Changes
April, 19th, 2024
At the end of our last funding round, I was left alone on the project…with possibly too much time to tinker with things.
It was fun and informative and a great way to test things
I worked on changing up the lighting system, and character movement. I added in new music, changed some of the post-processing and added in a really basic rain effect to really add to the moody effect of the “downbeat” playlist.
I also created some new areas in the map that add some more interactivity and break up the landscape. I had a lot of fun creating these cause they are inspired by real places in my hometown!
All of this has been really fun to play with and has helped narrow down exactly what we need moving forward.
We have managed to secure new funds to work towards a vertical slice. Since we are going to be bringing on some new people in the coming weeks and making some rather impactful changes, I wanted to document this stage of the process so I can look back on it later.
First pass on the new lighting system
The goal of this lighting system was “Simplify”. I wanted to remove the clouds and focus on just solid color blocking to hopefully bring a more stylized feel to the game. Since the game is very heavily based on moods and vibes, I like to associate colors with certain moods and having the lighting more focused on color blocking was an interesting aspect I wanted to explore.
This lighting system was really simple, its just a single directional light that slowly rotates over the course of a “day” in-game. I also set up a simple time system to keep track of this. (thank you to all of the YouTube tutorials I followed)
I really like certain aspects of this system, the way it looks at “sunrise” is my favorite part.
I think we will be iterating on the lighting as things progress so I expect this to change and evolve but I’m happy with how this test turned out.
First pass rain particles
The rain was something I had thought about adding for a while but was hesitant to add cause i was getting caught up in whether or not it “made sense”. I decided to add it on a whim and actually really liked it. The idea of it suddenly raining because you’re not having a good day is actually really on brand for this game. I’m really happy with how this turned out as a concept and I’m excited to see how we can push this further to expand on the theme of reflecting emotions visually.
Basic Character Controller
I spent a few days working on a test character controller that simplifies the movement and camera movement. It’s a pretty basic controller (again, thank you YouTube tutorials) but I think it really helped give direction to what to change in the future.
I want people to feel really comfortable with the movement, they should almost get lost in it because it feels so good. The main focus is rollerblading so it should feel as effortless as it does in real life (its effortless in my mind anyway).
I’m really looking forward to how we can build on this.
New music!!
I am so excited to finally be adding in some music from indie bands!
The new music is adding a lot of personality and depth to the game and really helps get the mood across. I can’t wait to expand the catalogue of music in the game!
The bands that we have in the game so far are all amazing and I couldn’t be happier that we get to work with them!
Check them out below:
New Areas
I really wanted to change up some of the level with some more interesting key areas. There is now a tennis court, an updated waterfront park and a new pier on the water.
These areas are all based on places in my hometown and it was really fun recreating them in-game.
I feel that they help break up the level and give players a few more landmarks to help them navigate things without constantly looking at a map.
I also added these boats that slowly move off in the distance and I got way too excited about it.
Soon, we will have some more updates as we start working towards a vertical slice.
That’s all for now. 👋