thomashigham-honoursproject-blog

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Honours  Project - Reflective Journal

Project Overview

The project I created this year was intended to be my magnum opus of my university work. Each of my years in university I have created a 3D platformer, due to this I wanted to create a work to a higher standard than previous years as I have learnt blueprint since these two projects. With this I could create my own mechanics for my platformer. This idea started to form during the summer period before the third year of university began. As the idea formed I settled on creating a 3D platformer where the player’s abilities were absorbed. With the project my goal was to increase my skills and knowledge in both fields of Game Design and Level Design. Level Design is the route I want to progress into in the industry and I feel that Game Design would help me further this by being able to create my own concepts.

At the beginning of the project before it was fully defined in the project plan, I tested out the mechanics to check if the project was a viable concept. Through this testing, I tested out two different methods of play, passive absorption in which they activate when the player overlaps them and active absorption where the player needs to absorb manually to have more control. After initial planning and testing the active absorption was chosen to move forward with into my first milestone. By testing out the idea for the concept first I could solidify what I wanted from it as I went into creating my project plan and schedule.

Milestone 1 – Mechanics

At the start of the project once my concept test had been completed, I started to gather research on various games and movies that used a system like this. My main piece of reference was Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc (Ubisoft, 2003) . Within this game, the player would interact with cans that contain the power for Rayman to use. However, these were limited to certain areas and so I wanted to evolve this idea of the abilities being accessible to the player when they wish.

Within this milestone there was a lot of trial and error on the mechanics. The mechanics were created in their base form without polish during this milestone as to create the foundation for the rest of the game to be built upon.

The focus at the start of this milestone was on the player’s movement. Player movement is essential in a 3D platformer as this is the main interface to the rest of the game. I followed a quote by Chris Sutherland of Playtonic Games (Playtonic Games, 2015) “We started with a cube, made it move and made him jump and move around and it felt good so we thought when we add in the graphics it’s only going to amp it up.” From this I turned the character into a cube to solidify movement to be fun rather than focusing on how the anatomy of the character moves. The jump was modified so that gravity would affect the player more. With the gravity being stronger the jump time was shorter but allowed for more precise movement.

To add an extra element to the movement, I implemented a ledge grab into the game so that the player can reach heights inaccessible without abilities and they will be able to then recover from any miscalculated jumps. During this milestone, the ledge grab wasn’t polished and various issues with it were encountered, such as the grab not being detected and the player getting stuck to the ledge. However, with the basics of this set-in place I decided to move onto the other mechanics so that I could polish this in the latter period of the project.

After the movement was solidified I focused on the creation of the absorption abilities. From testing I realised that to highlight the abilities best would be to modify the player’s movements for the basic two abilities. From this Jump enhancement and Speed enhancement were created. To not overload the player with information only one more ability was created. This ability was created to be designed to fit into a theme of a level. I decided to go with Ice as the concept for the ability as this could provide unique gameplay. The base ice ability would allow the player to create a path underneath them as they walk on water.

The next thing I did was take the concept of combination of the powers and create how they would work together. This is where the long jump, ice slide and ice pillar were created. At this point I was starting to learn more about scripting with blueprint as all my mechanics must connect to each other in some form. I feel that starting off with the mechanics first was the right choice as it helped on influencing the rest of the game. With my focus being on how fun they are to use they weren’t in a polished state but helped me in building the foundations for creating the level around them.

Milestone 2 – Level Design

At the start of the milestone I decided to research the best approach to designing platformers. There were two different types of platformer to focus on, the collectible type where the player would need to collect various objects within the level, or the progression type in which there are various levels and the player will utilise the mechanics to progress through them. I decided to go with the progression type as to keep a difficulty curve within the game rather than the player choosing where to go which decides the difficulty.

It was in this period I watched a video by Mark Brown (Mark Brown Youtube, 2015) who had described the methodology used in Super Mario 3D World (Nintendo, 2013) called Kishōtenketsu. This teaches the player how to use the mechanics in the game within four stages. I decided to take this design further so that the abilities are taught to the player throughout the level rather than it being used to teach the player once in the level.

