Week 7: Feedback-Adjusted Build

This was the second-half of reading week, where we continued work on adjusting our Alpha build based on the feedback from the last Alpha demo as well as the playtesting sessions.

One discussion we had this week was on how to make the controls for switching paint colours more intuitive. Since we’ve received the suggestion of mapping the four colours (red, green, blue, yellow) to the face buttons several times both from Elias at the GDDC playtesting sessions and the Alpha Demo, we decided to move forward with this change.

Another new feature that was implemented, was the checkpoint system that would replace the undo functionality since after playtesting, we decided that players can abuse it more than it helps to track progress. A checkpoint system does not provide as much power to the player.

A visual indication was also added when the player selects a block that is unpaintable/invalid empty space, highlighting the illegal selection as red.

A discussion was also had on how to best differentiate a block between one level to the other, since the lack of texture made it difficult to tell where the block was positioned. Some options were:

• To display a dark wireframe around each block.
• To have an outline around the outside edge only of connected block.

In the end for simplicity we decided to request an updated texture that would help differentiate between different levels of blocks better.

On the art and animation side new models were requested:

• A pedestal to indicate which direction the Ramming Creature is heading

• New idle transition

Unfortunately we did not have enough time to add them into the build but will aim to implement them in the upcoming builds.

We finished up the week with completing the new separated tutorial and level designs, and bug fixes on collision issues.