Dev Log #3

DevLog 3 | 4~ days before vertical slice due date

Tanner:  A lot of this week has been dedicated to fixing some parts of the code that weren't exactly optimal. One of the most important things I've about programming in a game context is you want to make sure the code is both sustainable and matches your use case. In our case, lots of our code does what it was meant to do, but had absolutely no way of being expanded upon without a full rewrite.  On top of that, I was able to get some blood effects on limb switching, which turned out quite well. The remainder of my time was split between trying to get our enemies (which are currently a little punching bag) into animated people and creating new assets for the game.

Alfred: Still working on sound, more specifically player feedback.  I am at an impasse on what kind of sounds we should have for game states such as the player or enemies taking damage, eliminations, grabbing items, etc.  I have ideas on how I could go about things, but im not sure if I want the sound effects here to be more gamified or more "realistic" to the setting.  In addition, im working on ambience and environmental sounds as well to further immerse the player and maintain the dystopian, chaotic setting our game takes place in.  I've also considered making more minor sounds for smaller specific actions like walking on different surfaces, but that will be decided after I get more of the main sounds finished.

Lin: Work has mainly shifted to UI development. Health bars are in place as well as damage indicators. Currently working on the toolbar for limb swapping so that it can be readable at a moments notice but also extensive enough to give enough information to the player to understand their function. The main focus now is to remap the controls so that it both feels easy to use but also intuitive to match the UI.
Also more work put into enemy AI, mainly to stop cluttering and have more spatial awareness of the surroundings. This will allow more space for the enemies to actually attack, but also give some range for the player to actually strategize around instead of just simply punching forward.

Ostap: I changed our limb system to allow for the player's right and left hand to be used independently, which will ideally help with performing interesting combinations of movement/combat actions. I also included functionality to allow our player to be textured and be able to swap textures at will, as will be used when swapping limbs. As we close out our final week to make a playable demo, I will focus on integrating a simple pick-up/inventory system for the player to be able to pick up limbs, as well as fixing some rare issues with the player movement.