From here I designed the top down map for the level. My idea was for the map to be shaped like a ribbon at first so that the level will loop around and meet back up at the start. This is to show the player the end of the level at the start. After the level was designed I spent the next few weeks of the milestone focusing on creating the block map.

Once the block map was full designed I spent my time iterating upon the environmental puzzles within the game as well as the precision of jumps to accommodate the way I designed them to be with some being a lot harder than others. These weeks went through a lot of iteration as I had myself playtesting constantly on how jumps worked and had other people playtesting to observe how they interact with the space in its basic form. When the level was completed I worked on creating the level actors within the level such as the knockback wind, the destructible walls, and the falling debris. It was at this point that I felt the level was too easy and restricted to the player in ways that it could be completed.

Due to this I spent the next few weeks reiterating on these areas to provide choice to the player. This way it fulfils my original idea of using the abilities to choose how the player can complete the level in their own way. I feel that through the iterative process of this milestone I developed my workflow further for level design and as my knowledge for blueprint had kept growing I was able to refine my mechanics more. Due to me spending my time researching various methodology and planning the level in detail of how it would work, I feel this helped me work to a faster speed than if I hadn’t planned the level. Sometimes I stuck to close to the plan where concepts needed changing, however thanks to feedback I took on board these changes were made promptly.  

Milestone 3 – Art & Improvements

This milestone was my weakest throughout the project, this is down to me not being proficient in 3d modelling and so I attempted a stylised look for the game. Whilst this was done to help me in the creation of the assets, I feel this overall I didn’t achieve what I wanted to in this milestone and started to fall behind.

At the start of the milestone I focused on creating the perimeter walls for the level. These ended up being ice pillars to fit the theme of the level. Originally the pieces were made low poly with hard edges to define the ice, it also had a slightly reflective material as to help stylise the ice and help the player understand what it was. After feedback gained it was noticed that the hard edges didn’t work with the player character and theme of the level as it was too harsh on the player’s eyes. It was recommended to me that I should bevel the edges to give them a softer look. I felt a lot happier with this and the style felt more suited to a 3d platformer overall.

As the art progressed in the creation, the materials were changed to be less reflective, this was due to it being disorienting to the player and so it was made subtler. It took me into the fourth milestone at the beginning of April to finish all assets as my drive for creating the assets wavered and I was more interested in focusing on the Game Design and Level Design aspects of creation.

The art for the project however wasn’t just the creation of 3D assets. I focused on visual feedback for the player when playing the game using the player characters’ material and the HUD. With the HUD, there are face buttons in the bottom left of the screen which display the abilities that the player has at that moment. When an ability activates the icon changes to a coloured low poly version of this icon. To help with feedback for the player the face buttons were designed so that when a player overlaps an ability they will start to glow to indicate that this can be absorbed. As this wasn’t enough feedback for the player, the player material also changes under the same conditions so that it glows. I was proud of this system for two reasons. It meant that it was easy for the player to understand when they can absorb and can’t, but also this was used to first teach the player how to absorb as there are no prompts to absorb. It draws the players interest into why they are both glowing and they are then taught through practice.

In the HUD, there are also the collectible Morph Shards in the game. Originally this was just a counter that increased as more were collected. However, to indicate to the player how many they have collected and what are the maximum in each level I created an Icon for these shards and placed five of them in the top left of the screen. Until the player collects one they are displayed as silhouettes and when collected are displayed as coloured low poly art. I feel that this system worked better within the game and visually was more appealing to the player.

Overall with this milestone I feel that there are many improvements I could’ve changed in my workflow. The speed at which I created assets set me back on the project substantially at points and thus certain ideas needed to be changed such as the design of some areas so that I could use the time on refining the game.

Milestone 4: Refinements

In the final milestone, my objective was to focus on refining certain elements of the game. It was in this milestone that I regrettably did not achieve a what I wanted to create. I had originally planned to create animations for the character to replace the placeholder animations that are currently in the game. As these animations were made with timelines, when the game is built they sometimes don’t work as intended. Due to time restraints at this point in the project I focused on the mechanics and level that we’re already in place rather than learning how to animate. With the animations, I feel it would’ve been more efficient to outsource an animator from the start of the project as it wasn’t essential to me learning it.

