Team Summary

This week the team has started looking more deeply into the second level and beginning conceptualisation and visual realisation of those concepts to create assets. The first level is functionally ready and just being decorated with various decorative elements. Development of the second level should be in full swing by the following week. 

Individual Outlines

Hahnul

Completed

• Created and completed the tutorial monitors for the first level. These monitors are used to diegetically display the control scheme to the player. They have been done in such a way to avoid unnecessary text prompts that will break the flow of gameplay to maintain our design pillar of ‘momentum’, especially for players who have played through the first level before and are completing another run of the game for timing purposes. They are also themed to fit the aesthetic of the background to feel more cohesive yet convey the important information effectively and efficiently.
• Created a gameplay storyboard for the second level. This is to determine which screens will showcase which game mechanics and will dictate the overall inter-screen gameplay throughout the level. It additionally indicates the entrance and exit locations of each screen to show the logical flow and continuity of spacing between screens (i.e. if screen one ends at on the right side, screen two should start on the left side). It is subject to change and should be treated as a general guideline of the level flow. The screens are colour coded: single screens are green, horizontally scrolling screens are turquoise, vertical scrolling screens are yellow and large, multi-directional scrolling screens are orange.
• Completed a mood-board for the second level. This was to aid in the process of defining the visual identity of the level and was later curated alongside other separate mood-boards. The focal points of this mood-board were theme, game mechanics, enemies and colour.

Various tutorial monitors used in the level to introduce game mechanics and their respective controls.

A storyboard loosely detailing the inter-screen game flow.

Assigned Tasks

• Begin the conceptualisation of the sliding pipe mechanic to be implemented in the second level. This would involve the exploration of the feasibility of representing pipes to be grinded on by Buck and its potential implementation into Unity. As such, a prototype visual design can be created to visualise the aesthetic component of the game mechanic.
• Begin the conceptualisation of the falling platform mechanic to be implemented in the second level. This will be exploration of aesthetics of the game mechanic that will then inform the implementation of its respective mechanic in Unity.

Notes

The typeface used for the tutorial monitors is actually the same as the text in Minecraft, due to its small pixel size and easy readability.

Raymond

Completed

• General maintenance and cleanup of the Unity project – deleting and clearing unused assets
• Implementation of Buck without his gun for sections of the first level prior to collecting the shotgun. This replaces Buck’s sprite with a version of him without a gun and disables his Bullet Jumping ability until the gun is collected.
• Implementation of the shotgun collectible. This is to transition from the ‘gun-less’ version of Buck and permanently unlock the Bullet Jump ability for the rest of the game. All of Buck’s animations are updated to reflect his newly acquired shotgun.
• Implemented the Bullet Jump particle effects that play when Buck performs a Bullet Jump. Currently the particle effects rotate to match Buck's direction, however this is to be revised to use the different directional variations that were animated separately rather than just rotating one iteration of the sprite.
• Implemented the bullet collision particle effects for the turret enemy’s bullets when they collide with walls or terrain.
• Added additional animation transitions to Buck’s melee attacks to smoothen the transitions between Bullet Jumps and melee attacks.

Assigned Tasks

• Adjust the Bullet Jump particle effects to utilise the directional variations of particle animations.
• Explore the mechanics of the sliding pipes to be implemented in the second level with a goal to let Buck slide and carry momentum while sliding on the pipes.
• Implement the mine enemy detonation animation as it currently plays the defeat explosion animation when touched while armed instead of its respective detonation explosion animation.
• Implement the HUD element above Buck’s head to display his remaining number of Bullet Jumps.

Nich

Completed

• Finished the bulk of the tiling background assets for the first level. There are a few issues to fix but the broad strokes are finished to get a firm sense of what the backgrounds will look like in context.
• Implemented the background assets for the first eight screens. Minor fixes will be applied to the existing screens once completed.
• Completed a mood-board for the second level. This was to aid in the process of defining the visual identity of the level and was later curated alongside other separate mood-boards. The focal points of this mood-board were theme, enemies and colour.

First iteration of the background tile-set.

In Progress

• Drafting the colour palette for assets to align to within the second level with reference to the mood-board created prior.

Assigned Tasks

• Complete the colour palette to facilitate the creation of level two assets.
• Remove inconsistencies and visual errors within the background tile-set.
• Finish two remaining of several mid-ground assets for the first level to populate the level with decorative elements for visual theming.
• Start creating a new terrain tile-set for the second level to align to its aesthetic theme (brick/concrete flooring/walls etc.)
• Brainstorm potential midground assets and other decorative elements for level two to populate an asset list with an accompanying board of reference images.

Sean

Completed

• Placement of the level transition prefabs in Unity. The prefabs were made by Raymond to load the next screen when touched by Buck. As such, they were placed slightly off screen at the exit point of each screen.
• Placement of the lightning prefabs in Unity. There was an issue with the left and right facing lightning prefabs, so after Raymond fixed the issues, they were placed into the respective, affected screens.  
• Cleaned up the Unity scenes. Each screen is a different scene in Unity and there were unused elements in the scene hierarchy that were no longer being used due to systematic changes in the way the game is set up. These obsolete elements were removed.
• First and last screens were finished with the elements required and the respective assets were implemented in Unity (canister for the first screen, sewer gate and port for last screen).
• Implemented the final tutorial monitor into its respective screen introducing the Bullet Jump mechanic.
• Completed a mood-board for the second level. This was to aid in the process of defining the visual identity of the level and was later curated alongside other separate mood-boards. The focal points of this mood-board were theme, enemies and colour.

In Progress

• Concept art for level two. Some environmental concept art has been drawn to understand the mood-board and collate its ideas.

Assigned Tasks

• Continue drafting concept art for level two. However, the scope will pivot more so to individual elements to draw reference from when creating assets. Additionally, apply colour to the concept art to serve as better reference material.
• Begin thumbnail sketches to define the composition for a promotional poster for Bullet Bunny.
• Conceptualise and animate a walking enemy for the second level with alignment to the mood-board and colour palette created prior.