Main Blog Ep. 5 - Devlog Second Edition.

The last week and a half has been busy, ever so busy. In the time since the last blogs I've started a coding instructor job working with kids, and a manual labour job. Until Monster Factory is re-released I have had limited time to work on the game, but what I have done in the 10 days since has been quite fruitful. This won't be a typical blog from me, instead I've listed all the changes we've implemented since the last.

We're fast approaching our hopeful release date, sometime in Q1 2023. Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer!

Menus

· Overhauled the entire transition system to use CanvasGroups instead of complicated coroutines

· Menus now transition properly. IE. Pause menu and settings will fade when transitioning between the two

· Volume and sensitivity have been added to the settings menu

· Abilities now use an opacity/visual instead of a timer for cooldown

· Upgraded all Text to TextMeshProUGUI, which gives me more ability to add outlines and drop shadows

· Set all font to funblob

· Updated all buttons and colourschemes

· Updated ability cooldown UI

· Added images for pizza and candy collectables

· Fixed HUD not fading when game paused

· Level select now looks a bit cleaner, more streamline

· Buttons to pick the level are 2x as big and text neatly below the images

· Added floating text below the timer for added time

· Removed ability countdown UI and integrated it into the ability slider/UI

· Updated ability length to correspond with the ability and its cooldown

· Removed the random location spawning of additional time, instead it spawns y=0 always

· Removed all old UI assets for player lives, replaced with text and a small image

· Moved timer to top right corner

· Made floating text bigger

· Tested canvas and hooked up remaining missing pieces

· Changed settings accordingly

· Finished all remaining tasks prior to map implementation

Tutorial

· Cleared out old trash assets

· Reimplemented farm/estate/corn field

· Changed crater to use rock assets

· Changed meteor asset to be a coloured rock, added broken coloured rock to the crater

· Added ability pickups and collectables to tutorial

· Added haybale piles for player to climb

· Added world borders

AI

· Changed tank code to conduct smooth aim/follow/turn/spin. Previously auto locked player

· Updated explosion particles

· Updated engage distance to reflect real world conditions

· Created bullet prefab, and new particle affect when the bullet strikes the ground

· Added three new scripts to the AI: TurretAim, TurretFire, BulletScript

· Updated tank controller to only engage the player when the tank can "see" the player. Ie, cannot see through buildings

· Enemy AI can be absorbed at tier 3 Adjusted aim method, the tank now stops if it sees the player, but only fires if within a certain distance

Controls

· Implemented CineMachine free look camera & ditched old "lock to target" model

· Introduced sensitivity controls for camera movement that can be changed in the settings menu, changes persist between games.

· Balanced the free look camera zoom and hooked it up to sensitivity

· Increased the blobs rotational speed to 175, up from 50, making it feel more natural and responsive to input controls.

Analytics

· Implemented analytics

· Added "AnalyticsHandler" to game scenes

· Implemented: levelStart & levelEnd with custom attributes related to mass, score, level, and total objects absorbed. (more will be added before beta testing is released)

· Added a console log in game to monitor when custom events are sent to analytics

Gameplay

· Eating objects now increases the timer by 0.25 seconds (currently, requires balance)

· Added a health/extra lives pickup

· Hooked up all remaining pickups in their level

· Rewrote the code that handled collectables, for some reason health counted as a donut

Programming

· Hooked up the remaining serialized fields, objects were missing across the entire game

· Updated scripts in general to be private where they are required (Start, update)

· Implemented more secure features and updated function names to better represent their purpose Post Script

If you have any issues, questions, or comments about this post please let me know, you can reach me at mitchell@slothfulmedia.com and I'd be happy to engage in a conversation with you about any of the above. Your time is appreciated! I've also made Monster Factory available for download right here from the website! You can find the game here

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