As my focus was on the refinement of the game at this point evaluated the point at which my game was at and could see it coming together but I wasn’t at a state where I was proud of it yet. My refinements focus for this milestone was:

·         Finalise the mechanics

·         Fix the lighting

·         Solidify the art

·         Have the level completable

With these as my main four tasks to complete it was easier for me to schedule priorities for the game. I focused on finalising the mechanics first with my main mechanic to fix being the Ice Path. The path create under the player was a large floor at that point so I made a small hexagon with an ice texture to replace it. This fixed all my issues as when the meshes overlapped no seams were created and they were small enough to keep the risk/reward high for using it to traverse the level. At this point I tried to fix the issues with the ledge grab as well, however I was unable to fix this issue and feel that it has created a weak point in the project.

After this I solidified the art to make sure that it was consistent with the rest of the game and that it all fit contextually. With the art, I am overall pleased with the outcome however I know it could be much higher quality and that if I focused more on it during the third milestone, the appearance of the game would be better. Once the art was locked down I worked on fixing the lighting issues in the game as they created some artefacts on objects within the level as well as making noticeable seams which were distracting to the player.

Making the level completable was my final challenge for the project. I had to ensure the quality of the game and that it wouldn’t break for the player when playing. I introduced an ending into the game which fades out the screen and then returns the player to the title screen.

Conclusion

In terms of the project overall I am proud of what has been created and have successfully completed what I set out to accomplish. However, although I am proud of what has been created, I feel there is a lot of room for improvement.

If I were to continue with the project I would redo all the art so that it was more aesthetically pleasing and would create props to populate the environment with as a lot of the areas feel barren now. If I had focused on continuing with modelling during the summer before third year, I feel that the project would be up to a higher standard.

I would also like to spend more weeks planning the project. Whilst I feel that the method of creating the mechanics first helped me in creating the level, it also restricted me in some respects. It would’ve been better to design the mechanics and level together in tandem so that they complimented each other equally.

Bibliography  

Mark Brown Youtube. (2015, March 16). Retrieved from Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBmIkEvEBtA

Nintendo.  (2013). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_3D_World

Playtonic Games. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.playtonicgames.com/

Ubisoft.  (2003). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayman_3:_Hoodlum_Havoc

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Honours Project - Art Work

For the past 3 weeks my focus has been on the art of the level as well as some refinement in the level design and mechanics. 

In terms of the mechanics, I have been refining the combine system since I changed it a few weeks ago to make it more fluid. I have also changed some variables in the abilities to balance the game more.

In terms of level design this has been done in tandem with the art as there have been a few changes to the layout of platforming objects due to the shape of them. However I feel that the new objects work better in the game as they have purpose and a more defined area to jump on.

With the art progress has been very slow. As i’m not proficient in 3d modelling i have been trying to get a style down that’s simple but works with my game. In my original tests the art was very sharp and low poly.

In this shot the edges of the ice are more proficient. However i received feedback that bevelling the edges would work better which was done to my set of models.

This looks a lot softer and felt like it complimented the gelatinous cube character in the game. From this I made new sets of ice walls that werent a broken up and rugged in shape to more uniform ice pieces after looking at some reference. 

This is what I ended up with in terms of ice pieces. I also made a few rock assets to populate the level. The platforms are rock to help the player differentiate the platforms from the walls. As with the walls they cant jump on any ice indents on the walls. This was done so it would not confuse the player.

In the above shot There is also more vibrancy as opposed to the previous shots. This is due to me changing the post process and directional light settings so that the world seemed more vibrant and tonally closer to the character and gameplay

After this was done I populate the level with the sets for the walls whilst leaving areas that would have specific pieces. I started using this area as a testing zone for what i could do in the game with art. I wanted to help guide the player subtly using ice in the snow areas to show its melted and that its been walked on frequently. It was recommended to me that I use vertex painting for this.

