Dev Log 2

Hello again everyone, this is Austin Moore with an update on the development of Sensational. As a reminder, over the course of the last sprint we were hard at work creating the basic gameplay and have begun creating the assets we will need. And over the course of this sprint, we created our first electronic prototype and have progressed smoothly in other areas.

Gameplay

We worked quite a bit on creating and updating the gameplay we intend on having, and have refined the player movement and added some new features too. For example, we now have proper camera movement so the player can look around, and their controls will align with the camera too. We also added a slow fall power that the player can activate at will, causing them to descend at a slower rate for 3 seconds.

We also created the beginnings of the echolocation ability the player will have, allowing them to create a soundwave that reveals invisible platforms. This will be quite useful in game, and is vital to several planned puzzles.

Another interaction with the echolocate ability planned will be for the downwards strike to be able to destroy certain parts of the floor. This was also prototyped this sprint, and is another key part of several puzzles we have planned.

On top of these changes, we have refined the general movement to feel a bit better to use, and you are now able to pick up the artifacts you find by doing the little puzzles in the electronic prototype. With a bit more refinement, these additions should work quite nicely.

3D Modeling

During this sprint, we continued work on 3D modeling, with progress being done on the player model and work on puzzle assets this time. Beginning with the player model, using the character concept art we received modeling was able to go from a basic form into one closer to what is planned. While we do have some work left to be done, we should be able to complete the model this sprint

Next, we got work done on assets for the second puzzle. In this puzzle, the player will have to navigate their way up a collapsed building. And to do this, we created modular pieces that can be utilized in order to build the structure to the level designer specifications.

And to go with this, we also have models for the first puzzle coming along quite well.  In this puzzle, the player has to find a tree that contains an artifact that's emitting a sound, and then hit it to knock it out of the tree. So we made a couple trees that can be implemented.

Level Design

This time, the level designers were in charge of creating the layouts of the outside area and the castle town. These would connect with the castle walls and a valley around it, so we have the connection planned out already.

In the outside area we have the general layout planned, as well as dedicated locations where each of the puzzles will be placed. And continuing from this, we created a blockout of the outside area. 

From here we can see that each of the areas of the level have their locations marked out, and this sprint we are planning on adding in the actual models so we can begin filling it out.

The second area we're working on now, the castle town area, has similarly been planned and blocked out. Here we can see notes on where the puzzles are going to be located, and this lets us know what will go where in the blockout.

With this blockout, we have the locations of the puzzles locked in. And in this sprint, we are working on further blocking it out to be specific to the puzzles.

Animation

First, our animators were working hard on researching and figuring out how to implement cloth physics in our game. While it did take a lot of time and effort, we managed to figure out a way to do so. As seen here, we got a cloth to animate around and with the player movement double sided. With this knowledge secured, we will be able to animate cloth in Unity without directly rigging it on the model itself, once its implemented.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_ulXUx2npAUVI1jjhgsCd_L9hmw_7A95/view?usp=shari...

Secondly, we were working on getting our animations to blend together. Getting this done early would make our animations work better in game, so that way we could have the player character walk and perform other actions with their upper body too. And so far we have been successful.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1klFXNu9EdXF1lgSlR8fyXCiAPfVkVSvJ

2D Art

This sprint we focused primarily on getting the player characters design done, and I feel like we were successful at that. We got art for the player character, the currently planned masks and some color palettes.

What we were aiming for for the main characters design was a sort of androgynous, mysterious explorer who was covered head to toe so the players would be able to insert themselves into the role of them with little issue, while still remaining visually interesting.

We also worked on a design for the player characters staff, which is a rather important tool for them. It's the key to the echolocation ability, hitting objects and gliding after all. The orb in the top will be used to show how much of their glide is left, while the rest of the design is supposed to appear as if it was created from the same piece of spiraling wood.

Next, we got a design for the hearing mask the player will have. For both of the masks, we wanted to have the design on them evoke what they are related to at a glance, and in this case we chose to use soundwaves as the visual indicator. This has made it quite clear what the mask actually is, and is immediately recognizable.

For the smell mask we followed the same philosophy. Make the masks purpose clear from a glance. In this case, the design is based off vapor and other gases, something that you smell to interact with. While it is a little more ambiguous than the sound one, it still is clear what it is and will work well.

The final task for 2D art was to come up with a couple different possible color palettes for the player character, and they came up with these five. This provides a solid amount to choose from when finalizing the character.

With the end of this sprint, our pace has ramped up considerably. And I am very happy with the rate that we're going at now. We got a lot of excellent work done this week, and with the electronic prototype functioning we will be able to add onto it, and hopefully get everything we've worked hard on in. So if you're interested, feel free to follow our development logs until release.