Project Vault Game Dev Log 013

And May is now done! I had sort of set this month up to be one of my major milestone months for this year. The goal being to cleanup a bunch of the work from the last 5ish months so that I can finally start putting together a more coherent playtest build. Overall this month a ton of effort went into bug fixes that I've marked down since the start of my development with the game. I still have a ton to resolve, but already it's hit a point where it's feeling like an actual game now! So with that being said, lets get on to the updates.

New Playtest Build!: I now have a full on new build for folks to play around with! It's captured everything I've worked on over the last few months including new testing levels for people to play through. I'll go ahead and drop a link below to the new build! In addition I also have a link for the feedback form also. If you get the chance to play through and have some thoughts on the current game build I'd love to hear from yah :3!!!

Ver.0.0.2.0 Current game build:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/8dti8qgay7360lahlzoqj/AKYKP7Qpf_Hxrl5pzlbKvbY?rlkey=6h4wz61u4wzd2cmsyhd5ij8t8&st=l22qspyx&dl=0

Build playtest feedback Link:

https://forms.gle/EJVzA3jcULLmqVJQ9

New Training Levels: Next up on the list was to actually create some new training levels! 3 new stealth training levels were added to the game for Bod to sneak around in. All of them introduce new mechanics in some way that Bod can utilize to get around the patrolling Sensor Puppets. Likewise a lot of work was done on the Movement testing level to match the current movement skills of Bod :3!!

Training Level Menus: With the new levels added, some new menus also were needed. A level start, game over, and mission success menu were all made for the testing levels. Likewise the levels were tied in with a scoring system based on the time used to beat them. So now folks can play around with trying to get a high score :3c!!

Movement animation Cleanup: Spent a bit of time also cleaning up some of the movement animations in the game. Main focus of these were a handful of the climbing and vaulting code. I managed to get some vertical scaling done so that Bod more accurately climbs any given height without too many issues. I'll still need to do some tweaking down the road for a final version, but most are pretty well cleaned up now! Likewise I spent a bit of time cleaning up the cartwheel drop. It no longer has that awkward final step that caused Bod to fall off stuff. Likewise I figured out a bit of a forgiveness system with the landing to nudge Bod a little bit in the right direction if he has a near miss for landing on a platform.

Collapsing Tiles: One of the newer things I added in this month was some good ol collapsing tiles! Played around with creating a bit of a fun tile that I can drop into the game that when stepped on will cause a delayed drop. Texture wise I managed to learn how to create a fun glowing system that I added in, likewise I've gotten it so that the current model will fade away once it's triggered. Still needs a bit of texture cleanup but otherwise is ready to go in game :3!!

Water Contact Mechanic: Had a bit of free time to doodle up another mechanic pic this month focusing on Bod's interactions with water. The void suit has an almost notorious history when it comes to water and I had to make sure and represent that accordingly in game! Water can tend to be a major obstacle for Bod as it messes with the suits functions. So be careful of dropping into deep water or staying in the rain :0!! (likewise make sure to always check your inventory after a swim, might have picked up a few gallons of water ;3!!!)

So what's coming up next month? Going to finally see about adding in some of Bod's gadgets to the game! It's about time I give Bod some tools that he can use to help sneak around a bit. The first 2 ones I'm going to focus on will be the ability to throw scrap chunks to distract enemies or solve puzzles. The second thing I'll be adding in is the Chaff Sower gadget. This will allow Bod to temporarily stun and confuse enemies while also rendering some traps and hazards inactive. Going to be a lot of work to get it all figured out, but I'm pretty excited to get working on it :3!