These are my two tests using vertex painting. I feel it works but needs more refinement so they its not as imposing on the player. I feel that the reflections in the ice need tweaking as well as in some parts its too overbearing and in other it feels too subtle. 

Finally in terms of the lighting I wanted to build up the level so that as the player starts at the bottom of the level, it is shrouded in shadows and as the player worked their way up in got brighter. Using the cave for a darker sense it gave the feeling of being enclosed into the space as the player moved through the speed area. 

In the screenshot above this is as the player exits the cave system. On this the ice pillars gradually start to widen as they move through this narrow path. Once on the other side the level opens up and the lighting is much more vibrant. I feel this is a subtle way to make the player feel like they're progressing upwards through the level and the bright light indicates the more open nature of these areas.

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Honours Project - Trailer and improvements

This week progress on the art side has been slow. I have been taking on feedback for the level and mechanics and trying to improve them. 

The main mechanical improvement in the level was the ice. On the rapids section of the level in which the player was propelled constantly down the river, the ice was still resting at a flat angle. This causes the player to move along a straight path and then drop which didn’t give the impression of constantly moving downwards smoothly. To solve this the rotation of the ice was taken from a trace the player performs and gets the normal of the object it touches so no matter the angle of the object, it will always rotate to it. However the ice rotating with the player doesn't occur anymore however that wont be an issue as the ice with be circular in shape and smaller rather than a full ice platform

This is shown in the second video below

I have also been tweaking areas of the level to give more substance such as the jumps being adjusted to be easier as well as some of the jumps being made harder to enforce the idea of using ability’s to get to them. 

This big mechanical tweak I made this week was on the feedback of Arran Healy. He suggested that at times having the absorb and ability use as different buttons was confusing at first and became an annoyance later on. To rectify this the ability and absorb buttons were made to be the same so when over an object to absorb you press the button and it will absorb and then that button can be used again to correspond to the ability you just absorbed. Doing this involved reworking a majority of the ability system I created in blueprint. This changes the flow of the game to be faster as the player isn't fumbling trying to remember which button does what.

This week I made a flythrough of the level suing sequencer to get some shots. There were some issues as i don’t know sequencer very well in which the turns on the camera would come out lagging a bit.

After doing this flythrough, i checked my hand in list and realised I have to make a trailer for the game as well so this was attempted. I feel that this was much stronger than my attempt of the flythrough but will be improved a lot when doing the final trailer. Audio Recommended.

Audio was made by Tom Bennett. 

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Honours Project - Art & Improvements

According to my gantt chart it stated that I needed to start the art portion of my project 2 weeks ago. This put me behind so my main focus was testing one area to see what style to go with. As stated in my project plan, im not very proficient in the art side of developing. So the style i attempted to go with is a low poly, vibrant colours style. 

This was my first test. With this i created 4 pieces that when layered on top of each other gave the look of shards of ice as the walls. After feedback was obtained from Dean and Arran. They suggested bevelling the edges and smoothing them out so that the snow texture was more prominent as well as giving the world a more cartoony feel at my skill level,

This is the results of my next test. I feel that this one is stronger and the reflections on the ice help with the context of the world. However I steel feel this needs adjusting a lot as it doesn't look or feel right to me

Below is a shot in game

Along with the models i have also been improving the overall feedback for the player. Firstly I changed the playstation icons to xbox as the xbox controller is more widely supported. Secondly when the player moves over an item they can absorb they will start to glow now to indicate that it can be picked up. For the first item, it will display a prompt to show how to absorb. I also changed the colour the character turns when they absorb to make each one more distinct. With the hud i will be applying the same colours to the icons so theyre more recognisable to the player

Finally I have been adjusting the difficulty as the skill level was too high for a first level in a game. Many of the jumps seemed out of reach which gives the player a false perception. This was adjusted to combat that issue

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Honours Project - Level & Mechanics Improvements

This week as my final week for the level design and mechanics was spent improving them based upon the feedback i received from classmates. 

