Introduction to Progress Logs

Welcome to the first of many Progress Logs for Bullet Bunny! In these logs we will outline our progress in the development of Bullet Bunny including things we complete, are working on, are struggling with and the like. We will also outline things you can look forward to seeing from us with updates on our projected tasks for the following week!

Team Summary

This week, the team accomplished some of the back end tasks regarding Level One. With most of critical mechanical and aesthetic elements complete, there are just a few finishing touches we have left to complete before we can call Level One finished! After tying up these loose ends, we’re hoping to reach towards the new threads of Level Two, The Caustic Acid Tunnels! 

Individual Outlines

Hahnul

Completed

• Finished the freeing animation for the Caged Bunny. This is to be played upon interacting with the Caged Bunny which acts as the marker for the end of a level. It features the cage being deactivated and the bunny showing a heart for gratitude and a hop for excitement. The end of the animation is to be looped indefinitely until Buck enters the subsequent level but is not demonstrated in the example below.
• HUD elements for the Caged Bunny were created to visually communicate to players that they are to melee attack the Caged Bunny to free it. This is to avoid worded tutorials and helps to streamline gameplay flow to anchor our design pillar of “momentum”.
• HUD elements for Buck were created to visually communicate the number of remaining Bullet Jumps the player has left at their disposal. The remaining Bullet Jumps are shown as shotgun shells above Buck’s head and their iconographic red and gold colour palette to intuitively link the use of Bullet Jumps to the HUD element due to their shared shotgun visual theming. As the player uses Bullet Jumps, the shells will grey out to show that they have been used. Conversely, the shotgun shells will return to their colourised state when Buck touches the ground, indicating that they have been reloaded and ready to be used again.

Assigned Tasks

• Create diegetic monitor assets that display information about the game controls within the tutorial screens of Level One.
• Storyboard the gameplay flow of Level Two for seamless and logical screen transitions.
• Create a content package to potentially recruit a sound designer to create sound effects for Bullet Bunny.
• Create a mood-board for Level Two to determine the art direction for its environment and serve as a tool to inform artistic decisions when creating assets for Level Two.

Nich

In Progress

• Background elements and variations to fill the background space throughout Level One. Backgrounds are being made in a modular fashion to allow for variation of the same assets for visual variation between screens within Level One.
• Midground assets to populate Level One with themed decorative elements to build upon the visual theme of Level One.

Assigned Tasks

• Continue work on background elements in preparation for implementation.
• Continue work on midground elements in preparation for implementation.
• Create a mood-board for Level Two to determine the art direction for its environment and serve as a tool to inform artistic decisions when creating assets for Level Two.

Raymond

Completed

• Implementation of bullets for the Turret enemy in Level One.
• Implementation of various decorative elements in Level One.
• Implementation of the Caged Bunny, its animations, and its mechanical features of being freed when hit and opening the sewer gate after being freed.
• Implementation of the sewer gate sprites with opening functionality and placeholder animations.

In Progress

• Rework of the Bullet Jump animation system to facilitate further adjustments to the Bullet Jump.

Assigned Tasks

• Implementation of Buck without the shotgun for screens prior to its collection. Bullet Jumps are disabled in this state and will be made available after collecting the shotgun in Level One.
• Implementation of Buck obtaining the shotgun.
• Implementation of the animated Bullet Jump particle effects.
• Melee animation system rework.

Sean

Completed

• Block out of the first and last screens in Level One to determine the working space for other elements within the screens such as tutorial monitors and sewer gate.
• Sewer gate sprite and its matching port tiles for the gates to slide into when opening.

In Progress

• Canister sprite for the first screen as part of visual storytelling.
• Pipe tile as a decorative element to complement the canister sprite.

Assigned Tasks

• Placing level transition prefabs in screens to allow for player progress when reaching the end of each screen.
• Replacing lightning prefabs on relevant screens as there were issues with the old left and right facing lightning prefabs.
• Removing unnecessary or obsolete elements from the Unity scene hierarchy in each screen of Level One.
• Continue with the canister and pipe assets for screen one in Level One and implement them once complete.
• Animate the sewer gate.
• Create a mood-board for Level Two to determine the art direction for its environment and serve as a tool to inform artistic decisions when creating assets for Level Two.
• Create environmental concept art for Level Two as a consolidation of the art direction, guided by the mood-board.

Miscellaneous Findings

It was quite challenging creating the sewer gate as the door allowing access to Level Two’s sewer from Level One laboratory setting. On one hand, the gate was part of Level One and needed to be visually cohesive with the rest of the level. On the other hand, the gate should incorporate elements that are reminiscent of the sewers in Level Two. Creating the asset was a delicate marriage between the two concepts. To address the thematic connection to the sewers, there was an idea of creating a grate or a manhole cover to cover the access to the sewer. However, a grate and manhole cover’s defining visual characteristics are both predominantly visible from the top while Bullet Bunny’s perspective is purely from the side. This made it challenging the portray the idea of such a cover whilst only being able to do so from a viewing angle inconducive to communicating such visual information. Through thorough discussion with Raymond, a decision was made to depict the cover as a gate with thick bars reminiscent of a grate but with the heft of a manhole cover. This weight was planned to be communicated in its opening animation to further portray its weighted feel. Conversely, the gate would maintain cohesion with the colour palette of Level One and its angular shape language to tie its aesthetics to the laboratory setting of Level One as to not make it look out of place. Through critical design thinking, problem solving and iteration, an effective sprite was made that addressed its design issues. A lot of thought can be put into something so seemingly simple!