Week 5
Playtest
This was the week of the playtest. For the most part it went well and the game was functional. Most of the issues were things we already were aware of such as the lack of a pause screen, lack of UI, no end state, etc. The notes of the playtest can be found here.
On a personal level I mostly received compliments on the environment art which I was pleased with. There was an issue however with an asset I made, which was the stalagmite sprites. The stalagmites blended in to the background too much making them difficult to see, that combined with the fact that we had yet to implement the hurt animation and that they had no collision made it so players often walked into them and took damage without realising. I also had implemented some of the ground textures on a layer above the enemy’s projectile textures so that was another mistake that needed fixing. Overall however, I was pleased with the feedback I received. On a group level I knew what the mistakes were and was ready to assist in other aspects of the game such as more animation implementation and sound.
Work of the Week
Pre-Playtest
This week I worked mostly on implementation as well on making sprites for the gate screens. I created the sprites for the bricks and floor textures of the gates screens. I also added in a box collider for the tree in the game as well as the implementation of the tree animation itself. I also implemented the enemy sprites as well as some of the player movement sprites. I was unfortunately unable to get all the enemy animations functional for the playtest but I was able to at least get the idle animation functional as well as the player dash and attacks.
Hub brick textures for the walls of each gate room.
Post-Playtest
I would go on to fix the stalagmite sprites as well as reorder the layers of the sprites. I also began work on implementing the enemy animations and the character animations. Additionally, I went on to create puddle sprites/animations for more variation in the dungeons. I also began work on fixing the box collider of the tree as the collider did not match the trees shape.
The redrafted stalagmites. Unfortunately I neglected to save the previous version, however the main changes include the addition of the purple highlights as well as making the points more defined in order to indicate their sharpness to the player.
One of the puddle animations I made. I originally had it be a static sprite but realized it needed some sort of effect to indicate it is indeed liquid and not potentially some sort of rock or ore in the floor.
Reflection
Overall the playtest was mostly successful and I had my work cut out for me to deliver in the next week. I was able to implement a lot of assets into Unity which both increased my understanding of the engine and the C# language. The playtest reminded me of the importance of using colour to communicate visually as it was an aspect I neglected till I observed players continuously and unknowingly walking into dangerous obstacles I did not highlight. This week allowed me to advance my skills and remind me of fundamental design philosophies I had partially neglected.