Dev Log #3

Welcome back to the third in my series of development logs for Paint Yellow! I got lots done in these past two weeks, including but not limited to fully implementing a save system, doing minor audio work, and completing an entire new level with full assets. While there is quite a bit to show for the last few weeks, there is still much to do in the game. In the previous Dev Log I mentioned a few goals I had for this week. Notably, I met none except the save system and new assets as my goals changed. I originally had all those goals like setting up the dialogue controllers and AI for workers, however I realized that I'm not ready to work on those yet, I need to finish laying out the framework for the game before I can add all the fancy stuff.

Another goal of my game this week was to get a beta build working. This version is ready and includes a revamped main menu, refurbished tutorial level with some basic sound design, fully functional saving system, and an all new level filled with newly created assets. I'll be collecting some playtesting information in the coming days, and making changes accordingly. Here is my new schedule (of things I might have a chance of potentially completing) in the next week or two.  Note that this is subject to change as I feel like, which is poor practice but I really don't have the capacity to see into the future and as such must induce corrective action preemptively upon thyself. What?

• Workers AI and audio
• New assets for Level 2
• Full animations for machines that are enabled
• More paintable objects (experimenting with painting forklifts right now, will report back)
• A fully finished managers office (I said boss before, that has implications of a boss battle so I have changed my dialect)

I believe that a majority of my time will go into finishing the worker AI and the managers office scene(s), so this list may seem a bit shorter than previous weeks. However, I believe that this will help lay out some of the more final groundwork that will allow me to quicker work on the game. 

Getting into the specifics of what was completed this last week, here's a short list of things with detail provided where necessary;

• Saving system (finally)
• Minor audio work with music in the works (painting gives audio feedback now)
• Tons of new assets created (majority factory equipment, some new assets for exterior tutorial level)
• Revamped exterior level with cars so the factory seems less empty
• Fully implemented new level filled with new assets
• One new paintable object, with forklift under testing?
• Main Menu revamp
• The g in "SzenCh Manufacturing" is no longer floating (don't worry about it)

Design portion of Dev Log time!

Some challenges I faced in the last week; The save system and level design. I had to reach out for help figuring out how binary encoding worked, then after that I had to retroactively fit it in my project. After that was finished I started working on the new level, and found out quickly that creating levels would become difficult as they would quickly become repetitive, so I had to take a step back and reimagine how I wanted to lay out the levels. I now have a more solid plan, as well as enough assets to supplement most future levels which should make working on them much easier. I ended up spending some time adding cars to the tutorial parking lot as it felt strange to have a factory environment without them, and it really wasn't all that much work making a single model and laying them out in an interesting pattern. I had lots of fun placing the cars, because I decided that some people working here are horrible drivers and don't know how to park. Just a few fun things for people to look at in game. I also ended up doing some audio work and got some sound effects for painting, as it felt strange not to have any. I ended up using a freesound.com sound effect of someone walking through water, then trimmed it down and pitched it up. I like it, but we'll see what the playtesters think in the coming week.

That about sums up the past two weeks of game dev, If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, or even ideas for the game feel free to share them in the comments on the game. I'm always looking for feedback and would love to hear ideas! Thanks for reading this far, here's to a productive two weeks.