This was the
final milestone before the end of the semester. I didn't quite get to where I had planned in the beginning, but I definitely plan to continue working on it after the semester has ended to polish it and bring the game to the potential I know it has.
Deliverables: Fairy Ring, Final Boss, Animations, Music, Polishing, Game Loop, UI, Testing, AI, Boss Camera
Progress:
The fairy ring and final boss ended up being cut from the project. They were out of scope from the game loop that could be created in the timeframe. They are absolutely still future possibilities, but the current build does not have these features implemented.
Animations
Animations have been implemented throughout the project, so they were already pretty up to date at this time. This milestone specifically- I added the main ghost’s rotation to always face the player as the main addition. The attacking animations did not make it into the final build, but the locomotion ones for each character are all implemented and working.
The ghost now always faces the player. This was a super easy implementation, but I feel like it looks much better than the look of the ghost ignoring the player.
Music
The music was not developed further than the previous milestone. The intro music would be used for a main menu and it can be built off of in the future using the concept in general. Here is a link to the concept track for a menu!
Game Loop
The game loop was nearly completed through this milestone. The only missing element was that the gem was not able to be kicked at the ghost and there is no win/death state. The rest of the attack/run/playing sequence is implemented and operating. The game loop is not at what was planned in the beginning, but there is most of a basic loop implemented for the gameplay.
The gem spawns properly, the main conflict that arose was an issues with the gem collider and a barrier in the world that I could not fix in time.
UI
I made a few placeholder assets for the player health UI. A few very simple crystal icons and a border for the pieces. This was really easy to implement- there are 9 health points for the player. The crystal will change color each time the player is hit- going from blue to pink to red and then disappearing. These are working and implemented all the way.
AI
The AI has been implemented through a few milestones, the main AI was implemented in the spiders. The required AI was their navigation and ability to attack the player. This was successfully implemented and this milestone was focused on fixing any navmesh bugs and collision details.
Boss Camera
The boss camera has also been implemented fully, as well as boundaries were added to allow the player a small amount of forward/backward movement. The camera is always facing the ghost like originally intended and this element with the circular movement is fully complete.
What went Right?
A lot of straggling pieces came together in this milestone. I was able to take elements that were waiting for implementation and they finally got put in the game and connected with all the other pieces. Things like the spiders and their purpose, the internal and external boundaries, the ghost's look and functionality- these elements were able to be brought together this week to aid with the flow and function of the game. Even if the game is missing pieces that I still want to implement, I think a lot of progress was made this past milestone.
What went Wrong?
This week was very difficult for burn-out. It's finals week and this semester has been exhausting- it was really hard to find the dedication and energy to continue the project. This lead to finding very simple bugs, not being able to figure out what's wrong, and trying to brute-force my way through it. This wasted a lot of time, for example, the crystal was not moving. I couldn't figure out why for so long, and it turned out being something so simple that everything was moving except for the mesh because it wasn't properly parented. I was so incredibly frustrated and tired though, so it took me so much longer to figure it out. I hope that I can come back to it after a bit of a break and complete the game soon.
What will you Change?
I'm hoping that I can take some time away from my projects and get proper down-time and sleep and come back to this project. These past weeks have had a lot of crunch time and it's left me very burnt out and tired. I think that without so many things going on, I will really enjoy working on this project to complete it and polish it for a final product. I would like to have the motivation of wanting to get the game complete as the dominant driving force rather than the pressure of deadlines, which is fine.
Where do I need help?
I just need some time at this point. This semester has been a lot and I would like some time to not worry about projects for a few days. I really do like the projects I have been doing, but the virtual environment and other chaos elements in school recently have made enjoying the work difficult. Now that we're past that semester finish line, I feel like I can take time to do what I love and put time and effort into the game and make it something that I'm proud of rather than working on this game and worrying about 3 other projects that are due next week. I'm really looking forward to it, but now is just some resting time after working every day for a few months.
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