Week 12

I have started on making the cover system by using tags and ray casting twice. Hopefully this works.

I have also imported all of the models with materials in the file.

I also did some tweaks to the code, mainly the shooting.

There is a lot of bug problems, but I do not know whether it is because of the code or the environment. So, I have created a new scene to test it.

I had a full day with James, and it was a productive day. We set up a new architecture for the battle management system. From this, we were able to switch between characters by either keyboard input or clicking on their portraits. Which is great! It also focuses the camera onto the selected character.

Then, I was able to activate the skills using the buttons on the user interface for each individual character. I am so happy.

Today, we had a team meeting about the scope of the project. A lot of things have changed, but for me not much. I am still going to continue to code.

I was able to create the boss and mini boss state machines, so it is a great day.

The boss now loses body parts when his health goes down a certain number. I have also fixed the selection issue, so it selects the correct character. I also updated all of the skills and passives, so now they all work as intended. There is only one problem left, the character movement. For some reason it gets disabled for the next turn. Need to figure out how to fix it…

I have now also implemented a health bar, which works! Also, the skill and gun icons change depending on what character you pick! Wooo!

Today may be the last day of me coding. The characters now show status effects and also the indicator to show the ranges of characters. This is an amazing day. Also, the camera is free roam. Yay! The characters can now also die.

Guns actually apply the effect onto the intended target.

I have written up all the code on to my blog, so yay. Don’t need to think writing anymore.

Well, I decided to do some testing today on the maps, and well… It worked really well. So now I am going to do the gameplay onto the original maps. Woo! I do not need to make a map anymore!

I have included a indicator to show which characters the player is shooting. Was very confusing, but it is done. Now, we are getting the particle system sorted, so that the player knows which skill is being applied. Also, all the cut scenes are done and imported.

I think I created a win condition. Yay!

Week 10

Well, this week started quite productive.

We had a massive class meeting, which was nice. Hearing everyone again was great.

Well, after that. We had a small team meeting to see what everyone is doing. It was fine. Then it was time

Time to get the skills implemented.

They have been implemented. Wow… Even the passives… and status effects…

Week 9

This week, we are back from holiday. So, yeah. Had a meeting about what is happening, and yeah. It is cool.

I was able to bake the swamp asset, and it worked well. Also tested if the scripts work, so it is good. I also was able to help fix the animation problem with the user interface. So, it is a good day.

Now I am back. Had no WiFi for 3 days, so that was fun. Can now focus on work again.

I have somehow added the gun types to the game on my own. I am really proud… wow… They have different amount of shots and can apply a status affect randomly.

I have also added 4 of the skills for the enemy characters, as well as one of the passives. This was quite easy to do, since the foundation was already there so it was just manipulating the numbers and words.

Rigging

This is something I decided to test out on my own. Whether it will be put into the final project or not does not matter. This is for myself.

First thing is to actually learn how to rig and animate, so I watches many tutorials on how to do it. Before you can animate, you need to rig the characters. This one video helped me a lot for the rigging aspect.

Insane video

I was able to rig the bear and move it around!

All the bones ready!
Knees out here bending!

So, from there, I shall start some weight painting, so that when moving the parts it does not affect as many areas of the mesh.

It did not work out at all, not gonna show any of it…

Well, this was fun.

User Interface Layout and List

I decided to help out with where everything should be and what is needed in terms of user interface for the game. Once I have given guidance on what is needed, Olivia can use her magic and make it look beautiful.

The main thing was where the health bars should be and where the buttons should be, for the skills and weapons as well as the confirmation button.

With the health bars, I thought they should be in one of the corners of the screen. It should have an icon of who each health bar is connected to. The health bars of the enemies should be above their head and should be small. This is specifically for the normal grunts. For bosses, it should be either top middle or bottom middle. This also include the objective.

The skill buttons and weapons should definitely be at one of the bottom corners. When hovering over the skills, after like 1 second a description of what that skill or weapon does should pop up next to it.

I do not have a clear idea of how hovering and selecting characters or enemies should be like.

After the battle, there needs to be a loot screen. On the screen, there needs to be the items obtained, the gold obtained and the experience gained. There also needs to be a button to indicate the next battle or cut scene, like a next button or an arrow.

For the restart screen, I also do not know what it should have. Do not know whether it should just have one button on the screen to say restart.

Skill Icons Initial Sketches

This section is just the initial sketches I created for each of the skills. I made sure to create at least 5 designs for each skill, so that Olivia has a wide range of ideas to choose from for inspiration. Below are the sketches I created.

I wanted each icons to represent what they are in as simple of an icon as possible. Some of them were easier than others to think of ideas for. Luckily, Sean did give details of what they are actually doing, so visualising them was a lot easier.

3-D Modelling

I have been assigned to create the assets for the swamp map. These range from trees and shrubs, to rocks and bridges.

I have not done 3-D modelling in a long time, so I had to relearn everything from scratch again. To be fair, it was easy to learn because of prior experience.

