Level Blocking

What's Happened Since Last Week?

Not a whole lot I'm afraid. Other classes, those selfish buggers, have continually demanded my time, and even now I'm a little bit behind on a Virtual Reality assignment than I'd like to be. I'm hoping to get some major dev work done this week, maybe next.

However, some things have been done! As far as non-tangible things go, I've started writing some of the scripts for the custom moves that I intend to have in the game soon. Now for tangible things, there's some more interesting developments. 

Say hello to Knight, and my slightly dodgy attempt at pixel art! I like them, they look a little cute and dorky, especially with the cape. The sprite is in the game, and a very basic piece of script lets them turn around as appropriate. More animation is to come, hopefully including a gloriously fluttery cape. 

I also have ideas about what the expanded moveset will be more thoroughly worked out. So far they are:

• Being able to place a block at your feet mid-air, once per jump. 
• Being able to dash on ground and in mid-air. In mid-air it will lock vertical movement, letting you shoot forward like a bullet. Additionally, you'll be able to dash through the block you can place with the previous ability to go further. 
• Being able to shoot a little projectile out in front of you to hurt enemies and hit targets. Those targets will change different parts of the level around you, like opening a door or raising a platform. 
• Being able to suddenly cancel your horizontal velocity and slam downward very quickly.  This will probably let you break through tough blocks as well. 
• More to come, but I like what I have thus far. 

In addition to all this, I've blocked out a basic level that will act as a tutorial for the block-place and dash abilities. 

The Level Block

Here we have a block out of a tutorial level. Each numbered section serves a purpose, as detailed here: 

• Section 1 is meant to be a gentle intro for a first time handle on the controls. The first jump will be able to be cleared with the lowest jump height, while the second jump will require some level of holding the jump key to gain extra height.
• Section 2 will likely have a text prompt letting the player know they can dash, or perhaps they will only gain the ability to dash on the platform right before. The gap will require a good amount of height and a dash at the jump's peak.
• Section 3 will be a bigger jump than any before, and will have a visually distinct block (here represented by the orange square) in the middle. It will be impossible for the player to jump on top of this block, and there will be a quick text prompt saying something like "Dash through sandy blocks to go further!" (I keep thinking of the dash-able blocks as being sandy, don't know why).
• Section 4 will get the player to be a bit more conscious of how high they really can jump, with the first little obstacle just being a prompt to jump, very easy, and the second jump requiring a full height jump from the player. Once the player reaches the blue section, they will gain the ability to place a block at their feet once per jump, and will then be able to use this to scale the wall that they wouldn't have been able to before.
• Section 5 will be free-form, solvable either by jumping quite far and placing a block at one's feet and then jumping off it, or by jumping less far, placing a block, and then jumping and dashing.
• Section 6 will be a teaching moment. The block the player can place at their feet will be identical to the block from section 3, and the player can dash through it to go further than a regular dash. Jump 6 will only be clearable by jumping, placing a block at your feet, jumping back, and then dashing through the block you just placed.

I specifically intend to create a tutorial that feels like a gentle ramping up of the thought required by the player, and culminate in the player needing to use all the things they've learnt to clear the final jump. 

Feedback

With your current game build open next to your level outline, I can say things will be looking good with your game. The visual outline itself looks good, with careful detail and thought on your own end as to how each section works. The idea in section 3 regarding that impossible block is a fun twist. Player progresses casually and normally before being met with their first big obstacle, then having to utilize a new feature to make it, which will be good to use used again in section 6, and maybe section 5 since its free-form?  I like slow progression of casual to careful thinking on the players end to navigate the level you've designed. Overall, it seems solid and a great idea in theory, in practice it will be fun to play through!

It seems that my goals have been somewhat met by my level block! The feedback expresses confidence in the idea meshing well, and I hope that confidence is not misplaced. 

What's Next in the Pipeline?

The foremost issues I need to tackle are very similar to last week, being: 

• Redoing the jump script to be more intuitive (though I am now considering abandoning this and just going by feel)
• Tackling the "jumping and landing on the very edge of a platform" edge case (Trim the hedge of the edge landing edge case)
• Fine tuning the jump 

And the foremost new features I intend to add are:

• Custom sprites and animations, including a glorious cape flutter and some shnazzy looking particle effects for the new moves.
• Finishing the scripts for the new moves and further developing the concepts for the rest of the moves.
• Building the tutorial level

There's always work to be done for other classes, but I'm looking forward to setting some time aside for this project.