Hi everyone. This week our artists have been very busy supplying our game with beautiful graphics. Our game is sounding and looking more and more like an actual game!

Art

Environment and Assets

This week we prioritized visual and level design. We split the level into two section, above ground and below ground. The player starts underground and makes his way to the top. In the bottom ground you find yourself in a mine filled with lamps, minecarts and etc. In the above ground section you would be able to see factories in the distance in the form of 2D meshes, alongside of 3D meshes closer and in the midground.  With the good amount of reference that we gathered last week we were able to model a variety of models. 

A bit of work has been done on the textures to get a basic idea of what we would like our finalized game to look like, but it definetely is something for later stages.

We had some technical issues related to lighting. Since us, the artists, lacked prerequisite with the Unity Engines's lighting, we had to gather with our programmers to resolve the issue. 

Code

Game Stages and Mechanics Update

The game now features distinct stages with clear transitions between them, including well-defined start and end points. A State Modifier Controller has been implemented to manage various state changes caused by power-ups and hazards, ensuring dynamic gameplay interactions.

Additionally, controller inputs have been refined for a smoother and more responsive experience. The grapple hook mechanic has been adjusted to include a cooldown and a limited number of uses. This change is designed to emphasize the platforming aspect of the game, requiring players to make strategic decisions about when and how to use the grapple hook.

Audio

A major issue we experienced this week was keeping the spatial quality of some of our objects in tandem with multiple players in our scene. Unity does not like multiple audio listeners so we had to figure out a method to only use one listener while still allowing for player relative sound attenuation. The fix was creating a specific sound effect mix per player in our game and then route it to the master. The effect is that each player's relative location beautifully simulates spatial attenuation while keeping things readable.

In the image below you can see the hierarchy!

Additionally the audio dev worked on a few game flow ideas such as environmental hazards:

A hydraulic press hazard that's animated and will slow our player down for a while and a lever attached to a latch door to open up new paths in our scene.