Week 5: Pre-Alpha

After more thorough playtesting sessions with the help of the GDDC club, we observed many bugs related to interactables and began to consider a form of unpaintable blocks. They could be walked over, but not interacted with otherwise, which would eliminate the need to consider bugs where the player attempts to paint under interactables such as npcs. 

We noticed at certain angles for specific level designs, the angle would make it difficult for the player to paint the block they needed. Although we tried our best to limit the scenarios where this occurred, it was inevitable for some block interactions so instead, we opted to add camera rotation to allow the player to view another angle. For this iteration, 180 degree angle changes were added that could be toggled with a button. 

After fleshing our tutorials concepts more, we added a simple version of a tutorial level, along with tutorial signs. We believed that signs would be the most flexible options for the player, as they would be able to read about related mechanics nearby whenever they needed to, in case they forgot. In the midst of implementing the tutorial, we became more aware of just how mechanics we had in the game. It was an incredibly daunting amount, so we decided to remove the pressure plates that were used to activate the exit doors for a level. 

Other bug fixes this week involve UI not updating correctly, and several block collision interactions with ice/blue painted blocks. 

Some Level Design maps for the newly added levels.

Tutorial Level:

Main Level: