continual improvements

Well I hoped to have another video up, but Youtube is struggling to upload pass 80% despite 2 attempts on my latest vid, I will give it another go or create another video. Tho it will fill redundant since I have made many changes since then.


Anyways, Today I worked on improving the "bomber", the bomber for those who may not no or I haven't mentioned it enough, is the main game mechanic where the player can switch to in game, to drop bombs from above and destroy obstacles ahead. After completing the GUI targeting, I discovered a flaw in it, and that it not shooting from the view of the camera because the launcher moves along the x and z axis while the camera is fixed position. I might have to change that in the future. 


Before I had the ability to move the entire camera around, but wanted it in a Fixed position with the mouse cursor controlling where the bombs go. This caused issue such as if a player wants to destroy something they have to be in the right position. So to solve this, I fought well, its a bomber and bombers move, so I have it scroll from behind the player across the x axis. After implementation I noticed a game balance issue in that I had  initially had it so it would start from the beginning of the level and move to the end, problem with this would be the player just go to bomb mode at the start and bomb everything ahead right away. 


To solve that issue, I lessened the scope of movement to not far below and end not far ahead of the current players position, Its worked so far. Then after testing/playing around with the new feature I noticed another game balancing issue, the player could instantly switch back and fourth, So I added in a timer and a horizontal slider to display the time until you can call a bomber. I might add a counter on how many for later harder stages. So overall currently my critical mind is at work and I am doing changes to stuff that took some hours to research and implement without a problem and not keeping them because of all the effort it took. 


The Explosions pack I got from Unity Asset store, has failed to work unlike previous uses which is disappointing, but not a game breaker. I will most likely disable it for now as the explosions are triggering ahead of the player and add in my own particle effects and force later on or get it to work some how. 


Other than that, its slowly coming together scripting wise, My artist has almost finished his contract job and can begin work on the project, and once art assets start coming in I will move from around 2-4 hours of work a day to around 6-10 hours a day on the project. Also still unable to think of a name for the game, and if you are reading this (thanks for reading :D), BSU stands for Blow Sh** up, which is the only name I am thinking right now for the project.


Thanks for reading, my next update will be in a few days, hopefully with a video. I record another tonight and upload right away.

GUI Target

Yesterday I started fresh on the project, and rewritten in C#, its turning out well except for some issues with grenade launching but I am starting to get the drift of the language, and recalling on my Java knowledge that's a bit lost. 


One of the major changes and difficulties have been the Birds eye view camera which is going to be a major feature of the game, the camera is the view you launch bombs from, and after getting the camera switch working I proceeded to the cross hair GUI. As mentioned in the first vid, I wanted to have a fixed camera position and the player shoot from the location of the GUI cross hair that follows the mouse. After a day or so playing around with it, I have been able to get the GUI cross Hair moving with the mouse, not exactly with the mouse but that's a start, there is probably some variable tweaking that needs to be done in the Draw texture function.


But once I get that working, and have the bombs shooting out from that location, the basis of the gameplay features would be complete, being the movement/jumping and the camera switch and bomb launching. Now these are no way finish and have a long road of improvements and feature addition ahead but a start. 


The plan me and my artist decided on the method of development would be to build one level at a time, considering this is a puzzle type game we are going to introduce new game play features over time so its fitting to build each level at a time over creating all the features then building the levels because then we will probably miss on tuning and making each feature more of its own and polished. So I am currently at work on the basics of what would be level 1, which is a very difficult task, I probably will be making level 2 then have to go back an create a more learning environment level 1. 


But I should have a new vid up for when I get the GUI fixed hopefully by tomorrow.

Project Beginning

Its currently Monday, and its time to proceed from the prototype stage and drive into the project full on now. I have decided to start over and redo everything, currently have completed a much more efficient camera switching script written in C#. I have decided that I will attempt to write everything in C# and learn the language though the project, this has lead me to a lot of back and forwards between the unity scripting page but I have been told that C# is easier than JavaScript. 


My artist teammate and I last night got our file sharing network up and running using perforce, it took a long time and isn't yet running smooth due to firewall issues. But after hours of attempting to log onto the local server at my artist place, we ended up having to create a virtual network, but that didn't stop the issues of our firewalls blocking everything. But currently we got that working allowing for easy sharing of data and all the benefits of perforce organisational tools.


Well time to get back onto the project and create the new movement script, and C# shouldn't be that hard since I have learnt both C and Java recently. 

Prototype video

I decided from the beginning that I would document everything, including video capture of mostly every step of the way. They could be a complete waste of time, but its my excuse to talk about the project, like what I am doing with this blog. Anyways first prototype tho it does say prototype 2, but its the same as the first one.

Dev Dairy 01: Project BSU

Hello, thanks for reading.

This is the first Dev Diary for my new project currently titled "Project BSU", and is also the first post on this blog. The blog is intended to be a display and personal portfolio on every step of the way though project BSU and other future projects.

So first off, whats project BSU? 

Project BSU is the temporary name for currently still in design phase unity project currently me and Paul Marsh (http://www.marshpotato.com/) are currently doing. Right now we have settled down on a basic concept for the design:

• 3D Puzzle platformer with emphasis around destruction.
• Clear the path ahead by switching to "bomber" view and send down the available arsenal at your disposal.
• Enemy installations (and enemies as well) are in-front and block your desired destination, you must use your bombs to destroy those installations and make your enemies disappear team rocket style. 
• 2.5D camera view for platforming, Birds Eye view for Bombing.
• Start each level with a set amount of bombs at your disposal you must clear the path with the set given amount.
• Destroying enemy installations is one part, you must first move your pc (player character) to be in range of targets, then you must trek over the destroyed buildings to your destination. 
• Levels will be small, and player movement slow to focus on tricky jumps that can be produced from the destruction you caused.
• Small Level design, consisting of 3 areas, intro area, enemy "main" installation area and finish goal area.
• Optional goals would be to clear the installation as efficient as possible. This will contribute to a grade at the end to prompt replay value for each level.

Well that's basically what I have right now, its basic there is alot more but decided to stop there and keep it short and simple. But that's basically what we are going to hopefully create. I will have a video of the initial prototype up showing the most basic of game play for comparisons to future versions. 


concept art I made:

         The reasons for needing a artist