Hey guys, back with another update, a lot has been going on so let’s just jump right into it.

 In the previous devlog I was talking about all those questions we were asking well, last week we were testing our proposed solutions. I’m about to speak about game design but it’s easy I promise! There’s this concept in the game design world called the three C’s and every game revolves around them. The three C’s are camera, controller and character. Our game is so heavily reliant on this. So we have really been trying to perfect these so we can progress more. (Shoutout to John for keeping us on track with this and the book!) This might seem like something basic but the camera is a huge deal, just ask poor Ryan who has been working away at it.

Related to the camera we have been playtesting the level we designed and Emmet built. After playtesting we realised there will be a need for respawning. (I fell so many times and I’m a fan of permadeath in games even though I tend to die a lot.) After a meeting with our supervisor, he gave us a solution for the camera zooming out too much with players respawning at different points. Currently, we’re implementing if the player in last can’t keep up and falls behind the camera after a certain amount of time they’ll be knocked out.

Controls are working although they still need tweaking so they are perfect. Although we are facing an issue with PS5 controllers working over Parsec. They keep registering as Xbox controllers and if we have 3 PS5 controllers connected one doesn’t seem to work. (the odds of a group of 4 and three of us having PS5 controllers.)

Obstacles have been designed however, they’ve been put on the back burner for a bit until we have the very basics implemented and working. But we do hope to have a few in our Vertical Slice in December for everyone to playtest!

Let’s talk about level design!  After playtesting the same features, we decided to add a little more *spice*. (see the cover image because itch is being awkward.) We've added more features, including diverging paths and ramps. The doors now close down too!

Now after all the tech talk is out of the way, it’s time to talk about the art! After playtesting we came up with a new idea for the different ball types to have traits specific to them. Emmet has been working away on models and texturing them. He’s also ahead of schedule and has done a few cosmetics for the characters. Emmet and I are working on UI concepts, to get the basics sorted for what we need in-game while trying to make it as minimal as possible.

In two weeks we have to have a prototype to show to the class and for them to playtest which we’re all really excited for! Who knows maybe you’ll get a little teaser for our upcoming vertical slice…….

Out of context quote of the week: Our target demographic is bots - Philip 2021