From our class on Friday, we decided that instead of focusing on the narrative, to focus on the game mechanics and after it is clearer what our game will be like, to then think about narrative again. Our goals this week were to have one core mechanic done each for the daughter and father, have split screen working with two controllers, make a small level, and have some art done for the father and daughter.
For the daughter and father core mechanics, we wanted the daughter to have the hide mechanic while the father had the shooting mechanic implemented. For the daughter, we have a monster that patrols a route and will start to chase the daughter. When the daughter steps on the hiding area however, the monster will stop chasing. In our main game, we will want to use this to create moments of suspense, with the daughter having to hide while the monster lurks nearby. We were able to make a navigation mesh to have the monster chase the daughter. The father mechanic is a bit simpler, and is a generic shooting mechanic as seen in most games. However, due to needing to switch input systems, there have been issues with the camera angle changing while the father tries to move to aim and shoot. Although the camera angles make it difficult to shoot right now, we may edit the camera angles slightly so the daughter and father have different ways the camera moves. The daughter may have it so the environment does not change angles while the father does, which will allow for more confusion among the players as they attempt to find each other.
Monster Patrol & Hiding Mechanic
Father Shooting Mechanic
Split screen was functional as of last week, but the inputs involved only one keyboard, with one player using the wasd keys, and the other using arrow keys. This week, we wanted to change the input system so each character is controlled by a separate controller. There were many issues to be had, such as the characters rotating about each other instead of moving, but in the end is able to work and the characters can now be moved with either one keyboard and a gamepad, two gamepads, or two keyboards.
A small level was needed for this prototype for the father and daughter to have an area to shoot and hide respectively. At first, there was an idea to use the terrain feature and paint out the area to be used. However, this turned out to be difficult, as it is hard to control the heights of the terrain and was difficult to create small rough patches to indicate a forest ground. Therefore, instead of using terrain, we found a free low poly nature asset that contained different ground pieces, along with trees, rocks, mushrooms, and more. We were able to create a small area using this one asset to make sure everything looked well together. It was interesting trying to paint the trees with the different size brushes and densities, as it was very easy to have either no trees in an area, or an extreme amount of trees so no ground could be seen.
Prototype Level
The art for the daughter and father are slowly being completed. The father and daughter idle and running artworks are all complete, and there are some frames completed for the father shooting and daughter hiding. As time progresses, we will have more art for the mechanics, as well as start to focus on art for the monster. For adding this artwork into the game and animating it, there have been some troubles. The animator was mapped out, however implementing this ino the code has been troubling. With the new input system, there has been trouble determining when a joystick or key is pressed to determine the right animation to be used. As of now, only the idle animation is played even when there is movement.
Daughter Idle Animation
Father Running Animation
Overall, we are hoping to work on the animation and ensure that the controls are smooth for two player split screen. Our next steps will be to work on the shooting and hiding animation, along with some basic sketches for the environment. We will also start focusing on the collectible mechanic for the daughter, which will be used to help the players go through the narrative.