The first of these was a bug that was found by Dean Pountain in which when the player absorbs an ability into one slot and then if activated absorb another ability into the same slot it keeps the original ability going as well as the new one. This has been fixed by resetting all abilities back to the base form of the player so that none are active when absorbing.

Another issue was that the player couldn't switch abilities on the fly as they would sometimes lock into place and the button needed to be pressed multiple times. This was due to the system that used flip flops to switch between the two states of on and off. However when activating another ability it doesn't activate the flop flop to turn it off, instead it reset the variables and removed the ability. This way the flip flop wasn’t activated a second time and technically wasn't disabled so to turn it on, two more activation's were needed.

Arran Healy, Dean Pountain and David Brown during testing all came across the same issue in which when wall jumping the player would slowly move towards the area and glitch, this causes the character to not be able to jump until they stopped moving as well as sometimes drop which killed the player. To rectify this I reduced the amount of time needed to look at the point of wall impact as well as stopped their movement much quicker.  

As noted by Arran Healy the area above to the left wasn't needed as the player could use the stairs to get to one path and the door for the secret one. He suggested what if the player could get through areas without abilities to provide more choice. Looking at this i split up the area into 3 possible outcomes, however more may be found during play testing. The far left will be a jumping area, the middle will be a long jump/speed test and the door which leads to the collectable combined speed and long jump. This gives the player more freedom to interact with the level how they want to.

The area still felt boring to me so I looked to some platformer’s for inspiration and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger helped. This game uses vertical in its level design frequently and for platforms they try to use organic structures. These structures are never flat on and are at angles which adds to the feel of the level but also the challenge of platforming. Below is my end result for the area which I feel has improve vastly now

This week I also created the water rapids system, its not how I want it and improvements will be made over the coming weeks as i’m not happy with the system of how it works. When entering the rapids it disables forward and backwards movement and keeps the players momentum moving forwards at all times, they can move left and right to dodge obstacles and jump over them as well but I feel this can be done better where jumping stops the momentum. 

Currently I am feeling quite happy with my level, there are still some tweaks that need to be made as shown in the video below. These are the player clipping through objects at an angle due to the wall grab still being on them. The wall grab spinning the player sometimes and the general placement of the abilities. 

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Honours Project - Polish & Respawn

This week in my honours I feel progress has been slow due to commitments on other projects. This week I have worked on some in game actors for the project as well as the bonus areas in which the players obtain the collectables. I have also introduced a respawn system

For the level in the final area, it involves the player jumping a large gap and i realised that if they were to miss and fall. they would have to start the level from the start zone again. So when the generator is hit in the final area it activates a lift that is deactivated at the start. 

I have also worked on the bonus zones which involves a harder twist on the mechanics that were introduced to test the players abilities. These take the existing mechanics and manipulate the way in which they are used to have the player think differently.

Finally i have introduced a respawn into the game which is essential to gameplay. When the player passes through a checkpoint it sets that transformation so when the player dies and the actor is destroyed it respawns at the set transform. This however doesn't keep the abilities the player had. And I feel this needs introducing. 

Unfortunately the level isn't fully playable as I have been unable to get the rapids to work still. If i can’t get them to work by next week I will be removing them in favour of another section.

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Honours Project - Level Design Work Pt 3

Finally with my work on defining the structure of the level i have been trying to make it as playable as possible so that i can finalise the structure before modifying areas. I also want to get people to play test before i make any more changes

Currently in the level I dont have any secret areas finished yet and the bounds in some areas need tweaking so that the player cant abuse the abilities to escape the boundaries of the map. 

In terms of where the level is at right now I am not as happy as i want to be with it because I want it to be at a high standard and in some areas i feel that are lacking and needs redesigning. My level design portion of the project ends in 2 weeks however tweaks and changes will be an ongoing portion as there will always be more to do with feedback from play tests. 

The play-through below has been split into 2 videos due to the water rapids not working. In it U show some secret areas and where they will be but there isn't a play-through of those sections due to them not being implemented.

