This week was primarily gameplay-centric. We tuned up physics a little bit more (you’ve heard that tons of times already), filled levels with props, colliders, and puzzle parts, started joining the levels into the whole map, and also started working on some stretch goals like sound and UI.

The pressure is starting to sink in now (we have to pull at least one all-nighter in the lab for it to be a true CSE125 experience, right?) but we’re hanging on.

Here’s some examples of what we worked on.

Team Reports

Bert

This week my plans were to basically fill in wherever needed.

I ended up helping debug/improve more collision response (of course), like fixing the player feet entering the ground, doing the downward raycasting from the player feet, so falling makes more sense, and getting the player and jump height correct. I also added box collides to a some levels, and got “splitting” doors working.

I basically did what I set out to do.

Next week I will design the next two puzzles, and continue doing whatever else needs doing (presumably helping run the beta test and fixing whatever comes up).

My morale is really good!

Dexter

I finally got a break from collision work. Earlier in the week I spent a great deal of time trying to minimize the likelihood that players will get stuck inside forcefields. Because the colliders are so thin for forcefields, it was sometimes possible for players to fall through the top of them and get stuck. There were several different approaches to solving this problem. After fiddling with the numbers and modifying some raycasts, I decided that we really ought to just make the force field colliders a little bigger, since many of the alternate solutions introduced new problems that were worse than the original bug. For the most part, it didn’t seem like players were getting stuck in the forcefields anymore, so I let it be (for now).

I did some Blender work with Pavan on Friday to prepare the armory room. I also went rogue and started building off the crosshair code to lay the groundwork for a rudimentary UI system (we really only have a loading screen, which is about the extent of the UI that we need anyway). We just need enough UI to have a semi-decent title screen, and I really didn’t want to see something like that cut. It just adds a teeny bit of polish.

I didn’t really see the point in working more on player movement issues until we can actually load in the entire level (or at least multiple levels). Once the entire level is in game, we can playtest the hell out of it and find where the actual game-breaking bugs are and prioritize those for the home stretch. By the end of this week, I’d like to have the game ready to playtest, so we can iron out as much as possible.

Elton

My concrete goal was to finish the sound over network. And I was able to accomplish the sound over the network after doing some weekend bug fixing.

The rest of the team is currently working on the level, the models for the levels, and other things pertaining to more of the gameplay oriented goals. Sound is more auxiliary as it only complements the gameplay. But bad sound design does ruin a game too. I still feel a little bit sad that we might end up abandoning the animations, because they are too hard to animate and the we might not have time to look into setting up the animations.

Next week, I want to help the team finish up making the levels and perhaps even merge them into the final game design. And perhaps even work on some sound effects.

Currently I feel pretty confident and the school year is winding down with no more midterms, so I can focus harder on this project!!

Jason

This week was a little slow due to my econ midterm.

I did some extra tuning to the input system I revamped last week. I also started adding more colliders to different levels, as well as hooking up game elements (and doing some debugging in our puzzle element hookup system). I also helped Pavan and Bert expand the puzzle element system (adding things like timed buttons and splitting doors).

Setting up the rooms takes time and isn’t very glamorous so there isn’t much to talk about. This week is going to be mostly that as well (although I might be helping Dexter create sounds/music for our game). I’m feeling OK.

Jeff

This week I spent once again primarily doing art. First of all, I finished modelling the connections between the various rooms. I modelled the room that houses the escape pods and a room for forks in the corridors and added more stuff to the overall level as well. I also helped people to get the levels set with the code for the actual puzzles. Finally, I finished up programming the crosshair. While I am apprehensive about the approaching demo date, I still feel good about getting everything done. Next week I will try to texture as much of the scene as possible and maybe add another room or two. I may also need to do rendering optimizations and bug fixes.

Pavan

My goals for the week were to continue to help building puzzles. I was able to finish the security room puzzle which included doing some additional work with pressure plates, chests, keys, and keyholes. I also helped to finish the prison puzzle. My goals for this upcoming week are to help design and implement the last two puzzles. Hopefully we will also be able to test what we have so far with other people besides us playing so that we can see where we stand compared to the average player of our game. I feel good about the progress we’ve been making but there is still a lot to do with only 2 weeks left, so we may have to put in some extra work to get things done by the demo.