CAGD 377 Blog post 4

For these past two sprints I have worked on and completed lots of polish and finalizing art assets. Our team wanted to make sure we complete every feature for the game before Sprint 7 so we could leave our final sprint to polish and balance the game. I achieved this, with some minor slips ups.

In Sprint 5 I chose to first allow for some flexibility in engine to help with the visuals. I separated some parts from fabricators in order to resize them so that parts would properly fit in the chutes that funnel pieces in. This was quick but took some time implementing animations after it was done. I had to edit some prefabs but was nothing I hadn't done before.

Next I started working on some UI elements. I first tackled the upgrade menu, which would be where most of the player's purchases are made. This menu can be opened from the left and it was up to me to replace elements with nice looking fonts, colors, and textures made in photoshop. I achieved a computer screen look so that the player could feel more involved in the factory they ran. I wanted the player to feel like they were on a computer purchasing factory upgrades. This took lots of redesigns and after some playtests I realized I had to work harder in making the text more readable to players. This process was nice though and not complicated as much as took some time.

I also set out to make a welcome back screen to update the player on how much gold they made while away from the game. I used similar elements here to keep a cohesive look for the player. Buttons animate when they are pressed and much more to help with a satisfying experience for the player.

During sprint 6 I had a heavier focus on completing art. This sprint I had some major time management issues and this ended up costing my team as I wasn't always in class. To fix this it requires me to more heavily stick to schedules I write out for myself and more frequently check up on work I have to do before a due date.

By the end of this sprint though I had completed the remaining art for out game, which included factory's 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

All of these factories came out great. Our goal was for factories to match the look of the robot they create, and this was achieved. The factories even get more complex and advanced as the player progresses, allowing for the player to feel like they are achieving more, despite the strict size and shape goals we set for our factory floors.

Also, during this sprint, I wrapped up some functionality of ragdoll assets. I made sure that this would function in our game without lagging too much. I made new pieces for Robot 1 so that the conveyor belts across the line would show more variety and visual interest for the player (things that players seemed to like in playtests). I plan to fully implement this functionality in our final sprint so that the assembly line is a lifelike symphony of physics and robot limbs.

With this sprint I should have gotten more done earlier. I pushed this work towards the end of the week, limiting the amount of work I could complete. I wish I could have fully implemented ragdolls by sprint 7, and now I will have to work more during sprint 7, which is half a normal sprint.

Nonetheless I have learned and worked hard to clear up homework for this following sprint, so I hope to get much more done with the little time I have.