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Honours Project - Level Design Work Pt 2

After the level was blocked out fully and areas were tweaked and puzzles were I moved onto replacing the bsp with basic 400x400 walls that are in UE4. With doing this the map changed slightly in shape and size and was accounted for. This meant that I had to rework some of the areas which i fine tuned the jumping. 

Above is the starting area after being replaced with static meshes. There are some areas on the angles as shown where the walls dont snap together which will be taken into account during the asset creation portion of my project. During the process of replacing the BSP with meshes I feel that during asset creation going with different shaped Rock/Ice Pieces that when fit together create a organic structure might work best. The style will still be low poly so this will have to be tested in the starting weeks of modelling.

In terms of mechanics implemented into the level. Collectibles now work within the level for the player to find and collect. There is a knockback wind which pushes the p[layer back when colliding with it however if using speed it slows the player down so that they can move through it. 

In terms of existing mechanics the wall grab has been tweaked to grab onto walls easier than before, previously it had to be more precise and didnt work most of the time. Unfortunately I havent been able to create a working system which pushes the player forward when on the rapids as well as making the ice the player will spawn rotate to the angle of the ice. I am looking into IK detection to see if this will solve my issues. IK gets the normals of a surface so using this it could detect the normals under the player and rotate them to the angle. This would spawn the ice at an angle with the player.

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Honours Project - Level Design Work Pt 1

Over the past few weeks I have been focusing on the level design for my project as well as the implementation of some mechanics such as the absorption abilities and environmental effects.

Above is my level as it stood the first week of the Christmas break, This involved the basic shape of the map as well as various other elements. This map was blocked out in bsp so that I could get the shape of the map right. This method was useful to help visualise the map, however its not ideal for using to make modular assets.

For the first 2 weeks my main focus was making sure that the jumps were precisely tuned so that the level flows for the player. However there were some areas that needed improvement as they didn't fit with the level I chose to progress with, 

 Above is the area which introduces the speed mechanic, the shape rotated on the spot at a set speed. Originally it was intended for the player to use the speed ability to run move between the areas on the shape. However this wouldve been bypassed and the player wouldn’t have learnt how to use the mechanic at all. Instead of this a system was devised in which inside a cave, if the player stood on a platform it slowly descended and at normal speed they couldn't reach the next one due to descending down. This forces the player to use the speed ability to run over all platforms before it lowers them down. Below is that area with a basic blockout.

I have also created a particle for my game to add atmosphere to the level. This particle created a gentle snow that falls around the player. The particle is attached to the player model to give the illusion that it is snowing over the entire level. I feel that this helps make the world feel more alive.

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Honours Project - Level Design Continued

For the past week I have been focusing in the level design aspect of the level. Last week the foundations were laid however some changes needed to be implemented into the level. 

During testing of the level to test the space compared to the player I noticed that some areas did not fit the flow of the game and were downsized. Also testing jumps was key to the level layout however this is going to constantly change throughout the testing period of the level. Jumps and size will be iterated upon to get the pace and flow feeling right in the level.

As it stands now the basic structures of the level is done with the shape proceeding to guide the player, and the areas for the secret challenge rooms are in the whitebox.

With my level I am following the Japanese 4 line poem methodology of level design in which a mechanic is introduced in a safe environment, then a challenge is produced for the player, a twist is added to it and then the player completes it of and it is discarded for a new mechanic.

This week I have also finished the ability which allows the player to destroy secret walls which lead into the secret challenge rooms. The video below shows how this works in game.

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Honours Project - Level Design

At the start of this week I was quite behind due to being ill the previous week. My schedule has me working on the initial whitebox for three weeks, however that will now be cut to two as I have missed a week. In terms of scope for this week my main focus was to get the base build of the level working in which the player can move from start to end but not have any puzzles/platforming in yet as that will be done next week.

This method was changed during the process as I had to design the scope of the level around the players in game ability’s. A lot of this week was play testing certain areas to make sure they jump far enough in the level to make a jump, or certain ability’s being manipulated to break the level. 

Due to this 3/4 of the map has been made but I have included platforming sections and the overall basic shape. I have tried to make the map as close to my orginal top down so that way I can play test and iterate on the flaws of the map.

