Devlog-v0.1-Movement


Devlog V0.1 - Movement and test map

Figure 1

(Figure 1: Initial frame of this build. Shows player with thruster in the start of the obstacle course.)

Development Milestones:

  • Substitute player sprite added.
  • Player movement added.
  • Hover floor added.
  • Test map obstacle course created.
  • Thrusters added with key sensitive positioning.
  • Boast speed added.


Build breakdown:

For this build the focus was to create and test player movement. Firstly the player character was created. The sprites used in this build are all basic shapes that are standard in Unity. The use of these sprites is temporary and  better sprites will be added at a later date.  

The player can move through the WASD keys. These keys will apply force to the player's body sprite in the related direction. This allows the player to fly. The player also has reduced gravity. I think this provides a better flight experience as normal gravity would require too much of the players focus on maintaining altitude.

 GIF 1Movement no thrusters

(Gif 1: Players moves with WASD. Doesn't touch the floor.)

As can be seen in the above GIF the players body never touches the floor. This is done through an invisible floor that sits above the normal floor. This is done as the player mech will be a hovering one and should by default sit above the floor level.

For this build a test map was created. This map has the player navigate to the right of the map by passing through gaps in the walls set at various heights. This map exists just to test player movement and is not indicative of the action gameplay expected in later builds.

To the player two thrusters were added to the bottom of the player sprite. These thrusters will rotate in different directions based on the players input.

GIF 2

GIF 2

(GIF 2: Shows part of map and thrusters rotation.)

Lastly boast speed was added to the player movement. This boast applies a stronger force then normal when a direction is held at the same time as the SHIFT key. This allows for better movement as the boast can be used to add variation to player acceleration and allow for quicker course correcting. 

GIF 3
(GIF 3: Shows a comparison of vertical acceleration for normal and boast.)

Player feedback:

Player feedback has been generally positive about the movement. Players have liked the thrusters rotation but a player did note that the rotation can be snappy. This is something I hope to improve on in latter builds. It was also said that the collision with the walls should have some bounce. This is also something I want to experiment with for latter builds.

One player suggested that the movement might be more fun if the player rotated and thrusted forward similar to another game called PixekJunk Shooter. While I think that could definitely could make for a fun game, the plan for this game is to have the player(s) shoot of projectiles from an arm they can rotate around themselves. Having both a rotating arm and rotating player would be too much to keep track of in my opinion. Also though it isn't obvious with the current sprites the final sprites should look like mechs. As such it makes more sense in my mind if they stay in a upright position instead of rotating around.


Files

Buildv0.1.zip 10 MB
8 days ago

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