Josh's Scripting updates + First Level Creation + Peer Testing Session - Week 12

The past week has been another busy week of progress!  Over the weekend I finished most of the remaining features on the scripting side of the game, adding enemy spawners and GUI elements, giving them models and graphics, and also refining some issues with enemy behaviour, making them better at chasing/targetting the player.  After that, it was a rush to get a level made , as we hadn't made any progress on level creation and needed to have something playable for the testing session. Luckily it all came together just in time to produce a playable demo for the testers, and we had a good session which provided a lot of valueable feedback.

Enemy Spawners

Enemy spawners were a necessary addition to enable us to up the challenge in level design. I created a simple spawner script that instantiated the enemy under the ground level of the spawner and raised it. The initial idea was to have an opening trapdoor, but that couldn't be made to look good without cutting a hole in the floor below the spawner, so i settled on a much easier option as seen below. Probuilder was used for a simple spawner that kind of resembles a stargate lying flat on the ground, with a chevron to indicate the direction the enemy will face.

Variables were also added to change the spawn rate, and the maximum number of living enemies spawned at one time. 

Figure 1: Enemy spawners in action.

GUI Elements

The final major feature that needed adding were the GUI elements, which had previously simply been text. As we are using "energy" instead of health, a green energy bar seemed a simple and obvious choice. I found a simple sloping graphic (in green and grey) that contained up to 6 divisions, perfect for our case in which our max energy begins at 70 but could eventually be as high as 120. In the image below we see the current energy is shown in green and the current max energy is shown in grey.

Figure 2: The energy bar has an adjustable maximum

To represent the selected upgrades in the GUI I settled on using a 4 button layout that maps to the controller face buttons that toggle those upgrade elements. In the image below we see the player has activated the blaster and jump upgrades and can toggle them using the south and east face buttons on his/her controller. For keyboard users, I will add a small number to the GUI next to each, and then upgrades will be toggled with numbers 1 to 4, conveniently placed directly above WASD.

Figure 3: Toggleable upgrades button arranged in the way they map to controller buttons

Level 1 Creation

Due to the time restraint (Only started the evening before testing day), I decided to use the existing structure of our test level as a basis for Level 1.  Although mostly untextured, our previous test level at least had a basic layout and some obstacles that could help give me a quick start. I was able to quickly envision a route through the level, starting in the lower section and then moving to the upper section and building structure, that would create a long enough path to provide more than 5 minutes of gameplay.  

The test level was still severely lacking in having a junkyard feel that met the planned theme of the game, so I found a number of free assets such as textures and a skybox on the unity asset store to try to give the game a more worldly feel.  In addition to these assets I utilized probuilder to clean up some existing level structures and create some additional structures such as fences, buildings and a random looking mound shape for rubbish/scrap metal piles. The rubbish and scrap metal textures were simply free tileable pictures, and I used a free web tool to generate and tweak normal, displacement, specular and height maps for the 2 pictures, to give the rubbish and scrap piles a nicer look. 

Figure 4: A before and after comparison showing some of the additional structures and textures:

Figure 5: The addition of textures, rubbish/scrap/woodchip piles, and fences and buildings is beginning to give the world a junkyard feel.

A gameplay flow through the level was created by constraining the player to move along the lower yard first to collect the gun upgrade, before making their way to the upper yard, towards the multi-story building where they could collect the jump upgrade and finish the level. Several enemy spawners were placed in the centre of the upper yard, and the moving truck and crane were placed in a way in which they could be used by the player as shelter to sneak by the barrage of enemies in the centre of the map. 

Figure 6: The finishing building contained the jump upgrade seen through a window on the lower floor, and was given windows, internal walls, staircases and enemies spawners to create a gameplay flow.

Peer Testing Session - October 3

We've now wrapped up the critical playtest session with some of our fellow game developers. Over a short five-minute gameplay, followed by feedback, we gained some valuable insights into how our game was received. It became evident that some players felt a touch adrift at the outset, highlighting the need for some instruction and backstory to explain initial game direction. Experiences varied, somewhat based on individuals previous experience: those seasoned in shooter games navigated  a little more seamlessly, while others found challenges in specific areas such as the beginning and the centre of the upper yard. The last minute nature of the level production and enemy placement definitely left the test level a bit lacking in its balancing of difficulty(way too hard) and progression...

Notably, there were quite a few smaller bugs and inconsistencies found, and the upgrade mechanic was also a little underwhelming due to lack of development, but we received some good suggestions there as well.

Taking this feedback on board, our team is committed to refining the gameplay experience in the final 2 weeks. If time permits, we will try to enhance the upgrade system to meet the original project goals and hopefully integrate some more platforming elements in additional levels. As we continue to develop based on these insights, we're optimistic about the next iteration of the game. Stay tuned for further developments, and thank you for being part of this journey.

The first test build is also now available for download and any feedback would be appreciated in the comments!