 Above is the comparison between in game and my actual top down. THe end section is the only area left to complete. In terms of the level, my previous gameplay used an aurora borealis but while making this level i tested a sunset style of lighting. This may not work in the end as the walls haven't been added so the way the light hits the walls causes some hard shadows across he map. I will be using more natural lighting so i want the player to be able to see but also give off a nice reflection on the ice pieces.

Overall this week i feel I have set an ok foundation to build on, but now I want to have the level finished for next week, that way it will be down to improving it both architecturally and mechanically. Below are some more shots of the whitebox.

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Honours Project - Level Design Start & Tweaking

This week for my honours due to me being ahead on most of my mechanics the progress seems less than substantial this week due to me mainly tweaking to make sure they work how I intend them to.

However I did create the final combo mechanic which is a long jump. When speed and jump are combined the player is launched forward and to give the feeling of momentum being pushed forward on the player they do a small flip.

I have also created a small spin attack similar to that of crash bandicoot. In my level design there is a wall that is transparent which the player can destroy by doing this spin. At the moment I am unsure of whether i want ice crystals to be destroyed and collectables to be inside them. In my level design there is a wall that is transparent which the player can destroy by doing this spin.

The tweaks to the mechanics involved making it so that when one ability is in use you cant activate another which used to be the case. There are still some bugs in this that need sorting out but it is almost at a stage where the player can switch freely between them and instead of merging two ability's together they can chain ability’s to produce more advanced platforming.

 Additionally the wall grab was tweaked as when the player jumps it stretches the body and this caused the player to get stuck in a loop. This has helped a tiny bit but I feel there is more work to be done to get it perfect.

In terms of level design my focus after playing platformers was to make the map a ribbon shape so that it loops around and comes back to the start. This is done in the first level of Spyro 3 Year of the Dragon. In which the player can see the end goal but has to progress through the level to get there, Also my level design methodology is taking inspiration from the Japanese 4 line poem style of level design. In this a mechanic is introduced in a safe environment, then it is used to complete a challenge. After this an unexpected twist is added, then the player will use it to complete the area and then throw the mechanic away until later as to introduce a new one, Using this I believe that in one level I can teach the player all the ability's as well as how the game plays. In terms of using this system it keeps the flow fluctuating as to give the player moments of increased tension after a moment of low tension. This helps keep the player engaged at all times. 

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Honours Project - Main Mechanics

This week on my honours project my focus was on the mechanics for the game. Last week I started working on ice abilities for the player and have tweaked them to work a bit better. The issue I came up to last week involved getting the game to recognise if the ability was in the left slot or the right slot. 

I managed to solve this by using a switch on int node. With this whenever an ability is absorbed using the left bumper it then sets the left integer to the number designated on the switch integer node. SO when ice is absorbed the variable of the left abilities is set to 1, this then tells the system that whenever the left ability is pressed to check which number the integer is and use that ability. Using this I was able to create the ability combination system. It uses the same principle as the abilities however it checks which integer is set for both abilities. For example ice is set to 1 on both slots and jump is set to 2. SO it checks it left = 1 and right = 2 or left = 2 and right = 1. This then sets the combination ability integer for use.

So far the ice, jump and speed abilities are working. For the combinations the ice geyser and the ice slide are working as well with just the long jump left to create. At the moment I am slightly ahead of schedule as I shouldn't be making the combo abilities for two more weeks,

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Honours Project - Mechanics Ice Test

This week in the honours project my main focus was to create the mechanics in which the player would absorb and use. This week I decided that I am going to stick to 3 mechanics for this level as to no overwhelm the player. This level will use Speed, Jump and Ice. When combined speed and jump create a long jump, speed and ice create a slide and ice and jump create a impulse into the sky where the player lands on a temporary ice platform they've created.