The first thing I did was create the trees. It was quite a simple process of loop cutting the cube and pulling it up in the way I want the tree to look. It was a lot of loop cutting, making new branches, but it was a very simple process.

The next thing I did was making rocks, which was also quite simple. Just displacing the faces and points of an ico sphere into random places, yet still ensure it looks like a rock. These are the rocks.

Shrubs were very easy to make as well, using the same ico sphere. This time, it was just changing the size and placing it around the each other. This is a low poly game, so detail is not needed.

Lily pads were also easy to create, first starting with a cylinder, squashing it to it being almost flat and then moving two of the points towards the centre.

I then decided to experiment with giving the tree leaves and vines. I did this by using the ico sphere and using the same process for creating the shrubs. I just resize them and rotate them around to fit the tree.

For the vines, I used a cylinder and stretched it across the branches.

Then, I started making a bridge. It is not meant to be a complete bridge. It was a very simple process of squashing the cube and duplicating it across.

Now, that I have been given a list of stuff to create, I am gonna make more stuff!

Using the reference photos that have been provided to me by Yilin, I started creating the first thing, which is the trees. Now, they should be really thick pieces of branches and be a lot more curvy. It also has moss hanging. I have been using the same techniques from before to make this.

Next was a very twisty tree. Using the same principles as before and using the references. I am quite proud of this one.

The next task was making shrubs. I was not confident in making this. The first thing I did was to use a cylinder and change the shape, like the lily pad. After moving the edges all around the plant, I applied the subdivision modifier and started towering the leaves on top of each other.

After making this, I watched a video on making rocks in Unity, and I was just surprised… It taught me something that will save me a lot of time.

By using the technique shown in the video, I started making the sign. It was so easy to do now knowing about this new technique.

It shows using the subdivision tool first and then using the displacement tool. You then create a texture and use the voronoi texture. After that it is just changing the numbers to suit the look of whatever you are creating.

This time, I just created a sign, making it more square. Using the same techniques above and made it look all rugged and everything.

Next thing I did was creating the mushroom. For this, I started with a cylinder and loop cut it. I then expanded the top part, making the hat of the mushroom. I then bevelled the inside of the mushroom and moved it upwards into the hat. I then added the subdivision modifier to smooth it out.

With the second type of mushroom, I just used the same one as above and just moved the faces around. A simple process.

With the rocks, I used the technique used in the video above, and extruded parts of the faces to indicate where the moss should be. I have no idea on how to colour, so hopefully this should be fine.

I decided to look into textures and how to apply them to some of the materials. This is specifically for cracks in the surface.

By following a tutorial, I was able to successfully create a crack shader. I then applied it to the sign, and it produced a nice result.

I then created a bridge. I used arrays and curve modifier to create the curved affect. I also used the displacement tool to make the logs different shapes so they are not just standard perfect logs. I did the same thing for the ropes and the wooden poles. This was quite fun to do.

I decided to create some of the lily pads again, but this time with some water droplets on top of them. I used the particle system to create the random effect of raindrops.

By using the same particle system, I created a cactus and make the spikes on it. It was a simple process of turning the cylinder into a star shape and extrude the faces. I then created the spikes and added the particle system.

Now, I am just experimenting with cactus making with all I have learnt.

Audio

I have created a list of sound effects which the game needs. At this moment of time, it is:

Guns:

  • Revolver
  • Rifle
  • Shotgun
  • Dynamite

Walking

  • Different for every species?

Skills

  • Probably either buff sound effect or debuff sound effect depends on skills

UI

  • Clicking Buttons
  • Clicking on stats button upgrade
  • Selecting Characters
  • Selecting Destination
  • Selecting Enemies

Bullets

  • Getting shot
  • Shot misses

Characters

  • Idle sounds for Characters?
  • Hiding behind cover noise?

I have written a question mark next to some of the sounds, since I do not know whether the game needs it or not.

I then created a a few playlists for the ones that are certain to be in the game.

Revolver

Dynamite

Double Barrel Shotgun

Carbine

Walking

Skills

Random

I have included a few variations of the sounds as I have not completely chosen which one to choose, but it is a small selection.

With the guns, I want them to be loud and for the player to feel the power of the weapon. I also included the reload noise, since that is needed.

I included a lot of walking sounds. Obviously, this can be changed if needed.

I then created other sounds which could be included in the game, like the sound when clicking a button, or just idle sounds.

I have a finalised list of sounds downloaded now. I have selected these sounds on whether it sounds strong and powerful, as well as if it fits the game.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Av0ESYUkDx81grUazBzyx7YvJB7GSw?e=mSX3p1

So, in the end, these were not implemented. HOWEVER, I have included a lot of different soundtracks which sound really nice. I shall provide the YouTube links below of all of the songs used. They are amazing to listen to.

Easter

It has been an hectic start of the holiday. Time to actually do some work, I guess…

I am going to start writing a list of audio which the game will require. No music, just sound effects.

The list of sound effects have been created, and I am just waiting for others to read through it and add anything they think is needed. I did put some question marks next to some of the audio since I do not know whether it is needed or not. Time to wait. For the mean time, I shall be sifting through audio files and selecting the ones we should be using.

