Production Diary
Final Note: More of my reflection can be found on my "Concept Art", "Assets", "Prototypes and Feedback" and "Problem Solving" sections on my website, arguably more that can be found here.
​(Please note I was not very good at organizing my time with this and forgot to take screenshots a lot of the time, so in many instances many things will be compiled into one)
​03/04/22
This is my player controller. I created this by following multiple tutorials that can be found on my research page under practical research on my website, the process of which I followed was very simple, coding it was slightly difficult, and I had slight problems when changing the player into a prefab in the form of the gun also squishing itself when the player crouches. This may be fixed later. This player controller can sprint, crouch, jump and shoot. It also has built in slope recognition so that the player does not slip down any uneven ground, and slow down unnecessarily due to pushing into the slope slightly. The gun is a separate object that fires a bullet prefab.
This is a “texture” on a sphere. This was to test applying textures to spheres, and it worked. It uses an image of Usopp from the series by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece (Eiichiro Oda, 1999).
This is another “texture” on a cube. I did this to see if textures also worked on cubes, just to be sure. It uses an image of Yuuko from the series by Keiichi Arawi, Nichijou – My Ordinary Life (Keiichi Arawi, 2006).
​This is a sprite added in 3D unity. This is important, as it allows me to use sprites as a last-ditch effort should there come a need to use them for enemies and assets, as I may not have time to model. It also allows me to accomplish the 2.5D aspects of the game’s environments where necessary.
This is a level to test every function of the player controller and was used as the test level. The sprite was there to see if you could see both sides of the sprite in A 3D space, the cube and sphere are there to see how the player interacts with different weighted rigid bodies, the slope is there to see if the slope recognition part of the player controller worked, so that the player didn’t slowly slide down the slope. The floating block is for the player to crouch under and see if it was effective.
16/05/22
This is a basic layout for the desert level, I am aiming to, at the very least, have a maze with puzzle aspects complete as the demo for the end of this project. The walls and floor will be textured when the product is complete. Also, the skybox has been changed, this was done by assigning a material to the skybox, which I found out how to do by following a tutorial that can be found on my research page under practical research.
This a very basic sand texture for the level, I made it incredibly basic, as I have 11 days left to finish the entirety of the project, and the player will barely see it anyway, as it will be mapped many times onto the floor so that it will barely be visible to the player, but still create a textured visual feel.
​This is what it looks like in-game, it comes out nicely, I think! I did this by placing the texture on the floor, and mapping it to 1000x1000, as it is a very large plane.
22/05/22
I am running incredibly far behind at this point, so I have decided to simply make a functional game and single level, being the desert pyramid level alone for my prototype. It will have a win condition and environmental assets as well as sounds and such.
Final Outline of the level for the prototype, will be used for my second prototype once it is developed some more. It is based on the image below. I will be adding various visual elements throughout the level too so it’s at least visually interesting! Below is the plan for said level that uses keys (as that is something Connor pestered me to use throughout this year when making my level designs).
​This is a control screen prompt that I put in front of the player when they load in so that they can understand how to play the game. This was because in a few of the responses from my playtest said that there should be a prompt for the player so that they know what they’re doing when they enter the level.
This is a pyramid made of cubes that will be put on top of the maze so that it works in the context of the level. It will be textured later. It could also be placed along the horizon so that the edges of the level don't seem like they exit off into the void of nothingness that is the Unity sky box.
This area will show the victory screen upon the player walking on it. This was so that I could have a win condition for my game, as that adds to the interactivity part of the project. The screen simply reads "You Win! Congratulations! Please Press ALT + F4 to Close the Game!" as I thought this would be a humorous way of putting in a way to close the game, as I don't think I'll be able to implement a menu at this point in time.
Final level design for prototype 2, features a ceiling for the pyramid, having the player enter a pyramid halfway through. The floor colour changes when entering the pyramid, as you can see by the split in the image. The level layout is mostly finished, with the enemies being simple rigid body sprites you can knock over. As for sound, there is music, but the other sounds will hopefully be added in the final version of the game. I may also add more textures, as everything is slightly boring, as well as adding more sprites around so that the level doesn’t feel as boring.
23/5/22
​I have slightly fixed the issue of the ball halving in size when the player crouches, by making the value of the Crouch Y Scale 0.9 instead of 0.5, so it still happens, but it isn’t anywhere near as noticeable, which is a big plus.
25/05/22
​In this screenshot, I have replaced every placeholder enemy sprite with its corresponding enemy on the level design plan. These assets will not be animated due to a lack of time before the project ends. I may add sound players to these enemies. I also added some pots throughout the level, so it doesn’t feel as empty.
This is a further developed version of the level, featuring sprites for all of the enemies, some extra visual assets around the level, such as pots and various statues around the pyramid, each designed after previous projects that I have done in the time on this course. I chose this, as my initial idea when starting this project was to have it be a celebration of all my previous projects. I have also textured the walls so the level is slightly more visually interesting.
​I have also marked any destructible walls, as making the destructible walls more noticeable was a piece of feedback I got on my prototype.
​I added copies of the pyramid featured in the second half of the level in the outside of the level, so it feels more visually interesting, looking over the walls of the level and seeing other pyramids, making the level have a little bit more life, as it’s not just an empty void.
​This is a prompt that can be found when going in the direction the sign at the start points you to, it tells you to go back and check the other way. I implemented this as that was in my feedback, as people were getting lost when going this way.
Finally, I added some sound effects I made in unity after following a tutorial you can find in my Practical research section. This adds more to the auditory section of auditory, visual and interactive aspects of my game, and makes it so the game isn’t as bland in terms of sound design, adding slightly more life to the game.
​
And with that, whilst short, my production diary is complete, for any information I may have skipped over, you can find it on my Concept Art, Practical Research and Assets pages.
To see my final evaluation of the whole project, please go to the "Critical Evaluation" page :)