This week I focused on the ice abilities because the speed and jump were created when testing the game. Although I have not completed the Ice abilities yet I feel I have a good direction in which to take them. At the moment the Ice and jump has been created albeit not complete. At the moment the player can spring themselves into the air and and ice pillar is create underneath them which breaks apart after a few seconds. There are a lot of modifications that need to be made to this such as the height of it, the time to destroy and if the player can grapple on to it.

Also I have been trying to create the normal ice power which turns water to ice to allow the player to walk on it. However it isn't working at all right now and I will have to change how the player summons the ice due to conflicting pieces of blueprint.

Finally I reworked the camera system so that while the player can turn the camera with the right stick/mouse. Small turns on the player make the camera automatically turn with them. There is also a reset camera option due to this game targeting all player ages. It needs to take into account younger players might not be used to using 2 sticks at once. So the turning and camera reset allows for easier control.

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Honours Project - Final Movement Week

This week for my honours project my priority was to finish up on my character movement. This came in different forms which will be explained further below.

The first way I improved the characters movement was the jumping. Even though I had set on the jumping 2 weeks prior, during the play tests for the additional movement features it didn’t feel as fluid as I wanted it to. I did some tests of how characters jump in 3d platformers by playing mario 3d world and the yooka laylee toybox demo. In these games the jumping had a small bit noticeable difference for the player. When they jump the gravity pulls the player down a lot quicker to give the feeling of weight on the character and allow for more precise platforming. So I adjusted the gravity values and the max jumping height values to get a more controlled feeling on the platforming for my character

Next I adjusted the way the character looked when jumping. When they jumped they stretched along the z axis and squashed along the z axis when landing. This looked ok for these purposes however when stretching something its middle goes inwards  and when squashing it flattens out as well. I added the small addition in to the placeholder animation which will be used until I get to the character animation portion of my schedule.

Finally I tweaked the ledge grab so it worked to a better standard. Previously the player had to be pushing into the ledge to grab on, however due to the size of ledges this wasn't efficient so a small gap has been created which pulls the player in to the ledge in a very short amount of time to make it seem like theres no gap. Also the height above and below the gap has been adjusted so the player can attach easier. When the player ledge jumps now it will no longer trigger the triple jump as this could cause issues in the platforming. Also if in the middle of a triple jump the player will not be able to ledge grab

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Honours Project - Ledge Grab Test and extra animation

I have been testing a ledge grab for platforming purposes. The reason for this is it expands the level design and allows for a wider array of platforming in which even if a platform is too far away the player can still grab on. At the moment I am unsure on if the player will be able to climb up once they're grabbed on due to the character design not being set and contextually a cube climbing up on a ledge wouldn't make sense. 

At the moment the ledge grab works moderately but it isn’t working perfectly yet however there is still one more week allocated to making this work in my schedule. Wiht t

As an extra bonus to make the movement for the player feel nicer. Every third jump the character will do a front flip. This makes the game feel a bit more dynamic and adds a bit more polish to the overall feeling of the game

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Honours Project - Player Movement

For the first section of my honours project the focus was to get the player movement feeling tight and fluid. This is essential for platformers as if there isn't enough control the player can get frustrated due to the overall game design. 

First was the moving. Standard moving where which ever direction the player moved in they went and can move in all axis for use with a controller and mutliple key presses on a keyboard ( note most testing was done with a controller). Then for the player to be able to follow the camera direction to allow for quick directional changes. A key part in making the movement feel right is how fast the player stops after moving. Too fast and it feels to rigid and too slow and it feels like the player is on ice. So there is a slight delay where the player decelerates quickly and then stops.

The jumping however as the most important part of the movement when through various testing. Firstly the jumping was originally too floaty so the gravity was modified so the player falls quicker and jumps with more acceleration. Then the player had too much control in the air which is needed in a platformer however too much can lead to it feeling artificial. So to rectify this there is a break in the air if the player isnt pushing the player in any direction so the player starts to drop quicker. This takes the arch int he jump and shortens it when not pushing forward to feel much more fluid.

Finally to make the jumping feel nice and fun there is a placeholder animation added in at the moment. The placeholder animations stretch the player when they jump and squash them whenever they land on the floor. After squashing they return to normal size. This is shown in the video below.