I have now created a few playlists for the various sounds needed. I chose multiple sounds that I thought was good and will decide later on which one I will choose. I have informed everyone already about the audio, so just gotta wait.

Had a meeting today on skills and mechanics with Sean and Wolf. We talked about the which skills we should keep for the game, which is now 6 skills. We also talked about how the enemies will work in terms of their skills. Like for example, will they have the same skills as the protagonist, or new skills.

We also talked about how the status effects will work. For example, the difference between the burning and poison effects. The burning will be a higher damage for less turns, while the poison will be less damage but for longer turns.

We also talked about the passives. Still a bit confused, but it should be good.

We also talked about the defence stats and how that would work. Defence would be a percentage based stats, which will take the weapon damage and a percentage would be taken away from that damage.

Had another meeting, this one was mainly about skills and narrative. It cleared up a lot of things as to what the skills should be. Also, I wrote out a explanation on how each of the different stats work and the different formulas that are used for the various stats.

Next meeting was on the base stats for the characters and enemies. Everyone has 100 Health as a base, and the defence is what determines how long it takes to kill them.

I should try to implement a system where the weapons shoot different amount of bullets per turn. Revolver shoots 6 shots, and the accuracy effects both shots. Rifle has 3 shots. Shotgun has 2 shots. Dynamite has 1 shot.

Revolver should have 25 damage per shot. Shotgun should have 50 damage per shot. Carbine 40 damage per shot.

Dynamite has a varied amount of damage, the centre impact does 100 damage, the second ring does 75, and the third ring does 50 damage.

The bear is an allrounder, has a revolver and shotgun. Should have average stats.

The bison is a tank, revolver and dynamite. Should have higher defence, lower speed, lower accuracy.

The eagle is a sharpshooter, revolver and carbine. Should have low defence, higher speed, higher accuracy.

The cat is a shady dude, carbine and dynamite. Little higher speed, little less defence, little higher accuracy.

The crocodile is a more tankier bear, revolver and shotgun. Higher defence, lower speed, same accuracy.

The cactus minion has low defence, average speed and low accuracy. Also has a revolver. There will be a lot of them, so the stats should be low.

Cactus mini boss higher defence, lower speed, higher accuracy. Has a revolver and shotgun. AOE melee damage.

Well, after the meeting, I decided to add defence into the game, which was quite easy. I also added more characters and played around with the numbers on the stats with the various characters. It was quite fun, messing with them and testing the game.

Next Monday, we had a meeting, just to catch up on what everyone was doing. It was just nice hearing people again.

So, I have a few things to ask James about, which is to do with weapons. First is to change the weapon firing so that they shoot multiple shots, and each shot is affected by accuracy. So, for example the revolver shoots 6 shots. Another thing I need to ask is if it is possible to change targets during the attack phase if the player has shots left in the gun.

The weapons also have status affects if it hits, and it is a 10% chance of it occurring. So, the rifle and revolver has a chance of bleeding to occur. Shotgun has a chance to stun. Dynamite has a chance to burn.

Status affects are : Burn, bleed, stun, slow.

Next meeting was just a clarification on what everyone is doing, and me just saying yes or no to questions. Was a very chill session.

So, I have now been given more work to do, which is cool and all. I wanted to do a variety of things, so now I am. WOOOO! I am now modelling the assets for the swamp environment and helping out with the User Interface. I have also finalised the audio for the battle. It is a good day.

I started making a lot of assets and practising my 3-d modelling since I have not done it in a long time. It was quite easy to remember, and I was able to start making things. Trees and rocks are quite easy to make. To be fair, everything is easy to make, but it is time consuming if you do not know what to do.

I made an insane tree. With leaves and vines! I am mad proud.

Decided to learn how to rig and animate characters. This took a bit of time, but I was able to successfully rig a character. Moving the bones and stuff around was so fun and watching the character responding to the movement was so nice. However, the clothes were also being affected, which is what I wanted, but when I started the weight painting, it did not go as well… Well it was fun trying something new that I have never done before.

I have now been given a list of assets to make, which is a mad ting. So, gonna do that then. Have a meeting on UI as well, so it should be a productive week.

I have made mad amounts of assets. Whether they are good or not is another story. Mohammad was able to create the walking animation for the bear and it works wonderfully in Unity. Honestly, so proud of this.

I made a building. Woo.

Today was a good day. Very productive meeting and we did a lot of things within it. I was able to get a free trial on Unity advanced and got 8 seats, so everyone in the group including James could be in the file. We also went through what everyone is doing and focusing on. So for me I will continue 3-D modelling until Monday, which then I will completely focus on coding.

Another thing that has happened now is that I want gravestones of everyone in the game with a wild west cause of death. Gonna be sweet.

Week 8

Pretty much finished my Business of Games essay. It was easier than I thought. Hopefully I get a good mark on it.

I have started on my research on sound effects. I have found a few websites which have a wide variety of sounds which I can use. This will be really useful when adding it into the game, since they are free to use.

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