have visually interesting future funk cubes throughout the world. 

Sound Effects

Our sound designer has gotten to work making the effects we know will be cemented in the game. This includes the laser gun shot, footsteps, and a sound for the wrench hitting metal. Here’s a video showcasing the laser gun, which our designer made using the sounds of a baby crocodile. 

Sprint Stats 

126 points were assigned at the beginning of the sprint, and 65 of those points were completed, which is roughly half. Considering we lost a chunk of time this sprint, we were still able to complete what would be expected within the time frame. I have no doubt that our points would have been close to doubled if we had the full amount of time to get work done. We’ll see what the next sprint entails with that! I’ll be spending time next sprint filling in the backlog as well so there is a more complete burndown chart. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and check back in 2 weeks for an update on the game’s progress!

• # Points Assigned During Sprint: 126 
• Total Points Moved To Verify: 65
• # Points Remaining in Verify: 0
• # Points Moved To Complete: 65
• # Points Assigned But Not Moved: 61

Current Velocity: 65 Points